DETROIT - The fans were standing and cheering. The players were at the edge of their dugout, trying not to look excited. The 28-year-old with only 20 Major League victories peered in for the final sign, took a deep breath, and threw.
A soft grounder to the right of first. The first baseman fields it and flips it toward the bag. Pitcher, batter, and ball seem to be arriving at the same time, but then the ball wins the race. The pitcher catches the ball and steps on first in one motion, beating the runner by half a step. He begins to celebrate, looking at the umpire, who signals ... safe.
The crowd is stunned. Everybody watching is stunned. Everybody watching on TV, everybody who saw the play live, saw that the batter was out. Even the batter seemed resigned to his fate. But the call stood.
Detroit's manager, a grumpy-looking old man who has been around the block a time or twelve, comes out to argue, not because the call has a bearing on who will win or lose, but because of what that call meant to the pitcher. His closing words to the umpire: "You just cost that kid a perfect game."
See, that's why there was such outrage. Armando Galarraga had retired the first 26 batters he faced, and when the 27th one hit a weak grounder to first, it seemed like he had become the third pitcher in a month to throw a perfect game. Except umpire Jim Joyce called him safe. And the call stood.
Immediately after the game, Joyce saw the replay, and felt sick to his stomach. He had blown it. He faced the media after the game and admitted that he had blown the call. He went to the Tigers' clubhouse in tears and asked for forgiveness. He asked the league if they could overturn his call, but the answer was no. And so the call stood.
Galarraga immediately forgave Joyce. He understood - every umpire makes a bad call once in a while. He was took missing out on a perfect game in stride. In fact, he became much more famous and got much more attention for having a perfect game taken away from him than Dallas Braden and Roy Halladay got for completing their games earlier that season. At the end of the 2010 season, if you had asked baseball fans to remember key moments from the season, more would have pointed to Galarraga's near-miss than Braden's or Halladay's moments in the sun.
It was tough to knock Nile Kinnick from the top spot for June 2. After all, here was a guy who gave up a professional football career to fight - and eventually die - for his country. But what cost Kinnick, in my mind, was simply time. He died in 1943, and unfortunately, he is mostly known around the country now simply as the namesake for Iowa's football stadium. Kinnick's story is a great one, one that shouldn't be forgotten. But it's no longer the most memorable moment from June 2.
Showing posts with label perfect games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label perfect games. Show all posts
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
Perfect, but not good enough
Perfect games are always cause for celebration in baseball. There have only been 20 in Major League history, so each one is worthy of being mentioned as an important moment in baseball history.
Last year, while I was compiling my sports by the day countdown, Dallas Braden threw a perfect game on May 9. Twenty days later, Roy Halladay threw a perfect game. Both games warranted at least some consideration to be the greatest sports moment of that day, but I decided not to list either one as the new "champion" of that day.
In all honesty, their close proximity to each other might have actually hurt their cause. Having two perfect games thrown within 20 days of each other makes each one seem less impressive in retrospect. It isn't fair to either Braden or Halladay, but their perfect games were really overshadowed by each other.
A big key for me is how memorable the games were. It's one thing to be great; its something else to have your performance remain in the minds and consciousness of sports fans long after it happened. In that regard, both men were overshadowed by Armando Galarraga, who retired the first 26 batters of a game on June 2, then lost his perfect game bid on a blown call at first base. Galarraga didn't throw a perfect game, but his near-miss made more headlines - and was remembered more universally - than the games Braden and Halladay threw. And in Halladay's case, it's likely more people will remember his playoff no-hitter from later that season than will remember his perfect game.
So Braden's game wasn't good enough to knock off Ron Francis' hat trick, and Halladay's wasn't good enough to take over for Wayne Gretzky's self-described greatest game. Braden and Halladay were perfect, but they weren't good enough.
Last year, while I was compiling my sports by the day countdown, Dallas Braden threw a perfect game on May 9. Twenty days later, Roy Halladay threw a perfect game. Both games warranted at least some consideration to be the greatest sports moment of that day, but I decided not to list either one as the new "champion" of that day.
In all honesty, their close proximity to each other might have actually hurt their cause. Having two perfect games thrown within 20 days of each other makes each one seem less impressive in retrospect. It isn't fair to either Braden or Halladay, but their perfect games were really overshadowed by each other.
A big key for me is how memorable the games were. It's one thing to be great; its something else to have your performance remain in the minds and consciousness of sports fans long after it happened. In that regard, both men were overshadowed by Armando Galarraga, who retired the first 26 batters of a game on June 2, then lost his perfect game bid on a blown call at first base. Galarraga didn't throw a perfect game, but his near-miss made more headlines - and was remembered more universally - than the games Braden and Halladay threw. And in Halladay's case, it's likely more people will remember his playoff no-hitter from later that season than will remember his perfect game.
