Baseball

[smc]

Major League Baseball announced today that two Red Sox, David Ortiz and Jon Lester, are the American League Player of the Month and Pitcher of the Month, respectively. The Ortiz pick is especially satisfying here in Red Sox Nation, since it recognizes that a guy who had a dismal April, and who the "pundits" began to talk of as "done," has turned things around tremendously. The Sox are nipping at the Blue Jays' heels, are not far behind the Yankees, and are making a race of it in the AL East, just as should be expected.

[oldawg]

Originally Posted by smc

two Red Sox, David Ortiz and Jon Lester, are the American League Player of the Month and Pitcher of the Month, respectively.

Congrats, thats gotta feel great, but whats gotta feel even better is what it signifies for your team...to have the best pitcher & the best hitter in the entire league for the better part of a month on one team, well, that team must be making a move in the division, as you stated...again, congrats!!!

Originally Posted by smc

Finally, let me add my voice to the welcomes to oldawg to this thread.

Thank you!!! Believe it or not, simple kindness & politeness such as I've been treated to in this thread really do make a difference...

[shadows]

I was wondering what everyone else thought about Armando Galarraga losing his Perfect Game due to a blatantly wrong call by umpire Jim Joyce. I honestly believe that Bud Selig should step in and change it to a Perfect Game. It was the final out(and he was out) so it would have been the game had that out counted. If it had been either the first or second out of the game, I can see leaving it as is(since anything could have happened with different pitch selections, etc.), but since it was the FINAL OUT, it should be a Perfect Game.

Here is an article about it from tsn.ca.

BLOWN CALL COSTS TIGERS' GALARRAGA PERFECT GAME

Detroit, MI (Sports Network) - Detroit's Armando Galarraga was one out away from the third perfect game of 2010 and the second in less than a week, but a blown call by first base umpire Jim Joyce cost him immortality.

After retiring the first 26 batters in succession, Indians shortstop Jason Donald was called safe on a ground ball to first baseman Miguel Cabrera. Replays showed that Galarraga clearly beat Donald to the bag while receiving Cabrera's toss, but Joyce made an emphatic safe call to the dismay of the entire Tigers team and the fans at Comerica Park.

"This isn't 'a' call. This isn't -- This is -- This is a history call," Joyce said. "And I kicked the (expletive) out of it. And there's nobody that feels worse than I do. I take pride in this job, and I kicked the (expletive) out of it, and I took a perfect game away from that kid who worked his (butt) off all night."

Despite the call, Galarraga finished with the first complete game and first shutout of his career -- a one-hitter -- as the Tigers beat the Indians, 3-0, in the second of three games.

"That's the nature of the business, that's just the way it is. The players are human, the umpires are human, the managers are human, the writers are human," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "We all make mistakes. It's a crying shame. Jimmy's a real good umpire, has been for a long time. He probably got it wrong."

Following the play and immediately after the game, Leyland and most of the Tigers players -- most notably Cabrera -- were yelling furiously at Joyce. The crowd vociferously booed him, realizing the call on the field was incorrect. After seeing a replay postgame, Joyce apologized to Galarraga.

"I give that guy a lot of credit to that guy saying, 'Hey I need to talk to you because I really want to say I'm sorry," Galarraga said. "You don't see an umpire telling you after the game saying 'I'm sorry.' He apologized."

Cabrera's solo shot in the second inning was all Detroit needed to post its eighth home win over Cleveland in the last nine tries. Galarraga (2-1) needed only 88 pitches in the masterpiece, nearly the Tigers' first perfect game in the team's illustrious history.

Joyce has been a major league umpire since 1987 -- full-time since 1989 -- and is one of the most senior umps in the game today. He was on the field for Nolan Ryan's 5,000th strikeout and Robin Yount's 3,000th hit and has worked two World Series, three league championship series and six division series, although he has not appeared in a playoff game since 2006.

It marked the 10th time in baseball history that a perfect game bid ended on the 27th batter. The last time it happened was when Boston's Carl Everett singled with two strikes off the Yankees' Mike Mussina on September 2, 2001.

"I thought he beat the play, and now that I am standing here and I've seen it on the replay, and naturally every Tiger out there was telling me that I kicked the call because they'd seen the replay," Joyce said. "So the first thing I did when I got in this locker room -- I told our clubhouse guy to queue it up, and I missed it. I missed it."

It also wasn't the first time an umpire controversy cost a pitcher the perfect game on what would have been the final batter. On September 2, 1972, umpire Bruce Froemming called ball four on a borderline 3-2 pitch to San Diego's Larry Stahl, costing Chicago Cubs pitcher Milt Pappas a shot at history.

