While the holidays are cluttered with annual year-end lists, there are few I anticipate more than the ones commemorating the best plays of the year. While it’s impossible for a play to encompass the tone of an entire year of sports, running through the best plays of the year always seems to serve as a great refresher course. Hopefully, in a few years, we won’t need a 2010 “best of” list to remind us who Blake Griffin is, but it’s a nice reminder. For instance, two of the entrants on this list bounced things off of walls. Intrigued? You should be. Keep reading.

CLICK HERE For The 10 Greatest Plays of 2010

That’s a pretty amazing play by Buehrle, a guy who has done it all in his career. He won a World Series with the Sox in 2005, threw a perfect game last year and another no-hitter in 2007. He’s also the only pitcher in World Series history to start and save consecutive games. He’s made All-Star teams and has hit a dinger, no small feat for an American League pitcher. Want more? He also holds the major league record for number of consecutive hitters retired with 45.

The play he made on opening day is just amazing, but there has already been another improbable play, albeit in spring training, when Denard Span hit his own mother with a foul ball. With all these amazing baseball feats, you can understand why some people will do almost anything for good tickets. Well, except that.

Click Here to watch the Vido – [MLB]

Buehrle was flawless, going the complete nine innings without allowing a hit or a walk, and striking out six.  Well maybe flawless is a bit of an overstatement.  After all, he did give up what should have been a home run to Gabe Kapler in the ninth, only to have Dewayne Wise (who Ozzie Guillen inserted in the final inning for defensive purposes) save the day with an over-the-wall catch.  That sealed the victory, shutout, and perfect game, earning Buehrle  “The Stat Line Of The Night” for Thursday, July 23rd, 2009.

This is nothing new for the White Sox pitcher.  Just two seasons ago, Buehrle pitched a no-hitter against the Texas Rangers.  Strangely enough, Eric Cooper was the umpire behind the plate for both games.  Mark must really like his strike zone.

With no hits or walks recorded by the Tampa Bay Rays’ hitters though eight innings, Gabe Kapler stepped to the plate to lead off the ninth.  With the count at 2-2, it appeared as though Kapler had broken both the perfect game and the shutout with one swing of the bat.  That was before Wise raced back to the wall and made the leaping grab.

Two batters later and Buehrle became the 18th player in MLB history to record a perfect game.  We have seen some great plays these past couple of weeks by both players and the fans in the stands, but with the implications that Wise’s catch had on the game, this likely has to be a favorite for baseball’s play of the year.  Let the debate begin.

In the mean time, here is footage of the great catch.