http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASA...=.jsp&c_id=cws

Konerko swats two homers to aid White Sox's win
By Kelly Thesier / Special to MLB.com


Mark Buerhle held the Mariners to three hits over the course of Saturday's game. (Jeff Roberson/AP)
White Sox Headlines


CHICAGO -- Only one thing stood between Mark Buehrle and a no-hitter Saturday afternoon and his name is Ichiro.
Buehrle turned in his most dominating performance of the season in a 2-1 victory over the Mariners Saturday afternoon. Buehrle pitched a complete game while fanning 12, walking one and allowing only three hits and one run -- all to Suzuki.

"Ichiro who?" Buehrle said with a laugh after the game. "If someone knows how to get this guy out... I need to talk to Garland because he got him out three times. I can't seem to get that guy out. I pretty much throw everything. He's the best hitter I've ever faced."

Suzuki may be the best hitter Buehrle has ever faced, but Saturday, Ichiro may have seen one of the best pitchers in the American League. With his twelve (12) strikeouts, Buehrle set a new career high for strikeouts in a single game. His previous high had been ten (10) on June 26, 2003, in a game against the Twins.

"If Buehrle was pitching for somebody else, he might be mentioned a little bit more," Guillen said about the lack of attention his ace receives. "This kid, the last three or fours years with the White Sox, has put up tremendous numbers. To me he's one of the best lefties. I don't look at stats, but a lot of managers would like to have him. "

Part of the reason that Buehrle may not garner a lot of attention is that unlike many other star pitchers, he doesn't have a 95-mph fastball that blows hitters away. Chris Widger who caught for Buehrle Saturday said that it's other assets that make Buehrle such a dangerous pitcher.

"He's aggressive and he has four pitches he can throw for a strike at any time on either side of the plate," Widger said of Buehrle. " When you have that, you can call the wrong pitch as a catcher and you will still be okay because he locates the ball so well and he has four above-average pitches. He might not have the one devastating pitch, but he has the four where one is just as good as the other."

After the 1:39 game, the shortest on record for the White Sox since at least 1984, Buehrle said that he felt like his pitches were everything he could have asked for.

"I had good location on my fastball today," Buehrle said. "I was getting ahead on the count. I don't know if Widger was telling them the opposite of what was coming but I was keeping the guys off balance throwing the ball. I got it in, up, down. I was locating my fastball probably the best I've ever located it."

Buehrle was not the only pitcher to have a strong performance. Ryan Franklin's great day was almost lost in the commotion of Buehrle's record setting day. Franklin himself lasted eight innings with two runs off four hits, three strikeouts and walking none. Both runs came off Paul Konerko home runs.

Konerko hit leadoff home runs in the second and seventh innings to give the White Sox (8-3) the only two runs it would need to beat the Mariners(5-6). The home runs were numbers five and six (Nos. 5 and 6) on the season for Konerko, giving him the most in the Major Leagues so far this season. It was the twelfth (12th) multi-homer game of Konerko's career and his first this season.

"I've hit two home runs in 2-3 days (to to three days) and I mean they are the last things on my mind," Konerko said. "I've been struggling just to get hits and I think I went 3 or 4 hitless games in a row. Believe me, you don't think about hitting (home runs) while you're out there. I'm just trying to scrape out some hits."

A shutout was in store for Buehrle (2-1) until the ninth inning when Suzuki hit a triple down the right-field line to lead off the inning. Buehrle then proceeded to strike out Randy Winn before an Adrian Beltre groundout would bring Suzuki home. One more strikeout, this one to Bret Boone, would finish off the Mariners and complete Buehrle's record-setting day. Asked if he even thought about taking Buehrle out after Suzuki's leadoff triple, Guillen said there was never even a doubt about leaving Buehrle in.

"It was never in my mind to take him out," Guillen said. "I had the bullpen warming up just in case something drastic happened. The White Sox fans are pretty tough. If I took Buehrle out I might not be able to leave this ballpark all day today. They would be waiting for me in the parking lot (laughs).

"The way he was throwing the ball, you don 't have to be a genius to leave him in."

Suzuki also had nothing but good things to say about Buehrle's performance.

"He has a good tempo and he has his own rhythm," Suzuki said. "Today he was able to pitch on his own, what he wanted to do and the pitch that he wanted to throw."