Cleveland @ Detroit preview
Comerica Park
Last Meeting ( Jun 2, 2010 ) Cleveland 0, Detroit 3
While they might still be brooding over Wednesday’s imperfect call, the Detroit Tigers still have a series to win. And they’ll try to do it with America’s least popular umpire, Jim Joyce, behind the plate.
After Armando Galarraga lost his bid for a perfect game with two outs in the ninth when Joyce blew a close call at first base, the Tigers will send Rick Porcello (4-5, 5.27 ERA) to the mound against the Cleveland Indians.
To be fair, arguably no one felt worse than Joyce after his blown call.
A veteran umpire of 21 years, Joyce has worked All-Star games, many postseason contests and two World Series. He is revered by players, managers and fellow umpires as one of the best in the game.
None of that made him feel any better, though, after he learned of his error.
“It was the biggest call of my career, and I kicked the (expletive) out of it,” Joyce said. “I just cost that kid a perfect game.”
Joyce’s mistake, when he called Indians rookie Jason Donald safe after a chopper into the hole between first and second, immediately sent out cries for instant replay in baseball.
The Detroit News reported late Wednesday that the Tigers are contemplating contacting the league office to see if anything can be done to overturn the call and give Galarraga his perfect game. It would be a drastic, unprecedented move in a sport that embraces the human element of the game.
Upon watching the replay and seeing his error, Joyce called for Galarraga to come into the umpires room. With watery eyes, he apologized repeatedly and even exchanged a few hugs with the 28-year-old Galarraga, who quickly forgave the umpire for taking away his historic night.
“Nobody’s perfect,” Galarraga told reporters. Although for one night, he really was.
The hangover from the imperfect call will overshadow the remarkable return of Cleveland left-hander David Huff (2-6, 5.54 ERA).
Huff took an Alex Rodriguez line drive off his head in his last start on May 29 and left the field on a stretcher. Rodriguez hit the ball so hard, it ricocheted off Huff’s head and caromed into right field for a double.
The pitcher never lost consciousness and was taken directly to a New York-area hospital, where a CT scan was negative. He rejoined his teammates at the stadium as the game was ending.
Following his regular bullpen session a couple days ago, Huff was cleared to pitch and won’t even miss one start. It’s a stunning turnaround given the scene four days ago, when Huff was face down on the mound and motionless for quite awhile.
Huff will be back on the mound Thursday, Joyce will be behind the plate. The eyes of baseball will be on both, for far different reasons.