Let see if umpire Jim Joyce has the decency to apologize to Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga for costing him a place in baseball history.
Once again, shitty umpiring reared its ugly head yet again in MLB, as Joyce blew an easy call at first base tonight, after Galarraga retired the first 26 Cleveland Indians at Comerica Park. First baseman Miguel Cabrera flipped a grounder to the pitcher covering and had Jason Donald of the Indians by a half-step. It cost him a perfect game, and it's only the 11th time in MLB history that a pitcher has retired the first 26 batters before losing the perfecto. (But I bet none of the previous 10 lost it over such umpire ineptitude.)
For those of you who haven't seen it, here it is, from MLB.
But Joyce, once again proving that the umpires in MLB really suck big time, couldn't get the obvious call right. I was watching the feed on the Tigers broadcast and the announcers were simply crestfallen. I was too. (And even if the play were a "bang-bang" one, and this one wasn't, the Tigers still should have gotten the call. Only if Donald were obviously safe should it have been ruled that way.)
They will call this a "controversial" call. No, it wasn't. It was the WRONG call. Period.
Galarraga lost the perfect game and no-hitter because of umpire incompetence. That replay will be shown from now until the end of time. Jim Joyce's name is not only mud in Detroit, but I bet fans all over baseball will let him have it. His name is now synonymous with lousy umpiring.
I hope Joyce also does the other decent thing and resigns as an umpire. MLB needs to get rid of as many inept umps as it can. They are infesting the game of baseball. (Joyce was also the ump who got Mark Bellhorn's HR wrong in the 2004 ALCS Game 6, when he ruled it in play. The other umps got together and ruled it a three-run homer. Nice job, Jim.)
They are pure and simple a joke, and are making a mockery of the game.
Sorry, Armando. You deserved better.
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