Hall -of-famer?

Here are the pitchers from the modern era who have thrown a no-hitter and a perfect game in their careers: Jim Bunning, Randy Johnson, Addie Joss, Sandy Koufax and Cy Young.

All but Randy Johnson are in the Hall of Fame (and the Unit will join them soon enough), which begs the question: has Mark Buerhle solidified his status as a HOF pitcher?

His career numbers are certainly respectable (133-90 over a 10-year career), but are nothing that would make him stand out over other great pitchers of the past decade. Except, of course, for those no-no’s and the fact that he was a central part of a World Series championship in 2005.

For his part, Buehrle doesn’t even want to think about it, from Mark Gonzaelz “Hardball” blog:

“I think I got to do a lot more in this game to be thought of in that category,” Buehrle said. “Obviously it’s an honor for people to even mention that. I got (133) wins now. I need a lot more wins and a lot more stuff in this game to be mentioned there.”

Speaking to the Sun-Times’ Joe Cowley, Guillen said he thinks the bar for Hall of Fame induction will get lower:

“Hall of Fame is going to need people to get in,” Guillen said. “You will see people in with 200 wins, 220 or 250. There’s no doubt. You have to. I don’t think any pitcher is going to last long enough to win 300 games.”

And Rob Neyer agrees that Buehrle is good, but thnks he’s not that good:

Buehrle’s career ERA is roughly 23 percent better than the American League average during his 10 seasons. That’s really, really good. That’s better than Bob Feller, Eddie Plank, Juan Marichal, Don Drysdale, and various other Hall of Famers. It’s better than CC Sabathia,Josh Beckett, Jake Peavy, Andy Pettitte, and John Lackey.

But would Joe Fan or Rob Blogger put Buehrle on the same level with those stars?

Probably not, because Buehrle just hasn’t done the sorts of things that get one mentioned among such notables. He has never won 20 games, and has won more than 16 games just once. He has been mentioned in the Cy Young results just once (finishing a distant fifth in 2005). With two notable exceptions — first the no-hitter, and now this — he’s never been particularly overpowering.

So what do we make of it…

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I can’t believe I have to go back to work after this. How am I supposed to concentrate?

**Update** Broken up through 7 2/3 with a Kennedy base hit to center on a 3-2 count, two-outs.

“Fred” (as dubbed by the Angels anouncer) García perfect through 7.

Maybe he found his right blend of …uhm… herbs.

But the interesting thing happened in the top of the sixth. With Iguchi on second and Thome on first, Konerko blooped a single to right-center with 2 outs. Iguchi misread it and slowed down mid-way between third and home, thinking the ball had been caught. Rivera quickly fired the ball to the cut-off man, who then fired to the catcher. Iguchi out.

Oh, BTW, he’s in my fantasy team. That is, the team that finished dead last in my league.

Last night, after allowing a leadoff double to Mark Kotsay, Angels pitcher John Lackey retired the next 27 batters he faced. So was Lackey pissed at himself for giving up that double, which cost him a perfect game? From the L.A. Times:

In speaking with reporters, Lackey denied he fed off any motivation besides pitching against Zito, and against the team in first place in the Angels’ division. He also said he didn’t leave the ballpark with that just-missed-a-perfect-game feeling.

“I don’t feel like I just missed,” he said. “I was in the stretch trying to get out of a jam right out of the gate.”

Ok, John, whatever you say.

Lackey became the first pitcher in 24 years to give up a leadoff hit and retire the next 27 batters. Jerry Reuss last did it, pitching for the Dodgers on June 11, 1982, against the Cincinnati Reds.