So Braden's game wasn't good enough to knock off Ron Francis' hat trick, and Halladay's wasn't good enough to take over for Wayne Gretzky's self-described greatest game. Braden and Halladay were perfect, but they weren't good enough.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Why pitchers aren't really perfect, by The Sambard's Wife
Today, The Sambard is taking a break from his usual daily sports fact and allowing me, his lovely wife, to interject and rant about baseball.
Before I get started, let me just say that I have always been a baseball fan. One of the first things my parents taught me to say was "Way back, way back! Touch 'em all, Kuuby Puckett!" (I wasn't the best with the "r" sound)
As I grew up, I became a Twins Sunshine Patriot. Going to games was a chance to visit with friends and spell naughty words with Cheese Whiz in the asles of the nasty Metrodome.
Then I met The Sambard. He taught me what baseball really was, and the skill behind it, and that fact that even when a game seems "boring" there is actually a lot going on. (I still don't get the Infield Fly Rule, though).
As I've been watching more and more baseball, I've started really enjoying watching the pitchers work. I try and figure out what pitch they just threw or guess in advance whether they are gonna throw another fastball, or sneak a breaking ball in there. The one feat I have truly come to respect and admire is the Perfect Game.
A game in which the pitcher displays amazing skill in not allowing a single runner to reach first base.
Or so it was.
One would think that in a perfect game there would be many strike outs, because, let's face it, a Perfect Game is credited to the pitcher, so obviously the pitcher has done something right. But lets look at the numbers for some of the most recent perfect games.
On July 23, 2009, Mark Buerhle pitched a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (I REFUSE to call them the Rays, so there). There were (obviously) 27 outs. Six, yes SIX of them were from strike outs. The other 21 were fielding outs (fly-outs, ground-outs, etc). Can someone explain to me why the pitcher got the credit for this amazing game when clearly he only struck out 6 people?
This year, 2010, there have already been TWO perfect games. The first was pitched by Dallas Braden of the A's against Tampa Bay (hmmm ... are we seeing a theme here?) on May 2nd. Again, he had only six strikeouts and the rest were fielding outs. On May 29, Roy Halladay pitched one as well. Only he struck out 11 (a very respectable number). At least one strikeout in every inning. I have no qualms with you, Mr. Halladay.
And then there was the game that will forever live in infamy. Armando Gallaraga, a young pitcher very new to the bigs, pitched for Detroit on June 2, 2010. This was one of, if not THE, first pitching appearance he had in the bigs. We all know the story of him being robbed of his perfect game in the 9th inning when the umpire missed the call at first base. But what were his numbers for the game?? He struck out three batters. Three. Oh, and just for reference, the pitcher he was going against for Cleveland, Fausto Carmona, also struck out three batters. But he didn't get a near-perfect game.
What I'm starting to see, is that Perfect Games are slowly becoming more and more about great fielding and less and less about the pitching. What about perfect games "back in the day?" What did they look like? In 1904, Cy Young struck out eight batters in his Perfect Game. In 1968, Catfish Hunter struck out 11 (against the Twins, too! The HORROR!).
What sucks even more is when you consider the Pirates vs. Nationals game last night. Steven Strasburg made his highly anticipated big league debut. In seven innings he stuck out FOURTEEN batters. Fourteen!! What an amazing number! He gave up a two-run home run, unfortunately, and after giving up something like that, you'd think most pitchers would start to get nervous. Not Strasburg. He came back and struck out 8 of the next 10 batters. This kid is amazing (and I can say kid since he's way younger than me!). And sure he'll be remembered for an amazing big league debut, but that's it (for now). No perfect game, no record setting performance, nothing.
So what's going on with Perfect Games? Why are there more and more of them? And why does it seem like it's more because of great fielding than great pitching?
True, over the years fielding in baseball has improved tremendously, which I'm sure has contributed to more Perfect Games. But isn't a Perfect Game supposed to be a pitching achievement? I don't see how it can be considered a pitching achievement when guys can strike out three batters and have a Perfect Game.
Maybe it's just a me, a silly little woman trying to understand something in a man's world. Or maybe there's something up with the amount of Perfect Games being thrown and the small amount of "great pitching" in these games. Who knows. Not me!
THE SAMBARD'S ADDITION:
Seems my beautiful wife is on to something. After she posted this, I found an interview Dallas Braden did with Baseball Prospectus that seems to reinforce the idea that perfect games are more about the fielders...
