I cannot believe that just happened

Armando Galarraga was one out from the 21st perfect game in major league history tonight against the Indians. One out away. He got Jason Donald to hit a fairly routine ground ball between first and second. First baseman Miguel Cabrera fielded it, set his feet and delivered a strong throw to Galarraga, who was covering first. The ball got there, and it landed in the webbing of Galarraga's glove a full step before Donald reached the bag. First base umpire Jim Joyce called him safe.

He called him safe.

Armando Galarraga just pitched a perfect game, except it won't go into the record books as a perfect game because the first base umpire blew a call on the last out of the game. THE FIRST BASE UMPIRE BLEW A CALL ON THE LAST OUT OF WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A PERFECT GAME.

I know a lot of fans, even when their team is on the losing side of a no-hitter, will root for the pitcher to get it. I am not one of those fans — I would rather see my team break up the no-hitter. And according to how this game will be recorded in the books, I did see my team break up the no-hitter. But I would much, MUCH rather have seen this go into the books as a perfect game than see it broken up on a bad call at first base.

Ladies and gentlemen, baseball NEEDS instant replay. As it stands now, it's only allowed on home run calls. That's baloney. Commissioner Bud Selig is on record as saying he doesn't want it expanded, and as long as Bud doesn't want it expanded, it's not going to expand. But Bud is going to see what happened in this game. Armando Galarraga lost his perfect game because of a bad call. How can he allow that to happen?

I feel really sorry for Jim Joyce. I can't imagine what he was looking at, but I'm sure he made the call he thought was correct, unless he somehow bet a buttload of money that Armando Galarraga wouldn't pitch a perfect game. When he sees that replay, he's going to be sick. Come to think of it, he's probably seen it by now, and he's probably not going to get much sleep tonight, because that's a big damn call to get wrong. He drew the wrath of the entire Tigers organization and the home crowd, and understandably so.

The one guy who took it in stride was Galarraga, who simply smiled and went back to work, retiring the next hitter, Trevor Crowe, on another routine ground ball. You've got to hand it to him — he pitched the game of his life, and appears to be happy with the victory, perfect game or not.

Today in sports history

I seem to be doing this a lot, but it's this time of year that the Baseball Hall of Famers are announced, and 30 years ago today, one of the tragic figures in Tribe history got in: Addie Joss, the only Hall member who's had the 10-year career minimum waived. There's a good reason for that. He died after his ninth major-league season.

Many fans may know that the Indians were the first team to have two pitchers throw perfect games. Joss' perfecto on October 2, 1908, was one of the great clutch performances of all time. He beat fellow Hall of Famer Ed Walsh and the White Sox 1-0 in the midst of a four-team pennant race, needing just 74 pitches (!) to send 27 men back to the dugout. Walsh tossed a four-hitter himself. The Naps, as they were then known, wound up losing the pennant by half a game to Ty Cobb's Tigers, but Joss certainly did his best. He finished 24-11 with a 1.16 ERA. This was the dead-ball era, of course, but 1.16 is still pretty damned impressive, and it was good enough to lead the league.

Joss died of tubercular meningitis on April 14, 1911, just as what would have been his 10th season was starting. He was 31 years old. Had he lived 100 years later, he'd have probably spent a few days in the hospital and been ready to pitch again by mid-May. But medical science wasn't there yet. He was a well-loved man by teammates and opponents alike, and the first "all-star game" was organized that year to raise money for his family. As the great Cy Young said of Addie, "He was a great man. I feel sure he never made an enemy."

I seem to be posting a lot of sad stories lately. Sorry about that. I'll try to find something more cheerful for my next post.