Mark Buehrle's Perfect Storm Completes Disastrous Series for Rays

It was about as bad a series you could get for the Rays. Falling behind in each of their four games with the Chicago White Sox, Tampa Bay saw only one of their rallies in the first three games bare fruit. Then in game four they ran into Mark Buehrle.

Scott Kazmir got in trouble early for Tampa Bay, giving up a grand slam to Josh Fields in the second inning to give Chicago a 4-0 lead. Typically, throughout the rest of the game, the Rays would find a way to claw back into it and make a game of it.

Not against Mark Buehrle. There are times when you lament about the bad play of your baseball team. There are times when a bad break doesn't go your way. Then there's a time when the guy who is on the hill for the opposing team is not going to let you get anything. That's what Tampa Bay ran into tonight.

Coming off one of his worst performances of the season, Buehrle was a man on a mission blowing past the likes of Evan Longoria, Carlos Pena, Ben Zobrist, and Carl Crawford as if they were Double-A Montgomery Biscuits. He would strike out six Rays in all.

The scary thing? There weren't any plays even close to a hit until the ninth inning when Gabe Kapler turned one to left center field. It looked like the Rays would escape the shutout and humiliation as the ball headed toward the seats. Like Superman, center fielder DeWayne Wise—who had just been entered into the game as a defensive replacement—showed why, skying into the air and some how coming down with Kapler's ball.

There was no joy in Mudville or the windy city for the Rays. Dropping three of the four games took the starch out of the good start to the road trip. The Rays will have to finish up strong as they move on to Toronto for a three game set.

With the Evil Empire seemingly incapable of losing, the only good news for the Rays is Boston is in the midst of a five game skid, allowing Tampa Bay to stay within four games of the wildcard spot.

We'd like to offer our congratulations to Mark Buehrle, the White Sox fans, and of course, the No. 1 fan President Barack Obama for this tremendous achievement. Only the 17th perfect game in regular season baseball history.

Amazing thing of beauty to watch, even if it was against the Rays.