A Night to Remember

Perhaps no single-game accomplishment in sports is as anticipated and celebrated as the no-hitter. A basketball player who scores 50 points will probably miss at least ten shots in the game. A football player who throws for five touchdowns will probably throw around ten incomplete passes in the game. Even a baseball player who hits three or four home runs will probably get out once or twice. In comparison, there is almost no margin of error for a no-hitter. A pitcher must retire 27 hitters without giving up a single hit, and the suspense builds with every inning, every at-bat, and every pitch. Whether it is in the majors, the minors, or even in high school, to be able to say you pitched a no-hitter is to reach the pinnacle of your game. Perhaps the most fascinating part of no-hitters is the people who throw them. Players such as Bobo Holloman, who had 3 career wins, throw them, while players like Grover Cleveland Alexander, who won 373 career games, do not.

The no-hitter was brought back to the center of the baseball world this past April 18th, in a nationally overlooked game, when quick-working lefthander Mark Buehrle opposed a Texas Rangers team that couldn’t have expected what they would encounter on that fateful Wednesday night. Buehrle had been a big question mark for the White Sox coming into this season after an awful ending to the 2006 campaign. He started out 9-4 with a 3.22 ERA last year and was named to the All-Star team…and then it all unraveled quickly. Beginning with his July 2nd start at the Cubs, where he gave up 13 hits and 10 runs in 5 innings for a Game Score of 3, Buehrle blew up. He lost his next 5 starts and 6 of his next 7, posting a 9.37 ERA over that span. With the downward spiral of Buehrle came the downward spiral of the White Sox, as the defending champs began to fall out of playoff contention behind the Twins and Tigers. Buehrle finished up the year 12-13 with an ugly 4.99 ERA, well above the league average for the first time in his career. It was also his first ever year with a losing record. Critics and fans alike wondered what had gone wrong with Buehrle and if he could ever recover to become the pitcher he once was. Buehrle was named Chicago’s #3 starter for 2007 and faced the Cleveland Indians in his first start. It would prove to be a rough one for him, as a second inning line drive back up the box by Ryan Garko knocked him out of the game. However, Buehrle would return for his next start and provide a glimpse of his first six and a half seasons with a 7-inning, four-hit, 3-run performance against Oakland. However, he only struck out one and wasn’t dominant, so nobody could have foreseen what would occur in his next start.

Under their ridiculous new marketing rule with 7-Eleven that all home games would start at 7:11 CT, Mark Buehrle took the mound to face a solid Texas Ranger lineup on Wednesday evening, April 18th, 2007. Kenny Lofton and his near-2300 hits led off the lineup with the second-hottest player in baseball, Ian Kinsler in the #2 spot. Michael Young and Mark Teixeira, two of the game’s best hitters at their respective positions, filled the 3 and 4 holes, while Sammy Sosa’s almost 600 career home runs filled the #5 spot. The Rangers have normally been thought of as a good hitting team, but with the Ballpark at Arlington distorting their statistics their road numbers are certainly not quite as lofty. With an unenviable pitching matchup of Buehrle vs. Kevin Millwood, two good but not great pitchers, it’s safe to say the baseball world’s eyes weren’t exactly focused on this game; although they would be after a few innings.
[BREAK=The Game Unfolds]
The first inning started inauspiciously enough for Buehrle. Kenny Lofton grounded out to second, Ian Kinsler skied out to center, and then Michael Young was Buehrle’s first strikeout victim. With two outs in the second, Hank Blalock gave the White Sox a scare by hitting a fly ball to deep right, but Jermaine Dye bailed out his pitcher with a nice running catch toward the fence. The real fun came when Jerry Hairston Jr. stepped up to lead off the 3rd inning. Hairston grounded the second pitch to Joe Crede at 3rd, who made a diving stop, and slid headfirst into a bang-bang play at first, but was called out by umpire James Hoye. Hairston’s protests got him nowhere but the clubhouse after Hoye ejected him for vehemently arguing. The incident didn’t seem to disturb Buehrle, however, who promptly retired Nelson Cruz and Gerald Laird to get through the order for the first time. You can’t get a no-hitter without your team scoring, however, and Jim Thome promptly ended that dilemma with a home run to right in the third. After a nine-pitch 4th inning, Buehrle’s quest for a perfect game would be undone when Sammy Sosa took a 3-1 pitch low for ball four. But incredibly enough, Buehrle promptly picked Sosa off at first before retiring Hank Blalock on a grounder.

Once a pitcher gets through 5 innings without giving up a hit, people start to feel the anxiety a little bit. More than half the game was done for Buehrle at that point and he just continued to mow down Texas bats. Matt Kata and Gerald Laird both struck out, sandwiching a weak flyout to right field by Nelson Cruz. It was 2 times through the order and 1 to go for Buehrle, who seemed oblivious to baseball superstition when he went in the clubhouse and talked to catcher A.J. Pierzynski between innings. (Perhaps A.J. was telling him about the infamous “foul ball” against the Angels in the 2005 ALCS.) But Buehrle seemed oblivious to the pressure when he retired the Rangers in order once again in the 7th. After another Jim Thome homer extended the lead to 6-0, Buehrle came out for the 8th with the anxiety palpable in the stands of U.S. Cellular Field – aka the stadium formerly known as Comiskey Park. First up was Rangers big bat Mark Teixeira who went down swinging on 5 pitches. Next up was the only baserunner of the game in Sosa who popped out weakly to second. And after Hank Blalock grounded out to Juan Uribe at second, visions of immortality had to be flashing through Buehrle’s head.

Matt Kata, Nelson Cruz, and Gerald Laird. It was not exactly Murderer’s Row waiting for Buehrle as he came out to start the 9th inning. White Sox fans were on their cell phones at this point, telling their families “I’m at Mark Buehrle’s no-hitter!” But no mention of it would be heard in the Chicago dugout or the broadcast booth, as everyone within striking distance of the southpaw feared jinxing the game. Matt Kata dug in to start the inning and wouldn’t have to stand there for long. After fouling off two pitches, Buehrle froze him with a beautiful fastball on the outside corner. One out. Next up was Nelson Cruz who looked ugly on two successive changeups before taking two off-speed pitches to even the count on 2-2. However, he swung and missed on a beautiful curveball inside, and although the ensuing ball got away from catcher A.J. Pierzynski he recovered in time to throw out Cruz at first. With one out to go and the entire White Sox crowd on their feet, Buehrle peered in against Gerald Laird, the young Rangers catcher on 1 and 1. And his 104th pitch, another changeup, would be one for the ages…just ask Ken Harrelson. “Ground ball…Crede…YESSSSSSSS! Mark Buehrle, a no-hitter!” The first White Sox no-hitter since 1991 and the first American League no-no since 1992 was a great day for Chicago fans everywhere (except on the North Side). It was just another night to remind baseball fans everywhere how unbelievable a seemingly ordinary game could be.