Mark Buehrle Looking A Lot Like Tom Glavine

Also a lot like Johnny Padres and Frank Viola. This is via Baseball-Reference and does not include today's game:

Sim Player               From  To Yrs  W   L   WL%   ERA    G   GS  GF  CG SHO  SV   IP     H    R   ER   HR  BB   SO  ERA+
+---+--------------------+---------+--+---+---+-----+-----+----+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+----+----+---+----+----+---+
     Mark Buehrle        2000-2009 10 132  90  .595  3.78  312 287   6  23   7   0 1973.0 2043  928  829 226  451 1153 122
952  Johnny Podres       1953-1963 10 129  96  .573  3.66  336 286  22  72  22   5 1891.0 1876  853  770 193  627 1267 107
949  Frank Viola         1982-1990  9 137 110  .555  3.70  307 306   0  63  14   0 2107.7 2077  960  866 233  608 1469 112
945  Tom Glavine         1987-1996 10 139  92  .602  3.45  298 298   0  34  13   0 1956.3 1871  842  751 127  664 1212 115

(Side Note: That's right, Tom Glavine had ZERO relief appearances. He's the winningest pitcher ever without coming in from the bullpen, according to B-R's Play Index. #3 on that list and #1 active is Yankees ace CC Sabathia)

Rob Neyer mentions that he's been flying under the radar for a while despite being really 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.

Well here is "Rob Blogger" giving Buehrle his due (and not just for that Perfect Game today). In his quiet excellence and lack of a 20-win season, Buehrle reminds me a lot of the Mike Mussina. Quiet, never the best, but quietly puts up very good numbers.

Maybe now after the perfect game, Buehrle will finally get his due. Or, if the White Sox fall out of the race, maybe they will have a big chip to move to a team looking for a very good and very underrated starting pitcher.