Opinion

By now, you've heard about last night's game between the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians where umpire Jim Joyce blew a call and cost Detroit pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game. 

It was a routine call that Jim Joyce blew.  Everyone on the field knew the runner was out at first.  Everyone but Jim Joyce.

As a baseball fan, witnessing a perfect game is something you want to see, even if it's happening to your own team.

Granted, being on the losing end of a perfect game isn't as fun as being on the winning end, but when something that rare happens in front of you, it makes for a special evening.

What makes the almost-perfect game thrown last night by Armando Galarraga so interesting from a Cleveland Indians fan's standpoint is that the Indians ended up benefiting big time from what will go down as one of the worst blown calls in history.

In case you have been living under a rock the past week, you've missed perhaps one of the most iconic events in all of Major League Baseball.

The eve that saw Ken Griffey Jr. say goodbye to baseball for good, also brought about a new wave of controversy as veteran World Series umpire Jim Joyce made a horrendous call that cost near-perfect game pitcher Armando Galaragga immortality.

As a fan who has witnessed just about everything in the world of sports, this one stands out as the most odd, and by far the most disappointing.

Two outs. Ninth inning. Armando Galarraga pitching. Eight and two-thirds innings, no hits, no walks, no errors, no HBP. Jason Donald at the plate.

Grounder to first. Flip to Galarraga covering. Donald beat to base. Out. Perfect game. History.

Well, no. It actually went: Donald beat to base. Safe. Blown call. Epic fail costs Galarraga perfection.

The face of Seattle Mariners has called it quits. Ken Griffey Jr., the once bright-eyed youngster with a million dollar smile and backward hat, ended his career Wednesday, June 2.

Junior was the biggest star of the 1990s and one of the few who did it all naturally, as far as we know. Not once has Griffey even been suspected of doing performance enhancing drugs.

While I don't have much time (I am being extremely irresponsible in writing this as it's 3:15 AM and I work at 8:00 AM, I just thought it would be nice to post something positive for a change. According to Bob Dutton and Terez A. Paylor at the Star, Danny Duffy is set to return to camp. In electing to resume what had been a very promising career, the pitcher who was widely regarded as being the most advanced top-tier pitching prospect in the system heading in the season is reportedly about three weeks away from pitching competitively.

Do you know how many times Johan Santana has posted a zero for the Mets? There have been 14 times when he has not allowed a run. Not an earned run, but any run.

Four times he has earned a no decision in those 14 splendid games, including a ridiculous three times this season. There have been three further times where he has allowed two or fewer unearned runs in his two-and-a-half years in New York. He is 0-2 with a no decision in those contests.

New York baseball teams opened up their new palaces last year. Citi Field and the new Yankee Stadium were the new sports buildings in town.

After watching games at both stadiums, let's just say both stadiums left a lot to be desired.

They had zero charm.

There was nothing interesting about either ballpark.

It's the year of the pitcher.

The rookie pitcher—Stephen Strasburg, the perfect pitcher(s)—Roy Halladay, Dallas Braden, the breakout pitcher—Ubaldo Jiménez.

And recently, the robbed pitcher—Armando Galarraga.

Pick any of these fine talents, and you'll quickly find out that they have dominated the headlines of the first quarter of the Major League season.

An hour and forty-four minutes is the time it takes to go from beleaguered AAA pitcher, to a man who nearly flirted with perfection.

Let’s retract that.

An hour and forty-four minutes is the time it takes to go from beleaguered AAA pitcher, to a man who threw a perfect game.

And don’t let Jim Joyce try to tell you otherwise.

In fact, he won’t even tell you otherwise.