December 11, 2024

Don’t Blame the Umpire

As we watched the replay of the potential final out of Andres Galarraga’s possible perfect game with our jaws on the ground let’s take notice that although Jim Joyce did make the wrong call we have to ask another question. Why did Miguel Cabrera go into the hole for the grounder when it was clearly the second basemen’s play to make?

The very poor umpire call should never have been an issue and this game would have given MLB it’s first ever 3 perfect game season and it’s only June. The real surprise is this kid Galarraga took it like a man and never once mentioned the call or Joyce as the culprit. Maybe he was lucky to even get that far because there was a play earlier in the 9th inning where Mark Grudzielanek hit the first pitch of the inning to deep left center and Detroit center fielder Austin Jackson made an unbelievable catch over his head to preserve the perfecto.

The call was horrendous and the perfect game along with the no-no went completely down the drain, but right when we are about to forget Roy Halladay’s perfect game (20th in MLB history) we can always talk about the one that got away.