Buehrle's shelled ... then ballistic
Buehrle takes out frustration on dugout heater
Mark Buehrle didn't wait for Ozzie Guillen to complete his walk to the mound, marching out to meet the White Sox manager and handing him the game ball. And that was just the beginning of one of Buehrle's most bizarre moments in baseball Wednesday night.
During a five-run sixth inning against the Minnesota Twins -- a team he has dominated during his career -- the usually mild-mannered Buehrle became unglued. The left-hander stomped off the mound, headed directly toward a corner of the dugout and grabbed one of Juan Uribe's bats. Buehrle went ballistic, whacking a dugout heater about five times with a bat that hadn't seen this much action all season.
(Tom Cruze/Sun-Times)
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Twins 13, White Sox 1
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When he was done, Buehrle calmly returned the bat to its spot, plopped himself on the bench and folded his arms. Then he sat steaming through the rest of the inning that put the game away during the first-place Twins' 13-1 romp at U.S. Cellular Field.
''It's frustrating, it's embarrassing, I mean, all around, not just on myself but the way we have been playing,'' Buehrle said. ''It's just one of those days where I couldn't hold it back, and I let my emotions show.''
After a 1-hour, 44-minute rain delay before the game, Buehrle got off to a sour start, yielding a leadoff home run to rookie Carlos Gomez, who later hit a fifth-inning triple, a sixth-inning double and a ninth-inning infield single to complete the Twins' first cycle since Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett did it on Aug. 1, 1986. It was the first time a Sox opponent hit for the cycle since Mike Blowers of the Oakland Athletics accomplished the feat on May 18, 1998.
Gomez, 22, who was acquired from the New York Mets in the Johan Santana trade, had two other at-bats. He struck out in the third inning and struck out during a second trip to the plate in the ninth.
A year after making history by pitching a no-hitter against the Texas Rangers, Buehrle turned in one of the worst outings of his career. Then he shocked everyone by snapping.
''I have never seen him react like that,'' Guillen said. ''It was kind of weird to see him like that.''
Can Buehrle recall ever snapping in such a manner before?
''There have been a few times,'' he said with a grin. ''I don't know if I have done it on camera, but there have been a few times that I snapped.''
Did hammering the dugout heater make Buehrle feel any better?
''It did,'' Buehrle said, ''until it started smoking. Then I got worried. As far as getting it out of me, yeah, it felt pretty good.''
But this lopsided loss wasn't all on Buehrle (1-4). Twins starter Livan Hernandez (5-1) quickly set down the Sox, keeping them scoreless until Jermaine Dye hit a solo home run with one out in the ninth -- ruining the right-hander's bid for his first shutout since 2004.
''We played a very, very, very sloppy game,'' Guillen said. ''Bad game. Bad pitching, bad execution, in the field we didn't do what we are supposed to do.''
As for Gomez, he has been brilliant at times and has shown that his skills are still raw. On Wednesday, he was impressive.
''Outstanding,'' Guillen said. ''This kid has a chance. People will forget pretty soon about Torii Hunter. This kid has all the tools. I like the way he plays. He's a little cocky. He's got a great chance to be a hell of a player.''
TWINS 13, WHITE SOX 1
