Friday would seem like it should be a special day for White Sox starting pitcher Mark Buehrle.
It was one year ago to the day that the soft-throwing left-hander threw his no-hitter against Texas at U.S. Cellular Field. "To me, no," Buehrle said Thursday when asked if it would mean something special. "I remember it was right around the shootings at Virginia Tech, because I wore their hat in the interview room, but it's not like some wedding anniversary or something like that. It's nice, but what could you do, get yourself a present? It means I'm one year older."
But there's another reason that he can't enjoy his no-hitter like he should. The fact is it's a reminder of last season.
"There were a few things you could take away from last season: (Bobby) Jenks' stretch (of retiring 41 consecutive batters), Jim (Thome's) 500th and the no-hitter, and that was it," Buehrle said. "I mean there were a few nice things that happened, but pretty much everything with that season was miserable. The way we played, coming to the field every day was miserable.
"Last year, we would go down 1-0 in the first inning, and you could see everyone had that look of, 'Well, here we go again, another loss.'"
The ideal situation for Buehrle would be accomplishing a no-hitter in a season that meant something. Whether or not he has another one in him, well, he's not ruling it completely out.
"I don't think so, but I had always said that I would never throw one," Buehrle added. "That's why (former teammate Jon) Garland and I had that bet (on who would throw one first), because we knew neither of us would ever have to pay up because it wasn't going to happen. If it happened once, I guess anything can happen."
ORIOLES 6, WHITE SOX 5 (10 innings): Seemingly in complete control throughout most of Thursday's game in Camden Yards, the White Sox bullpen let it get away -- with a few nice assists from the defense -- as Baltimore scored four over the final three innings to rally for the win.
Wasted in the loss was another stellar performance by Gavin Floyd, who threw six innings and allowed two unearned runs on two hits, lowering his ERA to 1.40. The usual sturdy Sox bullpen allowed four runs over the final three innings, with Scott Linebrink, Bobby Jenks and Boone Logan each being culprits.
