Robbed!

There have only been 20 perfect games thrown in the history of Major League Baseball. Actually now, there have been 21 perfect games only it won’t appear that way in the record books. On Wednesday night in Detroit, Armando Galarraga faced 27 batters and seemed to get 27 outs. But a judgment call by umpire Jim Joyce crushed the dream of a perfect game in a blink of an eye. The reply clearly shows the running was out and the game should have been over, but the ump called the runner safe and not only was the perfect game gone, but so was the no hitter. So in the books Galarrga only gets credit for a shutout. Galarrga was clearly robbed!

Here is a still shot of the play, Galarrga has already caught the ball and is on the bag!

Umpire Jim Joyce felt like he made the right call at the time and in baseball, which is the rule. They don’t allow replays to be used in judgment calls only in calls when home run balls might be fair or foul. This rule needs to be changed! Once Joyce saw the replay after the game was over, he realized that he missed the call and tearfully apologized to Galarrga in person. This one call is going to follow both Joyce and Galarrga for the rest of their lives. Even if MLB goes back and reverses the call, which I would be shocked if they did, both guys will be known for this incident. There have been websites popping up today by fans who are disgusted with the call including firejimjoyce.com, also Joyce’s Wikipedia page as been getting edited with falsehoods since the call.

This all could have been avoided if MLB would allow replays on outs as well as fair/foul home run balls. I don’t think they should use replay for balls and strikes but for calls as clear as this one and whether or not the ball was caught cleanly. These plays are costing teams outs, wins, and history! Every other major sport uses replay. Let’s go MLB, get with the program!