Mark Buehrle’s Top Ten List

Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle, who pitched a perfect game last Thursday against Tampa Bay, appeared on David Letterman’s show last night. Here’s his Top Ten List of things going through his mind while he pitched the perfect game:

10.   I did it! I did it! Oh, wait, it's only the fourth inning
9.   If this doesn't get Kate Hudson to notice me, nothing will
8.   Too bad I'm not on my own fantasy team
7.   My brother-in-law bowled a perfect game
6.   [Josh Fields and Dewayne Wise:] We're going to Disney World! [Buehrle:] And I'm running for governor of Alaska
5.   Did I remember to TiVo "So You Think You Can Dance?”
4.   I'm leaving after the seventh inning to beat the traffic
3.   Should I shave my back?
2.   Sunflower seed...lodged in my windpipe...get help!
1.   Maybe I'll give up one hit so I don't have to appear on Letterman

Worth reading

I regularly bookmark items of note using the service Delicious. The most recent five bookmarks appear in the “Worth Reading” box in the right sidebar, but you can see all of my bookmarks -- tagged according to category — via my Delicious page. These are bookmarks of pages that I find interesting including news items and Internet-related stories.

You can also follow me on Twitter and Facebook.

“Stupidly”

I don’t often blog about politics, but I was taken aback by President Obama’s comments the other night regarding the incident involving a Cambridge, Massachusetts police officer and black scholar Henry Lewis Gates. We all know the background of the story, but the president was asked during his recent health care reform press conference to comment about the arrest. This is what the president said:

But I think it's fair to say, No. 1, any of us would be pretty angry," Obama said. "No. 2, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. And No. 3 -- what I think we know separate and apart from this incident -- is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately, and that's just a fact.

I was very surprised that the president – who we all agree is a very intelligent man – would say something like that before all of the facts were in place.

For the heck of it, I looked up the definition of “stupidly.” Here is what Merriam-Webster said: “slow of mind; given to unintelligent decisions or acts; acting in an unintelligent or careless manner; lacking intelligence or reason.”

Wow, that’s pretty strong considering that some of the facts are in dispute. Now I see that the president is backing off from his remarks, including calling the police officer involved in the incident. This whole situation is deflecting discussion on health reform which plays into the hands of the Republicans. Nothing wrong with that!

I think this whole incident will eventually blow over but I find it ironic that the same party that belittled President Bush over his missteps and misstatements is now stepping over the fecal waste of their words!

Strange days

Some more interesting tidbits have come out since Mark Buehrle threw his perfect game. As most people know, he threw a no-hitter against Texas on April 18, 2007. Some interesting parallels between those two games:

• The same umpire was behind the plate.
• The time of the game (2:03) was the same.
• A grand slam was hit in both games.
• He faced the minimum of 27 batters. (He walked Sammy Sosa in the 2007 game and promptly picked him off.)
• The perfect game was saved in the ninth inning by a stunning catch by DeWayne Wise. In the 2007 game, Jermaine Dye saved the no-hitter by making a less-dramatic catch at the fence.
• Both games were played at U.S. Cellular Field.

Some other facts:

• He is the 18th pitcher to throw a perfect game ever.
• Tampa Bay came into the game with the third-highest scoring offense in baseball. They are the highest rated offense to have a perfect game thrown against it in history!
• He is only the third pitcher ever to throw a perfect game, a no-hitter and win a World Series title with the same team. The other two? Cy Young and Sandy Koufax.
• As far as I can tell, he is the only pitcher to pitch a perfect game, a no-hitter and record a save in the World Series. (He saved Game 3 of the World Series against Houston.)

Perfection!

Chicago White Sox pitcher, Mark Buehrle, pitched a perfect game today against Tampa Bay. The final score was 5-0. It was Buehrle’s second no-hitter and just the second perfect game in the White Sox long history.

There was high drama in the ninth inning as DeWayne Wise -- who entered the ninth inning as a defensive replacement – made a leaping catch over the fence robbing Gabe Kapler of a home run.

It was fun to watch it on TV and I cannot imagine how it felt for the people who actually attended the game.

Nearly lost in all of the excitement is the fact that Detroit lost to Seattle today and the Sox are now tied with Detroit for first place in the AL Central. The Sox travel to the Motor City for a weekend series.

Let’s go, White Sox!!!

Brokebank Mountain

I found this on Flickr. This is pretty funny!

 
Uploaded by Belowbeltway

A fun day in the city

We had a very fun day today. Lisa and I took Kevin to the Adler Planetarium and Shedd Aquarium. We last visited both sites four or five years ago and there have been a number of changes at each site.

We arrived around 10:30 a.m. and parked in the lot next to the planetarium which we visited first.

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the launching of Apollo 11, Adler had an exhibit containing a number of items donated by astronaut Jim Lovell (of Apollo 13 fame). The actual Gemini XII space capsule was also on exhibit (on loan from the Smithsonian Institution).

We saw a multimedia presentation called Cosmic Collisions and a presentation about all the stars present in the night sky. [I finally learned why the North Star is always in the north!]

After lunch at the planetarium, we walked over to the Shedd Aquarium. We probably should have visited this first as there was a huge line to get into the facility. It took us over a half-hour to get admitted. They have remodeled the area containing the beluga whales and added an exhibit containing species from the Philippines.

I think every Chicagoan who owns a baby stroller was at the Shedd Aquarium today! Every exhibit seemed to be deep in strollers. Patience was required and, towards the end of the day, I was getting tired.

We got caught in Friday night rush hour traffic and did not arrive home until a little before 7:00 p.m.

Despite the ending, it was a fun day and I know Kevin really enjoyed it. I think we will go back next week and visit the Field Museum which is located at the same museum campus.