Perfection at U.S. Cellular Field: Rays at White Sox

“Oh well,” I thought as Gabe Kapler connected with Mark Buehrle’s pitch in the top of the 9th inning for an apparent home run – another possible no-hitter (this time a perfect game) lost in a late inning. The main baseball feat I have never witnessed in person.

But out of nowhere came DeWayne Wise. A defensive replacement for the start of the inning, Wise sprinted, in what appeared to be about a dozen strides, to the wall, jumped against the eight foot wall and extended his right arm. I could not believe what happened next – the ball landed in his glove but as Wise hit the wall and headed towards the ground the ball popped out of his glove for a split second and with his bare left hand grabbed the ball, fell to the ground and rolled. He jumped up and displayed the ball to the crowd and everyone was ecstatic. The perfect game was still in tact!

The next two batters – Michael Hernandez and Jason Bartlett stood no chance after that play. Hernandez struck out after getting to a 3-1 count and Bartlett grounded out to Alexei Ramirez for the 27th and final out. Mark Buehrle had just pitched the 18th perfect game in Major League Baseball history and I attended my first perfect game and no-hitter.

Obtaining Tickets
On the train south to U.S. Cellular Field a man got on the train in the loop and asked if anyone needed an extra ticket. I walked over to him and said I did. He wanted $20 for a single but I told him I only wanted to pay $10. He then offered me both tickets for $20. Assuming I could resell the other ticket outside of the ballpark I accepted the man’s offer.

As I got off the train, I resold the ticket to a scalper for $15. I probably should have done better but did not feel like hassling with trying to sell the other ticket. Plus I would never complain about buying a 100 level seat for $5.

The Game
In what was completely overshadowed by Mark Buehrle’s perfect game, Josh Fields hit a grand slam – the fourth straight White Sox game I have attended in which a grand slam was hit.

Possible Foul Ball
On May 21, I caught my first foul ball in a few years at U.S. Cellular Field. Yesterday, in the 5th inning, I dropped an easy foul ball from Paul Konerko as I sat in section 122, row 26, seat 1. In my aggravation over dropping the easy foul ball, I forgot Buehrle was throwing a perfect game and finally realized Buehrle was throwing a perfect game during the seventh inning stretch – probably good luck for Buehrle as usually the next batter gets a hit once I realize a no-hitter is being thrown.

U.S. Cellular Field
For the first time I noticed that U.S. Cellular Field is now selling Amstel Light and Heineken from a beer vendor. Prior to this you could only buy those beers from a concession stand. The price was not too bad either - $7.25 vs. $6.75 for Miller Lite.

Another note for this game was that I was on the Apple Vacations wave came after the 7th inning. Since I normally sit in the upper deck I do not usually get on the jumbotron but yesterday I did.

Post Game
After the game, I stuck around U.S. Cellular Field to watch Buehrle and Ozzie Guillen in the post game press conference. I have seen the White Sox promote the press conference at other White Sox games I have attended but never stuck around to watch it. It was much shorter than I thought it would be but filled up the time between leaving U.S. Cellular Field and getting to Solider Field – especially considering the game only lasted 2 hours and 3 minutes.

As I was walking to the train, I stopped by where the players “supposedly” exit after White Sox games. Little did I know the players actually exit about 50 yards from where they let the fans stand. Kenny Williams did exit by us, but nobody else exited by the fans.