Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga was just robbed from getting a perfect game against the Cleveland Indians tonight. It wasn't even close.
After dominating the Indians for 8 2/3 innings, Galarraga was one a batter away from the perfect game. He hadn't thrown more than 11 pitches in an inning, that's how well he was pitching.
The Indians rookie Jason Donald hit a ground ball in between first and second base, with Miguel Cabrera fielding it cleanly and shuffling it over to Galarraga covering the base. The pitcher shuffled his feet a bit, but still made the play and had Donald out by at least half a step. Unless you asked Jim Joyce, who was calling first base. It appeared as if he was going to call Donald out, sealing Galarraga's perfect game, but stopped and then called him safe.
It was the wrong call. Replays that followed showed Donald was clearly out, but there is no instant replay for out/safe calls in baseball, robbing Galarraga from being the 21st pitcher, and third this season, to pitch a perfect game.
Galarraga retired the next batter for a great one-hit, shutout victory, but it should have been perfect. Just one more reason baseball needs to adopt instant replay for more than just home runs.
The Clash - Bank Robber
It's a shame. MLB needs to do the right thing and overturn that call. I think a guy on MLB Network nailed it on the head. When Leyland went out to talk to Joyce, the ump whispered something to Leyland and Leyland turned away real quick. Joyce must have said, "I blew it."
ReplyDeleteAnother weird thing about the play is that Galarraga barely had control of the ball. Don't get me wrong, the batter was out but a reverse angle showed that he snow coned it, then flipped it back to himself (after the runner was past first base).
Another thing...how much of a class act is Armando Galarraga? In his post game interview there was no complaining at all, just thankful to have the opportunity to compete.
Armando was great. He didn't argue one bit on after the call on the field.
ReplyDeleteIf Joyce knew he blew it, why didn't he correct himself? Replay would have justified the reversal and he would be praised for owning up to his mistake during the game, not after the fact.
When a referee or umpire makes a call they have less than a second to think about their decision. As if that isn't difficult enough, it needs to be the final decision.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened after that play that could have allowed Joyce to change his mind? The only time you see that is when an ump calls a runner out then sees that the fielder actually dropped the ball. Plus, it's not like Joyce can get the others umpires together for a conference...his view of the play was fine.
It might not result in the best calls every time (see Don Denkinger), but indecision simply isn't acceptable from umpires.
All I'm saying is that if Joyce told Leyland that he blew it, which I don't think he thought until he saw the replay later, he should have reversed the call. But I doubt Joyce admitted guilt until after he was in the ump's cave and saw the replay.
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