Fantasy Baseball

Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle threw the first no-hitter of the baseball season. Seeing as over two years passed between Randy Johnson’s perfect game and Anibal Sanchez’s no-hitter last September, the fact that a no-hitter happened so early in the season is a bit of a surprise.

Buehrle walked only one batter in the 40-degree night at Comiskey Park. After walking Sammy Sosa in the fifth inning, Buehrle subsequently picked him off first base.

In command throughout , Buerhle seemed to not show too much emotion until the ninth inning.

“You don’t want to make that one mistake and give up a hit,” the 28-year-old Buehrle said. “I could feel my knees a little bit, a little shaken, a little extra adrenaline going for the ninth inning.”

The performance could go a long ways in putting Buehrle back on the fantasy baseball map. After a dominating stretch between 2001 and 2005 in which Buehrle went 81-52, the big left hander took a step back last season, going 12-13 with a career-high 4.99 ERA.

If you can get Buehrle for cheap, go ahead and do so. But don’t overpay for him because he could very easily return to his 2006 form. While Buehrle had eight strikeouts during his no-hitter, he had only two strikeouts in his first two starts.

Think of him as a solid number two or three starter in your fantasy rotation. If he’s more than that, you could be in trouble. Despite the heroics we saw Wednesday.