Sport

Tony Becca, Gleaner Writer

On Tuesday night in Washington, a rookie, one Stephen Strasburg of the Washington Nationals, walked up to the mound at Nationals Park for his first outing in Major League baseball. A couple hours later, he was the toast of a full house of hometown fans.

The fans, some of whom had seen the 21-year-old pitch in the Minor Leagues, some of whom had only heard about his talent and his skills, had come to see him perform and to welcome him to the big league and they were not disappointed.

After missing the plate with his first pitch for a ball, Strasburg proceeded to dazzle the gathering with a performance that saw his accuracy and his skills handing him 65 strikes without even a single walk from 94 memorable pitches in seven unforgettable innings.

In his team's 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates, Strasburg preened himself with 14 strikeouts, the second most strikeouts in the Major League for the past 110 years, only one behind the record of 15 set by Karl Spooner of the Dodgers against the Giants in 1954; and by J.R. Richard of the Astros in 1971, also against the Giants.

As brilliant as Strasburg was in Washington, however, his performance paled before that of another pitcher two Wednesday nights ago in Detroit's Comerical Park.

Playing for the Tigers against the Cleveland Indians, Armando Galarraga wrote his name in the history books of baseball when, in leading the Tigers to a 3-0 victory, he pitched a perfect game.

Unfortunately for the 28-year-old Galarraga, no one, not even his grandchildren, will be able to read it.

No runs

With not even one run coming off him after not giving up even one hit up to then, with two outs in the ninth and last inning and with one batter to go to end the match, Galarraga, probably dreaming what little boys dreamt about and what big men hardly even contemplated, faced Jason Donald. He pitched to him, ran to cover first base, collected the throw from Miguel Cabrera - the first base fielder - and along with his teammates, jumped about in total jubilation.

Galarraga had a right to celebrate. Not even in his wildest dreams did he believe that he would have done what he had just done.

Galarraga had just completed the perfect game. In other words, he had pitched an entire game, all nine innings, without conceding a hit.

With only 20 players in the history of the game, over 100 years of competition, accomplishing such a feat, with no player from the Tigers listed among them, it was almost like a miracle.

Suddenly, however, the celebration turned to despair.

To the astonishment of every one, umpire Jim Joyce at first base ruled the runner safe, thus destroying Galarraga's no-hit performance.

After the protests, after he had looked at the television replay and saw that the runner was out and by a clear distance at that, Joyce was apologetic.

After speaking to Galarraga and saying how sorry he was, Joyce said: "I just cost that kid a perfect game. It was the biggest call of my career. I really thought he (Donald) beat the ball."

Haunted by his mistake

Regardless of how sorry he was, regardless of his 22 years in the business and his reputation as one of the best umpires in the game, Joyce will be haunted by his mistake for the rest of his life.

As a boy, Galarraga probably dreamt about one day pitching the perfect game. On Wednesday, June 2, he did so, and despite the umpire's ruling, history book or no history book, according to reports, Galarraga's teammates celebrated with him inside the dressing room after the match.

But for a sportswriter one day writing about it in his memoirs, however, it will hardly ever be remembered.

It will hardly be remembered for the simple reason that although he did pitch the perfect game, although the umpire admitted that he did pitch the perfect game, and although thousands upon thousands of people in the stands and on television saw that he did pitch the perfect game, it was not recorded and barring something unusual, maybe a change of heart by Commissioner Bud Selig, it probably never will be recorded.

The batter following Donald was cut down immediately. But for a pitch or two, nothing more happened in the game to change anything and with his position as commissioner giving him the authority to rule one way or the other, maybe, just this time, Selig could have ruled a perfect match.