Don’t mess with perfection… unless perfection has already been messed with.
Bud Selig must look at the tape, overturn the ninth inning call made by first base umpire Jim Joyce and award the 21st perfect game in major league history to Armando Antonio Galarraga.
The 28-year old Tigers right hander dealt the Cleveland Indians eight flawless innings before taking the mound in Detroit with only Mark Grudzielanek, Mike Redmond and Jason Donald standing between him and history.
Grudzielanek sent a screamer to center, only to be robbed by Austin Jackson and a no-hit-preserving-catch that would make DeWayne Wise jealous.
Redmond grounded out to short.
26 up, 26 down.
Then on a 1-1 pitch, Donald sent a roller to the right side, gobbled up by Miguel Cabrera, who flipped to Galarraga covering for the exclamation point.
Except the only punctuation was that which followed expletives across baseball.
Jim Joyce made a call he’ll forever regret. One which will undermine the rest of his career. One which replay clearly refutes beyond any reasonable doubt.
“Safe.”
If there was ever a case for allowing the men in blue to expand the use of video review, this is it.
But that option was not on the table for the crew in Detroit.
This one should be: Commissioner Bud Selig should review the call Wednesday night, overturn it, and award a perfect game to Galarraga.
No asterix needed.
Unprecedented? Maybe. The right thing to do? For Galarraga and Joyce’s sake, absolutely.
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