7/24 Perfection

Lou Piniella watched some of Mark Buehrle’s perfect game on Thursday. It was a fun game to watch.

“He was changing speeds and pitching to the corners and making great pitches the whole game,” Piniella said. “Tampa Bay’s a pretty good hitting ballclub — it’s not like he got that no-hitter against a team that doesn’t swing the bats. What a great feat.”

Piniella has been involved in a few no-hitters, but on the wrong side.

“You’ve got to be lucky, you really do,” Piniella said. “He did get six strikeouts, but that means basically that there were seven innings where the ball was put in play. Tampa Bay is a good hitting baseball team. Give Buehrle credit.”

Ron Santo was on the wrong end of a perfect game on Sept. 9, 1965, when Sandy Koufax shut down the Cubs in a 1-0 win.

“The difference in yesterday’s game versus that one [in '65] was that Sandy Koufax, every time he went out there, he [seemed to] pitch a perfect game,” Santo said. “The one thing Buehrle has proven is you don’t have to have the best stuff in the world to have a no-hitter or a perfect game. He’s a great competitor. Every time he goes to the mound, you can see he feels he’s going to win.”

– Carrie Muskat