Thursday, June 3, 2010

Missed call ends Galarraga's perfect bid


Maybe there is crying in baseball. This may be the worst call in the history of the game. Video at the link.

To twist the famous newspaper lede, the imperfect call spoiled the perfect game Wednesday.

The Tigers were ready to celebrate when Indians shortstop Jason Donald grounded to first base with two outs in the ninth. Brandon Inge was jumping for joy. Don Kelly and Austin Jackson were rushing in from the outfield to join in the celebration that was sure. Gerald Laird and the rest of the Detroit dugout was readying to storm the field and mob pitcher Armando Galarraga.

One call from first-base umpire Jim Joyce changed history.

It was tough enough for the Tigers to believe. For Joyce, who made the safe call that broke up perfection in Detroit's one-hit, 1-0 win over Cleveland, it was heartbreaking. And as television replays showed, it was a mistake -- an honest mistake, as Joyce explained.

"It was the biggest call of my career," an emotional Joyce told reporters, "and I kicked it. I just cost that kid a perfect game."

Austin Jackson's over-the-shoulder catch seven pitches earlier for the first out of the ninth inning seemingly had taken care of the toughest play of the night, the toughest obstacle between Galarraga and history. Mike Redmond's routine ground ball for the second out put Galarraga on history's doorstep.

More here-

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100602&content_id=10727590&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

1 comment:

Bruce Robison said...

Peggy Noonan got this just right in her WSJ column:

http://www.peggynoonan.com/article.php?article=525