Armando Galarraga‘s brilliance on Wednesday night has been tarnished enough by a bad call.
Any move by official scorers, Major League Baseball, the Players’ Union or Amnesty International to “correct” the umpiring gaffe and hand Galarraga a perfect game 18 hours later will tarnish his performance even more.
Isn’t one asterisk enough?
Seriously, how can the official scorer charge an error on the penultimate play? He can’t ding Miguel Cabrera for the throw, it was fine. He can’t penalize Galarraga either; he made the catch, he tagged the base.
For me, the bottom line is that this can only get worse if “they” start tinkering with the results. In many ways, this game will be even more memorable because of Jim Joyce‘s goof.
Think about it, even if Galarraga never wins another major-league game he’ll always be remembered as that guy who threw the perfect game that the umpire blew. Not ideal but not Bill Buckner either.
And what, pray tell, is Galarraga expected to do if he was suddenly — what’s the appropriate word here, awarded, handed, reimbursed? — a perfect game? It makes no sense to try to right this wrong.
It stinks, yes, but it’s how baseball works — or doesn’t sometimes.
dailyfungo.com 
Tim, you know what the city of Detriot could use more that a perfect game? A lesson in class.
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Tim, you don’t think last night’s game is already more memorable because of what happened, and what was said after the game? This has gotten far more attention from mainstream (and non-baseball) media today than if Galarraga had thrown a perfect game.
And c’mon, a perfect game from Galarraga doesn’t change what’s happening in Detroit. People still would’ve gotten up today to face their lives, regardless of the outcome.
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Mike, for you to sit there and say, “In many ways, this game will be even more memorable because of Jim Joyce’s goof” is down right ignorance on your part. Considering there has only been 20 pitchers to ever accomplish this remarkable feat since the beginning of the MLB, it just doesn’t make sense for you to even write something like that. Maybe if the call was a close one and the ump made a mistake okay, that’s understandable we’re all human we’re not perfect. However in this case where Donald was so obviously behind the throw it should have been a routine out for Joyce to make.
For a city that is literally falling apart from the auto industry collapsing and an drastic increase in violence, I think the 21st perfect game EVER thrown, by a DETROIT pitcher in DETROIT would have made quite an impact in a place where good news in general is so damn hard to come by.
“Think about it, even if Galarraga never wins another major-league game he’ll always be remembered as that guy who threw the perfect game that the umpire blew.”
Who even thinks like that, how did you even get hired in there??
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So, we ignore what we all know is TRUE (a perfect game) to preserve the archaic 19th Century legacy of the sport? Making the Ump’s calls unquestionable DID make sense before the instant replay.
I’m even fine with blowing a regular season games to keep the flow – the Ump’s call can be divine in that case. Remember the NHL’s ‘crease violation’ of the late 90’s? When it comes to playoffs and career defining moments….let the FACTS rule.
An asterisk is for gray areas, not black and white. If this call stands, then it’s a black mark on the league.
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I agree completely, Mike. One can’t help but be at least a little upset about the call, but it’s done now. Armando deserves much more credit than he’s getting, and I’d bet he would just like all this drama to go away. He’s a classy guy. In the end, he’ll get to tell his grandkids he pitched a perfect game in the show, and it was robbed by a blown call. I’ll get to tell my two year old we watched it. How neat is that?
In a different vein, that performance is a great sign for the Tigers. Bondo, Max, and Armando sure are pitching well. Look out Twins!
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