28 Up, 28 Down

The perfect crime. With two outs in the top of the 9th inning, Tigers pitcher Armando Galaragga was one out shy of a perfect game. He delivered to Jason Donald. Donald hit a relatively routine grounder forcing Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera to range to his right. Cabrera fielded cleanly, waited for Galarraga to near first base, and then fed him with a good toss. It was the 27th and final out of the biggest game of Galarraga's life. He had thrown a perfect game. His name was forever etched into baseball history. It was the third perfect game of this year, and the second since last week.

But it wasn't.

First base umpire Jim Joyce instead etched his name into history. More like infamy. After hesitation, to the ire of an entire crowd, city, ballclub, owner, and baseball fan passing by to watch this historic feat, Joyce spread his arms. Safe.

Robbery. Absolute robbery. It wasn't even close.

To cite the most controversial call or lack thereof in recent memory, I'd like to bring up the "Bartman play." Though it was not a "bang bang" play at first, it is worth mention because of its similar enormity. It's my contention that what happened tonight was worse. How could that be? you might ask. After all, Bartman's interference was at a critical point in the NLCS. The Cubs were on the verge of the World Series. What you might not remember though, is that the Cubs still had a great chance to win - a chance to overcome their misfortunes. Similarly, Don Denkinger's infamous call in the 1985 World series can be thrown into this category. St. Louis still had a chance to not only win that game, but game 7 also. Here? Well, here, there is no game 7 to fall back on. No second chance. Something was taken away from Armando Galarraga that simply can never be given back to him.

Jim Joyce wasn't aware at the time that he had stolen something. Galarraga deserved a perfect game. He deserved to be remembered for this. Joyce? After ripping him last night, at this point I can only feel for the guy. It's just baseball and the man made a mistake. He had the courage to own up to it. He apologized to Galarraga personally. He took the field today to do his job as usual and exchanged lineup cards with the pitcher. I hope that his family is ok.

That said, I still don't view this as something that should be moved on from, not yet at least. It was clear to the naked eye to begin with and no matter which angle you look at it, he is out. Hopefully Bud Selig does the right thing to salvage and rectify this situation as much as he possibly can. Though the moment of bliss and pure joy can never be recovered, at least a name and a feat in a record book can. Do the right thing, Bud.


-Tom Greenhalgh (6/3/10)