"He has faced the minimum all the way through to the sixth inning" (top 6th) ...
"Mark Buehrle has faced the minimum through six innings; the only baserunner in the 5th was Sammy Sosa, he drew a walk, and then Mark Buehrle promptly picked him off" (top 7th) ...
"Sosa, who has been the only baserunner for the Rangers this evening, he walked in the fifth inning, and then Mark picked him off" (top 8th) ...
"Another 1-2-3 inning for Buehrle" (top 8th) ...
Crowd has "seen something special" (bottom 8th) ...
"We will go to the top of the 9th inning. Mark Buehrle. Call your sons and daughters, friends and neighbors" (end of 8th) ...
Coming out for the 9th, Comcast Sports puts up a graphic showing when the last White Sox no-hitter occurred. Hawk doesn't bite: "Wilson Alvarez, the last one, '91, at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore" ...
"If you're just joining us, only one Texas baserunner, that was Sammy Sosa back in the 5th, he walked, and then was picked off" (top 9th) ...
"HE GONE. ONE DOWN!" (top 9th) ...
And then: "Ground ball... Crede... YEEEEEEEEASSSS! MARK BUEHRLE! A NO-HITTER! AGAINST THE TEXAS RANGERS!"
I couldn't help noticing, though, that Darrin was unusually quiet in the final inning. I wonder if they had this exchange during the commercial break:
Darrin, sweating profusely: I can't do this anymore, Hawk. I gotta say it.
Hawk: Don't do it, man.
Darrin: I gotta do it, Hawk, I gotta do it.
Hawk: Don't do it, man.
Darrin: I gotta, Hawk, I gotta. The silence... it's... it's tearing at my soul, Hawk.
Hawk: Darrin, you little bastard, don't you dare do it.
Darrin: What is a color commentator if he's not allowed to tell viewers what is happening? What am I but a speck on an atom in a substanceless abyss?
Hawk: Shut your trap, D.
Darrin: I... I can't hold it in...
Hawk: You hold it, you son of a bitch! You hold it!
Darrin: I'm doing it...
Hawk: Don't do it...
Darrin: I'm doing it...
Hawk: Don't do it...
Darrin: I gotta say it, Hawk, I gotta tell the viewers Mark Buehrle is pitching a...
Hawk: YOU SON OF A BITCH, DARRIN! DON'T DO IT! DON'T DO IT. DON'T DO IT.
Darrin: MARK BUEHRLE! THROWING! A! NO! HIT--
Hawk: LALALALALALALALALALALALA...
Darrin, screaming through the din: HE'S THROWING A NO-HITTER!
Hawk: I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU AND EAT YOUR CHILDREN YOU MOTHERF-- ... Wilson Alvarez. The last one. '91. In Memorial County Stadium...
Who says they're not a good commentating team?
quite interestingly enough though, tao, if you read the chicago papers, it talks about something different.
ReplyDeletein the fifth inning buehrle himself sat down in the dugout, turned to some of his teammates that were trying to not "jinx" him, and said
"hey do you know i got a no-hitter going right now?"
he even went into the clubhouse and watched TV and shot the shit with aj pierzynski...
good thing hawk didn't jinx him though...
More on Buehrle in the Sun-Times today, reported by Gordon Wittenmeyer...
ReplyDeletek
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No glitter: Drive showed Cotts essence of Buehrle
April 20, 2007
ATLANTA -- Watching the highlights and talking about White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle's no-hitter brought back Neal Cotts' favorite story about his old friend and teammate.
The Cubs reliever was in his rookie year with the Sox in 2004, heading home to southern Illinois for the All-Star break, and Buehrle, who lives near St. Louis, rode most of the way with him.
Buehrle's fiancee was supposed to meet them where the highways diverged in the directions of their homes, but she wasn't there when they got to the meeting point.
''I was like, 'I'll drive you,''' Cotts said Thursday. ''He was like, 'No, no. I'll just stay here.'
''I'm like, 'Dude, we're in the middle of nowhere.' There's nothing. A gas station and nothing around it. Nothing else -- no city, nothing.''
But Buehrle, already a former All-Star who would win 16 games that year, insisted. He handed Cotts a couple of beers off his freshly purchased six-pack and said, ''Go.''
''So I'm pulling out of there,'' Cotts said, ''and there he goes with his White Sox gear and everything that he had from the ballpark. And he's sitting there on the corner, just sitting on the curb, right in the middle of nowhere, with a beer.''
That might make Buehrle the most regular-guy All-Star ever to pitch a no-hitter.
''I got home and told my buddies, 'I just left a guy that's worth millions and millions of dollars, an ace on a major-league baseball staff, sitting on a curb waiting for his fiancee,''' Cotts said. ''And he made me leave. He wouldn't let me stay. It just kind of describes him.''
Gordon Wittenmyer