Mark Buehrle appreciation thread?

[southsider2k5]

i'm coming out of the woodwork to go see #56. as a white sox fan, i hope we can at least have 25K there to give him the ovation and thanks he deserves. it will be an emotional night when he walks off that mound.

 

don't stop, get it, get it indeed.

[Rowand44]

Even though I told myself I wouldn't give the Sox any more of my money until our idiot manager is gone, I made the big splash of purchasing a 3 dollar ticket so I could see Mark's possible last start as a member of the Sox.

 

 

I'll watch on TV, but I'm not breaking my word just to see one guy pitch.

See what I did there?

[Milkman delivers]

See what I did there?

 

I'll actually be there now

[chw42]

With Mark being so bad lately, there's actually a good chance we can retain him. I don't know if many other teams will go that hard after him knowing that he will break down in the second half of the season.

[greg775]

How in the hell can the White Sox let Mark Buehrle go?

Is Jerry going to sell the team and have it move?

This team is headed toward such irrelevancy. My god.

Letting Mark go is almost sacriligious.

 

How can KW keep his job when he brings in Dunn and Rios for god sake knowing he'd have to sign Mark?

Please Jerry, get rid of Kenny. If Mark has to go, KW should go as well. He has failed mightily if he built the team where the Sox can't afford to keep this pitching legend.

Edited September 27, 2011 by greg775

[coco1997]

With Mark being so bad lately, there's actually a good chance we can retain him. I don't know if many other teams will go that hard after him knowing that he will break down in the second half of the season.

Bad? Mark had a couple of back to back starts in which he got knocked around, but before that he tied a franchise record with 18 consecutive games allowing just three or less runs.

[chw42]

Bad? Mark had a couple of back to back starts in which he got knocked around, but before that he tied a franchise record with 18 consecutive games allowing just three or less runs.

 

He was great until after the ASB. But as I said, Buehrle's been a guy who has struggled down the stretch these past few years. Most notably 2009 and this season. Sure, teams will like him for what he is, an innings eater who will put up a good ERA, but had he not been so bad as of late, his ERA would have been around 3, not near 4. That lowers his market value substantially.

[Milkman delivers]

How in the hell can the White Sox let Mark Buehrle go?

Is Jerry going to sell the team and have it move?

This team is headed toward such irrelevancy. My god.

Letting Mark go is almost sacriligious.

 

How can KW keep his job when he brings in Dunn and Rios for god sake knowing he'd have to sign Mark?

Please Jerry, get rid of Kenny. If Mark has to go, KW should go as well. He has failed mightily if he built the team where the Sox can't afford to keep this pitching legend.

 

Haha, greg. You're a walking exaggeration.

[lasttriptotulsa]

How in the hell can the White Sox let Mark Buehrle go?

Is Jerry going to sell the team and have it move?

This team is headed toward such irrelevancy. My god.

Letting Mark go is almost sacriligious.

 

How can KW keep his job when he brings in Dunn and Rios for god sake knowing he'd have to sign Mark?

Please Jerry, get rid of Kenny. If Mark has to go, KW should go as well. He has failed mightily if he built the team where the Sox can't afford to keep this pitching legend.

 

Buehrle is my second all-time favorite player, but your throwing around the word "legend" a little loosely.

[LittleHurt05]

How in the hell can the White Sox let Mark Buehrle go?

Is Jerry going to sell the team and have it move?

This team is headed toward such irrelevancy. My god.

Letting Mark go is almost sacriligious.

 

How can KW keep his job when he brings in Dunn and Rios for god sake knowing he'd have to sign Mark?

Please Jerry, get rid of Kenny. If Mark has to go, KW should go as well. He has failed mightily if he built the team where the Sox can't afford to keep this pitching legend.

 

I hate to break it to you Greg, but it's not the 60s anymore. There is something called free agency now and players don't automatically stay with one team their whole career. All Sox fans would love to see Mark end his career in a Sox uniform, but it's way more complicated than that.

 

Before you call out JR for loyalty, let's not forget that PK hit free agency not once, but twice, and both times they ponied up to pay him the cash he was due.

[jpbrennan79]

Tickets can be had on Stubhub for as little as 0.99...Buerhle derserves a proper send off. If you have nothing better to do grab a ticket and come say goodbye to the man (who in my opinion) has defined White Sox baseball for the last 10 + years.

[Harry Chappas]

Do you want to install some good will and overshadow Ozzie to Sox fans. Sign him to an extension this afternoon Mr. Rick Hahn.

[Soxfest]

Thanks MB for the title......................If you get a chance to pitch in STL good luck.

[LVSoxFan]

All-time favorite Sox player, period.

 

I hope this isn't the last year for him.

[jhonnydanks]

seriously...go support this guy tonight. i don't care that it is cold and rainy. sit back, relax, and strap a hip flask of warm bourbon to yourself and cheer him on. and then proceed to forget this year ever took place.

[southsider2k5]

So without knowing much about the Marlins rotation, knowing they want to spend some money, and Mark's status a free agent, is it too early to start the Buehrle to Florida talk?

[jhonnydanks]

So without knowing much about the Marlins rotation, knowing they want to spend some money, and Mark's status a free agent, is it too early to start the Buehrle to Florida talk?

 

you can start tomorrow

[Milkman delivers]

Tickets can be had on Stubhub for as little as 0.99...Buerhle derserves a proper send off. If you have nothing better to do grab a ticket and come say goodbye to the man (who in my opinion) has defined White Sox baseball for the last 10 + years.

 

I agree. Everyone should go to this game. It also serves a dual purpose. It shows the fan support for the removal of Ozzie as well as support for Buehrle.

[Controlled Chaos]

Would love to see some of Marks numbers in this thread and other accomplishments.

