Now, there have been some perfect games that have a "bolt out of the blue" quality to them - Don Larsen, Mike Witt, Tom Browning, for example - but the list of pitchers who've thrown one is pretty exclusive company. Cy Young, Sandy Koufax, Jim Bunning, Catfish Hunter, & Randy Johnson are all on the list and are either in the Hall of Fame or going to be. Other names like Dennis Martinez, David Wells, Kenny Rogers, and David Cone were peak pitchers for a long time - the fewest wins among them is Cone with 194 for his career. Point being, more often than not, to throw a perfect game is to cement legendary status.
And this time it was done by a guy who has, quite deservedly, a reputation as one of the most "hittable" pitchers in baseball! Opponents hit .268 against him for his career - for comparison's sake, the other five pitchers who've thrown at least two no-hitters with one being a perfect game were Koufax, Bunning, Johnson, Young, and old-time Addie Joss. Only one of them (Young) allowed opponents to hit better than .250 against him for a career. Guys hit Buehrle at an almost .270 clip, he doesn't strike guys out, and doesn't possess the dominating sinker or overpowering fastball to lead to ground balls and pop-ups. Yet he wins (every year as a starter he's reached double-digit victories) and, more endearingly, he just works fast. To say he's a left-handed Greg Maddux would be a fair statement, even if Maddux was blessed with slightly better "stuff" that turned him into a 300-game winner.
How does he do it? Probably just by sitting back and not thinking it over too much. On the long list of things to admire about Buehrle, his work rhythm is the best. The perfect game took only 2 hours and 3 minutes, and that's including dead time for TV commercials. Buehrle once pitched a game that took just 1 hour and 39 minutes total (around 63 minutes of actual game time when you subtract TV delays). As Richard Roeper once said, "Fans love it. Beer vendors hate it. When Buehrle's on the mound, they know they'll have less than two hours to make their money."
As I type this, the crafty vet from St. Charles, Missouri just set down his 15th Twin in a row, setting a new major league record in the process with 43 consecutive batters retired. If this keeps up he'll probably get dragged on to the Late Show for an in-person appearance, but last night's Top 10 list was reward enough. For your viewing pleasure:
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