Perfection In Chicago: Buehrle Hurls Perfect Game

The Chicago White Sox made some defensive moves to begin the ninth inning. DeWayne Wise jumped off the bench to replace left-fielder Carlos Quentin. He assumed center-field when the equally speedy Scott Podsednik shifted over to left. Now, the White Sox had speed where they needed it, making pitcher Mark Buehrle more comfortable as he faced the bottom of the Tampa Bay Rays' batting order.

Entering the frame, Buehrle had sent down all 24 hitters he faced. It appeared, once Gabe Kapler made solid contact to begin the ninth, that streak would end.

Kapler crushed a high fastball from Buehrle deep to center-field. Wise ran as fast as he could, keeping his eyes fixed on the ball’s flight. Concentrating, he ran near the wall, noticed he was out of room, and jumped. His glove reached high above the fence and the ball nestled in it’s webbing. As he came down, the ball popped out. Falling, he managed to collect himself, reach out with his bare hand, and grab the ball before it touched the ground. He bounced up, and threw his now infamous hand clenching the ball into the air. He showed the thousands of White Sox fans, his teammates in the dugout, all of whom were on or near the top step, and the other eight with him on the field, that he made the catch.

The home-team announcers went ballistic. So did the fans, and his teammates, including Buerhle. He stood on the mound sporting a sly grin. His bid for a perfect game was still intact.

The crowd remained abuzz, and on their feet as Michel Hernandez strode to the plate. Buehrle, pumped on adrenahline, fell behind Hernandez, throwing three straight balls after a first-pitch strike. He avoided uncorking ball-four by firing in one of many strikes he threw this overcast afternoon. It was now a full count. Buehrle, one strike away from being one out away from perfection, looked in at catcher A.J. Pierzynski. He took the sign, and fired in a fastball right down the pipe.

I’m going to challenge you, Hernandez, and give you an appetizing pitch. It's the most inviting pitch you or any of your teammates have seen today. Let’s see if you can hit it.

Hernandez could not, his hack caught nothing but air as the 88-mile-per-hour pitch thumped into Pierzynski’s glove. It was strike-three, Buerhle’s sixth and final strikeout. Hernandez walked back to the dugout. It was now up to shortstop and ninth-place hitter Jason Bartlett.

Bartlett has had a stellar season, hitting .338 in 272 at-bats with eight homers and 40 RBIs. He was no ordinary ninth-place hitter and was certainly capable of ruining Buerhle’s afternoon. He took strike-one, then a fastball that missed inside, and another that missed low. Bartlett wasn’t going to be patient, and hope Buehrle would give him a free pass. He wanted to not only break up the perfect game, but the no-hitter as well.

He swung at the fourth pitch, a slider, hitting it weakly to shortstop Alexei Ramirez. Now all of the pressure was on Ramirez, who has struggled this season in the field, having made eleven errors. The ball bounced across the infield grass, then bounded on two hops into his glove. Ramirez wasted no time contemplating the worst, and fired a strike to first baseman Josh Fields.

Fields, upon snatching Ramirez’s throw, jumped in the air. A split second later, he jumped onto Buehrle. It was bedlum on the field, bedlum in the stands, bedlum in the broadcasting booth, and bedlum in the streets of southside Chicago. It was perfection.