Galarraga was bidding for the third perfect game of 2010 and the first since last Saturday's masterpiece by Philadelphia's Roy Halladay. Oakland's Dallas Braden also accomplished the feat on May 9 against the Tampa Bay Rays. No single season has ever seen three perfect games, and only 1880 ever saw multiple perfect games before this season.

The Indians, meanwhile, avoided being on the wrong end of a perfect game for the first time in team history. Cleveland has notched a hit in every game since the Yankees' Jim Abbott no-hit the Tribe on September 4, 1993.

"I don't know. Everything just happened so fast," Donald said. "I just put my head down and ran as hard as I could. I thought Galarraga threw a very, very good game. He kept us off-balance all night and threw all his pitches for strikes."

Galarraga was denied the Tigers' seventh no-hitter in team history and first since Justin Verlander did it against Milwaukee on June 12, 2007.

Lost in all the controversy was a solid start by Cleveland's Fausto Carmona (4-4), who pitched a complete game (eight innings) and allowed three runs -- two earned -- on nine hits while striking out three without walking a batter.

Galarraga's bid nearly came to an end at the start of the ninth inning on a hit ball by the Indians' Mark Grudzielanek. Grudzielanek blasted the first pitch he saw into the left-center field gap, and center fielder Austin Jackson made a tremendous running catch to preserve the no-hitter.

Cleveland hit into 14 groundouts while striking out only three times. The three strikeouts would have tied a record for least amount of strikeouts in a perfect game -- the same amount as the Cleveland Naps' Addie Joss in 1908.

Detroit's other runs came in the eighth, when Jackson and Johnny Damon hit back-to-back two-out singles. Magglio Ordonez followed with a base hit to score Jackson, and Damon raced home on a throwing error by right fielder Shin- Soo Choo.

Game Notes

Ironically enough, Joyce was working second base during Braden's perfect game...Detroit leads the season series, 5-2...The Indians fell to 5-19 this season when they commit at least one error...Cabrera has 12 homers in 43 games against the Indians since joining the Tigers in 2008...Galarraga lowered his season earned run average to 2.57...Cabrera's home run was his 15th of the season and fifth in his last six games.

[oldawg]

I've been witness to some extremely bad calls by MLB umpires recently, but this has gotta be one of the worst ive ever seen. Thank goodness my Mets didn't get screwed this time, but i feel really bad for this kid.
Heres the story:
Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga had a perfect game with two outs in the ninth inning when a blown call prevented him from making history.
Indians hitter Jason Donald reached first base on an infield single. Detroit disputed the call and replays later showed that Donald was out.
Galarraga's perfect game would have been the third this season and the second in just a matter of days after Roy Halladay was perfect against the Marlins on Saturday.
Donald hit a bouncer that first baseman Miguel Cabrera cleanly fielded to his right. He took his time and made an accurate throw to Galarraga covering the bag.
The ball appeared to be in Galarraga's glove just before Donald made it to first base, replays indicated.
Galarraga quickly retired Trevor Crowe for the one-hit shutout after losing out on history.

A few notes from the game that I noticed myself:

First of all, I am unfamiliar with this pitcher (I'm an NL guy). However, watching him behave with the utmost class during this 9th inning, I'm now a fan. This is a life-changing mistake by the umpire Jim Joyce, one that could actually cost Galarraga million$ in the long run (Pitchers who throw no-hitters get multimillion dollar contracts. Those that don't may or may not). When Joyce emphatically called the runner safe, ending Galarraga's perfect-game bid, the pitcher just smiled a big smile & walked back to the mound. No yelling, no crying, no arguing, no fighting. Classy. I like this guy.

Secondly, veteran umpire Jim Joyce, who blew the call, is a stand-up guy. After the game, after viewing replays of the blown call, he actually apologized to Galarraga personally. That's refreshing as well.

It doesn't excuse the mistake, i know. But both of these men have dealt with this with such class & respect that I think it will help the league get past this horrendous error. As I stated earlier in this post, I have been dismayed many, many times because of terrible calls by these professional umpires, only to have them make it even worse by ejecting the players & managers for arguing the blown calls.

For myself, this has done it. Usually old-school & traditionalist, I have had enough. I am now interested in implementing computerized umpiring wherever possible. If ESPN can show us digitally EXACTLY where a pitch is, can't we utilize that technology within the game itself?

Umpire Jim Joyce made an error, came clean & should be forgiven. But I've seen way too many arrogant umps with a chip on their shoulder looking for a fight, after THEY messed up the game. I understand that at home we see WAY more much slower than these guys do. But c'mon, these guys have been REALLY, REALLY bad the last few years. At least once a game I see blown calls.

