Buehrle gets rings for perfect game

Just call it a bittersweet day for Mark Buehrle.

Before Friday night's game against the Detroit Tigers, Buehrle was presented with two diamond rings and a display case full of momentos from his July 23 perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays.

One of the rings is for Buehrle and the other's for his dad, John.

"Obviously, it shows the class of the organization, the White Sox," Buehrle said. "Jerry, going out there and doing stuff like that. Obviously, it's a great accomplishment, but recognizing it by getting a ring and a big display case for the house, and then going above and beyond and getting my dad one. It just shows you how awesome Jerry is."

Buehrle was working on an awesome season when he pitched the 18th perfect game in major-league history two months ago.

The 30-year-old lefty was 11-3 with a 3.28 ERA, and he followed up by retiring the first 17 batters in his next start at Minnesota. That gave Buehrle 45 outs in a row, a major-league record.

But the bottom fell out after that - the Twins scored 5 runs on 5 hits before Buehrle exited the game with one out in the seventh inning - and the workhorse starter never recovered.

In his last start, against Minnesota Wednesday, a worn-out Buehlre allowed 5 runs (4 earned) in 31/3 innings. Since the perfect game he is 1-7 with a 5.18 ERA.

Buehrle has pitched over 200 innings for nine straight years, the longest streak in the majors.

His next start, scheduled for Tuesday at Cleveland, is now going to be filled by Carlos Torres.

"They are pushing me back a couple of days (to) Detroit to see if anything matters to the Tigers or Twins, and then they will throw me in there," Buehrle said.

As for the White Sox' disappointing season, Buehrle said the fatal turn came on the 2-8 road trip to Boston, New York and Minnesota that started in late August.

"It killed us," Buehrle said.

Mr. Negative: The White Sox were officialy eliminated from playoff contention when the Tigers beat the Indians Thursday, but manager Ozzie Guillen knew the season was over long before the official expiration date.

"Nothing was positive," Guillen said. "We're still alive. That's it. You look at positive things, what am I going say? 'Oh, Gordon (Beckham) had a pretty good year.' Who cares?

"Whoever had a great year, good for them. They're going to make more money because of that. When (Mark) Buehrle threw that perfect game, we were in first place. After that, we gone. I will trade that perfect game for six more wins for Buehrle. And he will say the same stuff."

Coaching corner: The Sox' entire coaching staff is expected to be back next season, although manager Ozzie Guillen still has the final call.

"I'm pretty sure," Guillen said. "Every time I have to get rid of any of my coaches, the next day I do it. The next day. If you're not coaching for us, it's because you don't work or you're not on the same page as we are. I think our coaches work very hard."