Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle was the baseball equivalent Thursday afternoon of what we dream to be.
He was perfect.
One-by-one, he plowed through the Tampa Bay Rays lineup 1-2-3. Not one run, not one hit, not one walk - perfect.In the beginning, he had to be thinking, "Alright, I'm doing pretty well." Then, it was, "Wow, I'm doing very well." By the time the sixth inning was over, the thinking is always, "Got a perfect game going."
At that point, many pitchers begin to tighten up, maybe missing the strike zone and issuing a walk. Not Buehrle.
Instead, he kept hitting on all cylinders while the Rays weren't even concerned with winning, they had to be more concerned about not being the team that has a perfect game pitched against them.
It had only happened 17 times before in the history of Major League Baseball, so wanting to avoid that distinction is obvious.
However, there was nothing they could do.
By the time the ninth inning rolled around, White Sox announcer Ken "Hawk" Harrelson was urging viewers to call their friends and family so they may also get the chance to witness baseball history.
And then, right with all the Sox fans smelling the perfect game, the Rays' Gabe Kapler led the inning off with a deep drive to center field.
Prior to the inning, Sox manager Ozzie Guillen must have had a premonition, inserting Dewayne Wise to replace Scott Podsednik in center field as a defensive replacement.
Normally, changing anything during a no-hitter is a so-called no-no.
If there was a rulebook on how things are supposed to be done, Guillen burned that long ago, and that was on display with the wise substition - pardon the pun.
As it was, Wise was immediately thrown into the fire, running down the Kapler drive, leaping at the center-field wall to bring the ball back from out of the park - preserving perfection.
A strikeout and a ground out later, Buehrle etched his name in MLB history, posting the first perfect game since Randy Johnson did it in 2004, 100 years after the league's first perfect game by Ty Cobb.
Myself, I'm not really a White Sox fan, but I do like Buehrle. It's that A.J. Pierzynski that really ruffles my feathers, but then again, that's what he's trying to do. Mission accomplished.
But to see perfection, that's something everyone should appreciate, and I certainly do.
The perfect game takes pinpoint accuracy over nine innings, which saw Buehrle throw 116 pitches in 32 minutes of action on the mound.
Not only do you have to be on your game, but so to does your defense.
That was no more evident than with Wise's catch.
Knowing his pitcher was three outs away from accomplishing the feat of his career, eclipsing his 2007 no-hitter, Wise went all out and made the play.
Each day, everyone of us attempts to be perfect, no matter how impossible that may be.
We get up, most of us, wanting to wear the perfect outfit in order to attract the perfect girl or guy. Or we eat a hearty breakfast, or drink that coffee, to help us be as perfect at work or school as possible. Then, once returning home from work or school, we try to be perfect to our spouse, parents or significant other. And if you pride yourself on being the "outlaw", you too are trying to be perfectly disappointing to those around, therein being mom and dad's perfect little rebel.
No matter how we try, we may never even get a glimpse of perfection, but in order to even get close to being as good as we'd like, we all need some help from our friends. Be it receiving an encouraging word, a drive to work or a jumping catch at the wall, none of us can be our best alone.
Thursday, Buehrle showcased that by being in control, staying calm and getting some help, we can all get as close as we'll ever be to perfect.