Q. How many times did you get lucky in your perfect game?
Braden: Twenty-seven. Twenty-seven times I got pretty lucky. I wasn’t perfect. I didn’t throw perfect pitches and our catcher didn’t call perfect pitches. But we, all together as a team, played perfectly. We played perfect defense, and we had perfect timely hitting, and that is what resulted in the perfect game.
Before I get started, let me just say that I have always been a baseball fan. One of the first things my parents taught me to say was "Way back, way back! Touch 'em all, Kuuby Puckett!" (I wasn't the best with the "r" sound)
As I grew up, I became a Twins Sunshine Patriot. Going to games was a chance to visit with friends and spell naughty words with Cheese Whiz in the asles of the nasty Metrodome.
Then I met The Sambard. He taught me what baseball really was, and the skill behind it, and that fact that even when a game seems "boring" there is actually a lot going on. (I still don't get the Infield Fly Rule, though).
As I've been watching more and more baseball, I've started really enjoying watching the pitchers work. I try and figure out what pitch they just threw or guess in advance whether they are gonna throw another fastball, or sneak a breaking ball in there. The one feat I have truly come to respect and admire is the Perfect Game.
A game in which the pitcher displays amazing skill in not allowing a single runner to reach first base.
Or so it was.
One would think that in a perfect game there would be many strike outs, because, let's face it, a Perfect Game is credited to the pitcher, so obviously the pitcher has done something right. But lets look at the numbers for some of the most recent perfect games.
On July 23, 2009, Mark Buerhle pitched a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (I REFUSE to call them the Rays, so there). There were (obviously) 27 outs. Six, yes SIX of them were from strike outs. The other 21 were fielding outs (fly-outs, ground-outs, etc). Can someone explain to me why the pitcher got the credit for this amazing game when clearly he only struck out 6 people?
This year, 2010, there have already been TWO perfect games. The first was pitched by Dallas Braden of the A's against Tampa Bay (hmmm ... are we seeing a theme here?) on May 2nd. Again, he had only six strikeouts and the rest were fielding outs. On May 29, Roy Halladay pitched one as well. Only he struck out 11 (a very respectable number). At least one strikeout in every inning. I have no qualms with you, Mr. Halladay.
And then there was the game that will forever live in infamy. Armando Gallaraga, a young pitcher very new to the bigs, pitched for Detroit on June 2, 2010. This was one of, if not THE, first pitching appearance he had in the bigs. We all know the story of him being robbed of his perfect game in the 9th inning when the umpire missed the call at first base. But what were his numbers for the game?? He struck out three batters. Three. Oh, and just for reference, the pitcher he was going against for Cleveland, Fausto Carmona, also struck out three batters. But he didn't get a near-perfect game.
What I'm starting to see, is that Perfect Games are slowly becoming more and more about great fielding and less and less about the pitching. What about perfect games "back in the day?" What did they look like? In 1904, Cy Young struck out eight batters in his Perfect Game. In 1968, Catfish Hunter struck out 11 (against the Twins, too! The HORROR!).
What sucks even more is when you consider the Pirates vs. Nationals game last night. Steven Strasburg made his highly anticipated big league debut. In seven innings he stuck out FOURTEEN batters. Fourteen!! What an amazing number! He gave up a two-run home run, unfortunately, and after giving up something like that, you'd think most pitchers would start to get nervous. Not Strasburg. He came back and struck out 8 of the next 10 batters. This kid is amazing (and I can say kid since he's way younger than me!). And sure he'll be remembered for an amazing big league debut, but that's it (for now). No perfect game, no record setting performance, nothing.
So what's going on with Perfect Games? Why are there more and more of them? And why does it seem like it's more because of great fielding than great pitching?
True, over the years fielding in baseball has improved tremendously, which I'm sure has contributed to more Perfect Games. But isn't a Perfect Game supposed to be a pitching achievement? I don't see how it can be considered a pitching achievement when guys can strike out three batters and have a Perfect Game.
Maybe it's just a me, a silly little woman trying to understand something in a man's world. Or maybe there's something up with the amount of Perfect Games being thrown and the small amount of "great pitching" in these games. Who knows. Not me!
THE SAMBARD'S ADDITION:
Seems my beautiful wife is on to something. After she posted this, I found an interview Dallas Braden did with Baseball Prospectus that seems to reinforce the idea that perfect games are more about the fielders...
Q. How many times did you get lucky in your perfect game?
Braden: Twenty-seven. Twenty-seven times I got pretty lucky. I wasn’t perfect. I didn’t throw perfect pitches and our catcher didn’t call perfect pitches. But we, all together as a team, played perfectly. We played perfect defense, and we had perfect timely hitting, and that is what resulted in the perfect game.
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