Congratulations to Armando Galarraga for pitching a perfect game, even if the books will never show it.

[shadows]

LOL! I beat you to the punch, oldawg.

I'm glad to see that I was not alone in my feelings that the pitcher got screwed over big time.

[smc]

I was listening to the Red Sox game on the radio and they kept mentioning this perfect game in progress, so in the 9th inning of the Tigers game I ran upstairs to the TV, turned on the MLB network, and watched the bad call.

My thoughts, in no particular order:

1. Gallaraga's behavior was truly admirable.

2. Jim Joyce did the right thing by apologizing, and he will never forget that he did this. That is probably punishment enough.

3. The idea that Bud Selig should step in and declare this a perfect game is an invitation to chaos.

4. There will be more calls now for instant replay in baseball. I think the home run review is enough. I want baseball to stay the most human of games for as long as possible. Think about how much this wonderful game is still exactly like the game of our youth. We stop playing when the weather gets bad, waiting until the last possible moment to suspend play. There are arguments about who saw what, and everyone's friendly at the end no matter the outcome ("I don't think you touched the lawn chair at second base, man! But let's see if my mom bought some popsicles.")

[oldawg]

Check it out...GM gave Galarraga a Corvette for the almost-perfect game:

Jun 03, 2010
Perfect: GM gives Chevrolet Corvette to Detroit pitcher Armando Galarraga

Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga was robbed of a perfect game against the Cleveland Indians Wednesday night, but GM found his performance impressive enough in the Tigers' 3-0 shutout to hand him the keys to a 2010 Chevy Corvette convertible.
That's some consolation prize. But it couldn't be more deserved:
Galarraga retired 26 straight Indians' batters before the 27th and final batter, Jason Donald, stepped to the plate. Donald hit a ground ball between first and second base, which was fielded by Tiger's first baseman Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera threw to Galarraga, who stepped on first base, but umpire Jim Joyce blew the call and said Donald was safe. Galarraga had to settle for a 3-0 shutout.
Shortly after the game ended, Joyce admitted to missing the call at the base, saying, "I just cost that kid a perfect game. I thought he beat the throw. I was convinced he beat the throw, until I saw the replay. It was the biggest call of my career." The umpire apologized to Galarraga last night.
GM North American President Mark Reuss found the performance impressive enough anyway. No matter what the record books say, Reuss decided Galarraga deserved recognition for his achievement.
One has to wonder what kind of car Galarraga would have gotten for a perfect game.
--Stephen Markley/Cars.com's Kicking Tires

pretty cool!

SMC, as for your 4 thoughts, I strongly agree with the first 3 (especially #3- this is an important point).

As for #4, i agree there will be more calls for replay now, & I am a case in point. In fact, I'm usually old-school, someone who would rather keep new influences out of the game, as I've argued in this thread before.
But things are changing. For the past 3 or so years I feel the umpiring in MLB has gotten progressively worse.
I don't keep track, but in the past year I would need at least two hands to count the games in which a bad call has changed the outcome of the game I was watching. (For what its worth, I see a lot of baseball. I watch Mets games daily, & I live with a Braves fan & Yankees fan so I'm always seeing their games, & I have the EXTRA INNINGS Baseball package for out-of-market games. For me, I love the Mets, but baseball is always on in the background. As a musician, I'm always working...I write & practice music all days & nights, & usually the TV is on mute the whole time).

Anyway, honestly I am fed up with all the bad calls. I'm sick of watching Jose Reyes get called out stealing 2nd base just because the throw beat him there. I'm tired of watching umps give the "ghost calls" during a double play or at first base. If the fielder never touches the bag, theres no way the runner should be out. & how about the check swing strikes? & the ridiculous strike zone many umps have? I mean c'mon, its not a form of self-expression, its letters to knees!

I'd prefer to keep more replay out of the game, but weve got to get these calls correct, so ive now changed sides & Im hoping we get as much computerized umpires as possible!!!

[smc]

Originally Posted by smc

3. The idea that Bud Selig should step in and declare this a perfect game is an invitation to chaos.

I've rethought this and I disagree with myself. I believe it should be so declared and will be, in time. There are precedents.

[oldawg]

Originally Posted by smc

I've rethought this and I disagree with myself. I believe it should be so declared and will be, in time. There are precedents.

I totally disagree. I think its a HUGE can of worms...Baseball has its own rules for not changing results (official scoring obviously is changed the next day sometimes, but not removing official at bats). If they begin to change results like this after the fact I foresee a mess of requests & demands for Selig to deal with.

You say there are precedents?