Blown call costs Tigers pitcher perfect game

I don't know if anyone has caught this TERRIBLE call. I watched the last half of the inning of the Tigers game and I felt horrible for the Gallaraga kid. Not only would it have been huge for him but also it being the 3rd PG of the year! I have seen plenty of bad calls but I have never seen such a bad call at such a bad time. I have read on several threads recently how if a play such as a throw down to 2nd on an attempted steal is executed crisply and looks like an out then it probably will and should be called that way. Well, this play was in fact executed perfectly and the runner was in fact OUT.....even on the replay is was clear and yet the ump called him safe. Even if this play is close at first for the last out of a perfect game that runner should be called out....BALLGAME! Period! That umpire cheated the game of baseball and also cheated this kid of a perfect game.

 

Maybe the baseball gods wanted to the keep the headlines clear for Ken Griffey Jr.'s retirement? Either way...it was a bad call at a bad time

 

Well that's one way to look at it.....Jr. will get his. I was just absolutely livid about that call.

 

I would like to see Bud Selig overturn the call....the evidence is undeniable and I'm sure the ump will admit he blew the call. Leland said the ump told him the runner beat the play, so when he sees the replay he will know he stoned the pitcher and everyone else who wants the right and fair outcome.

If Selig does so, he will not have changed the outcome of the game, just corrected a huge injustice.

I also give a 25% chance the umpire resigns his position.

 

After the game the umpire said that he thought the runner beat it out but after looking at the replay he was clearly wrong. He said that he felt terrible for the pitcher and doesn't blame anyone on the Tigers for letting him have it after the game. I would love to see Selig take some kind of action in recognizing what this kid did but I honestly don't think anything will change. It was just such a bad time for that call.....in that situation would you not want to err in calling him OUT rather than calling him safe and ruining a PG?

 

Armando Galarraga

Fate works in mysterious ways.....yes, the Ump blew it, but.....I know the pitcher's name, and he will be more famous, and more people will remember his near-perfect game than if there had been no controversy. He will reap more benefit, more fame, and(if he handles things with class over the next several days) more respect than being one of three this season.......I can say his name, and even spell it correctly--ARMANDO GALARRAGA----I have no clue who the other 2 were---he should send the Ump roses!!

 

It was a terrible call at the worse possible moment but humans make mistakes and this mistake will haunt him for the rest of his life which in my opinion, is punishment enough. The ump has had a fine career and is well respected in the game, unlike some of the publicity seeking umps that try to steal the limelight from the players. I blame MLB for not have a system (instant replay) to correct calls, not on balls/strikes but on run producing/game changing/history making moments. They use it on controversal homeruns, why not other controversal plays. All jmho! At least the ump has admitted he blew the call and went to the pitcher and apologized fact-to-face instead of hiding from everyone. For that, I tip my imaginary hat to him.

 

That is why it is called a “Perfect Game” and there have only been 20. Not only does the pitcher need to be perfect, so do the fielders and the umpiring crew.

 

Thats Baseball

Jim Leyland's press conference after the game says it all. If you are able to go back and watch the interview it was absolutely one of the most classy, professional interviews I have ever seen.

I saw a comment on the board that said the umpire cheated the pitcher and cheated the game. My definition of cheat is to do something on purpose to gain ground for yourself. In no way did that umpire cheat anyone. Nobody feels worse than Jim Joyce right now and 9 times out of 10 he makes the right call. In full speed that play was bang bang and a lot tougher call in full speed. Not only was it bang bang, the ball rattled around in the pitchers glove which added another element to the call. Like Mincmi said, everyone has to be perfect. If the first baseman lets the second baseman have that ball we are not talking about this right now. Tough play for a righty first baseman to go deep in the 4-hole to make that play. Makes it a tough throw and catch for the out.

Human error is part of baseball and that is what makes it such a great game. Like ktparstufan said, everyone will remember this play and this pitcher.

Could you imagine how long the games would take with instant replay? Every bang bang play would be reviewed and MLB games would take six hours to play. No way should instant replay be involved in baseball. Let's not make impulsive decisions because of one play. The guys in blue are often right way more than they are wrong. Think about this.....would we have the classic manager/umpire arguments with replay? I guarantee you we wouldn't be watching the minor league manager from the Braves army crawling around the field throwing grenades.

 

I was watching the game on MLB because they cut in towards the end to watch the perfect game in progress. When that play happened, my heart just sank. It sank for Rodriguez who threw a perfect game with an asterisk by it, it sank for Jim Joyce who is one of the better umpires in the MLB and made the "call", it sank for Miguel Cabrera who in his excitement tried to make a play that the 2B could have made and thrown the would be 27th out by about 4-5 steps.

All this talk about instant replay is knee jerk just like it is everytime a controversial call happens. As I've said before, the percentage of calls made that are correct are so many more than the wrong ones. It just so happens this one came on the heels of a perfect game. Harold Reynolds and Dave Valle did a very good job on MLB of talking about the many aspects of that particular play. They flat out said that Jim Joyce is one of the better umpires. As I'm typing this, I just listened to the interview with Jim Joyce on 97.1FM and he said he kicked it and he said he was sorry. He "man-ed up" and asked the clubby to get Rodriguez and speak to him. He told him he was sorry and that he kicked it. I think there is more of a life lesson to be learned from how things were handled afterwards than anything else. Armando Rodriguez is a class act..no two ways about it. Jim Joyce despite what happened was a class act in admitting his mistake. Jim Leyland, despite showing his hind end at the end of the game, was a class act in the post game interview. He said Jim Joyce is one of the best in the game and he made a mistake. As an umpire, I feel for Jim Joyce. I've never been in that position of course but I've made calls that nobody else said a word about and I stewed about for a couple of innings because I don't know if I got it right or not. It sucks!!!! It's a horrible feeling because you try to get all the plays right. I think people have to be careful also how they throw the word cheat around. When you accuse an umpire of cheating the game you are taking a direct shot at his integrity and implying he did it on purpose. There is no way in hell that Jim Joyce made that call on purpose. I know the person that said that may not have understood what they were saying but you need to be careful throwing around "cheating". You cheat the game when you don't run a ground ball out because you are doing that on purpose.