Ump Costs Galarraga Perfect Game

P Armando Galarraga of the Detroit Tigers was one out away from pitching a perfect game when he got SS Jason Donald of the Cleveland Indians to hit a ground ball. 1B Miguel Cabrera came off of first base to get the ball and Galarraga ran to first to cover. Cabrera threw the ball to Galarraga and he caught it with his foot on the bag before Donald. However, first base umpire Jim Joyce called Donald safe, sending all of the fans in Comerica Park and all of the Tigers players into shock. Tigers' manager Jim Leyland let Joyce have it on the field after the game, and Joyce admitted he got the call wrong after taking a look at the replay following the game.

This blown call from Joyce is reminiscent of a famous blown call made 25 years ago in the World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals. In Game 6, with the Cardinals up 1-0 in the eighth inning and up 3-2 in the series, first base umpire Don Denkinger called Jorge Orta of the Royals safe when he was clearly out. The Royals went on to win that game 2-1 and won Game 7 in a rout to win the World Series. Denkinger enjoyed a very long career as an umpire, but he is still remembered and will forever be remembered for that blown call.

Another element to this near-perfect game is the fact that there has been two perfect games already this season, in a span of only 25 days. Oakland Athletics P Dallas Braden threw a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays on May 9, and Philadelphia Phillies P Roy Halladay threw a perfect game this past Saturday against the Florida Marlins. There have never been more than two perfect games in any season in baseball history.

Perfect games have been rare in baseball, that before Don Larsen of the New York Yankees threw a perfect game in the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers, the most previous perfect game to that point came in 1922, when Charlie Robertson of the Chicago White Sox threw one. There also was a perfect game drought from 1968 to 1981. Galarraga's perfect game would've been three this season alone, combined with Colorado Rockies P Ubaldo Jimenez no-hitter earlier this season, and this season has been strange.