[jhonnydanks]

sorry, can't help myself. but THANK YOU #56 for all that you have meant to this organization. on a rainy, cold night in chicago the love was very much displayed. kudos to everybody in the stands tonight for making this a very heartfelt goodbye (which i still hope it isn't).

[Milkman delivers]

sorry, can't help myself. but THANK YOU #56 for all that you have meant to this organization. on a rainy, cold night in chicago the love was very much displayed. kudos to everybody in the stands tonight for making this a very heartfelt goodbye (which i still hope it isn't).

 

You're welcome.

[Quin]

Refuse to believe he won't be back.

[southsider2k5]

ESPNChiSox Doug Padilla

Buehrle salute similar to those for AJ and Konerko last season. And hey, they returned.

 

[southsider2k5]

http://www.csnchicago.com/09/28/11/Sox-Dra...tm_medium=email

 

Sox Drawer: Buehrle would 'love to be back'

 

By Chuck Garfien

CSNChicago.com

 

If Ozzie Guillen was the face of the White Sox, Mark Buehrle has long been their arm.

 

For 365 starts, it’s been there time and time again, providing some of the greatest moments in franchise history.

 

The play.

 

The no-hitter.

 

The perfect game.

 

All of them permanently etched in our memories.

 

But it’s not just the arm, it’s also the lungs, because for 12 memorable seasons Buehrle has taken everyone’s breath away. Tuesday night was no different.

 

“It would be nice to see a vintage Buehrle game tonight,” said Paul Konerko, standing at his locker a couple hours before the game.

 

Once again, Mark delivered.

 

In what could be his final game in a White Sox uniform, the soon-to-be free agent went out and was typical, trademark Buehrle.

 

7 innings, 0 runs, 0 walks, 6 strikeouts.

 

That, plus a goosebump exit from the field that left 23,934 fans with a collective lump in their throats.

 

With Buehrle on the mound, ready to start the eighth inning, interim manager Don Cooper came out and took the ball from his Gold Glove pitcher, allowing Buehrle to leave the field to a raucous standing ovation as he returned to the dugout.

 

“It felt like a normal game, but the crowd going crazy and Paul [Konerko] pushing me out there and he was like ‘They’re calling for you.’ I’ve never had a curtain call in my career. It got kind of emotional there towards the end.”

 

Before the game, Buehrle was most concerned about the beginning.

 

He confided with his older brother that if he saw his family in the crowd as he took the field he worried he’d be fighting back tears. Turns out it was much ado about nothing. Mark came out, grabbed the ball, and struck out the first batter he faced.

 

When he arrived at the ballpark around 4 p.m., the first player Buehrle spotted was none other than Dewayne Wise, his former Sox teammate now with the Blue Jays who magically saved Buehrle’s perfect game in 2009 with that incredible catch in the ninth inning.

 

Buehrle asked Wise if he was in the lineup. He wasn’t. Too bad.

"It’s going to be a weird feeling, not looking over and seeing Mark with a smile on his face, joking and laughing.”

-- A.J. Pierzynski.

 

“I think he was going to throw me a cookie,” Wise said with a smile on his face.

 

It could have been Buehrle’s way of saying thank you for helping him make history.

 

It also could have wiped away the dream Wise had the night before. While sleeping in his Chicago hotel, Wise dreamt that he hit three screaming line drives right back at Buehrle, and all three times Mark laid out and caught every one of them.

 

“And after the last one, I raised my bat in the air like I was going to throw it at him as a joke, and the whole crowd laughed,” Wise said.

 

If laughter is the best medicine, Buehrle has long been the joke doctor inside the White Sox clubhouse.

 

I asked A.J. Pierzynski what it will be like without Buehrle on the team anymore. Mark, whose locker has been right next to Pierzynski’s for seven years, overheard my question and chimed in with a sarcastic “He gone!”

 

That’s just who Mark is. And if he leaves?

 

“It’s going to be different,” Pierzynski said. “Like Ozzie not being here. It’s all I’ve known for seven years is those two guys. Coming to spring training next year, if they’re not here, it’s going to be a weird feeling, not looking over my left and seeing Mark with a smile on his face, joking and laughing. I hope that Mark is back, and hopefully they find a way to get it done.”

 

That will be up to Jerry Reinsdorf and Kenny Williams, who will be playing financial gymnastics during the off-season, likely cutting payroll after this thoroughly disappointing 2011 season.

 

As a left-handed starter with a 13-9 record and 3.59 ERA, Buehrle will be in high demand. But speaking after the game, Buehrle didn’t sound like he was closing the door on returning to the South Side. If anything, he was almost begging the White Sox to leave it open.

 

"Obviously doing this for 13, 14 years of my life, this is all I know. It's kinda hard to think otherwise. It's hard to go home in this offseason and think I'm going to go to spring training somewhere else," Buehrle said. "Deep down inside, I'd love to be back, but reality might sink in. It just depends on which way they go.”

 

With two games still on the schedule, Guillen couldn’t wait to leave.

 

Buehrle’s different. He says he wants to be here, and since he’s an avid dog lover, there’s really only one word that needs to be said: Stay.

 

Chuck Garfien hosts White Sox Pregame and Postgame Live on Comcast SportsNet with former Sox slugger Bill Melton. Follow Chuck @ChuckGarfien on Twitter for up-to-the-minute Sox news and views.

[Harry Chappas]

Listening to the post game press conference with he and Cooper made me kind of glad that guillen was gone.

 

That game played out perfectly from the vintage Buehrle pitching performance through the on field tribute. The coolest thing was the team not taking the field and allowing he and Cooper to have a moment.

 

The on-field interview with Hawk was intense as well and then the press conference where you could feel the admiration that Cooper has for Buehrle.

 

Decent crowd as well.