FullCountPitch - Total Domination

If you live in the metropolitan area you’ve seen the commercial hundreds of times. Two car rental agents sit around the break room talking about the prior night’s New York Yankees game. One refers to it as “Total domination”.

You can bet today there are plenty of workers sitting around their break room, standing by the vending machines or watercoolers, discussing last night’s Yankees game and using the phrase “Total dimination” with regularity.

That’s because last night CC Sabathia was about as good as you can be without throwing a perfect game. Granted, his opponent was the hapless Seattle Mariners, but that doesn’t make 27 up and 27 down any easier to do. From the 1st inning on though it appeared Sabathia might just have a date with “baseball immortality” as Yankees’ radio man John Sterling likes to put it.

Sabathia breezed through the first three innings and then the Mariners bats made a breeze as Sabathia struck out the side in the 4th and 5th innings. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans and you could tell by the 5th that a rain delay was imminent.

Lightning lit up the sky and it began to drizzle as the Mariners came to bat in the 6th inning. This was no Roy Hobbes story though. Sabathia struck out Mike Carp, for his seventh straight K, to start the frame. But then the skies opened up and rain came down in sheets. A 31 minute delay interrupted what appeared to be destiny calling.

There was no question Sabathia would come out after the relatively short delay. He kept loose throwing underneath the stands and re-took the mound to face rookie Greg Halman. Sabathia retired him…but on a pop up. Suddenly contact was made. The next batter, Chone Figgins, grounded out to Derek Jeter to end the inning.

18 up, 18 down, but Sabathia’s location was a little off and bat was meeting ball. Sabathia struck out Ichiro to start the 7th, but quickly fell behind 2-0 to Brendan Ryan and then let a 94 mph fastball get too much of the plate. Ryan slapped it in to left-center field for the Mariners first and only hit of the night. Sabathia bounced right back and blew away Dustin Ackley and Miguel Olivo for his 13th and 14th strikeouts (a new personal high) on the night.

Read more about Sabathia's game and the Mariners' July demise at FullCountPitch.com, where the content is always free.

The People Want Instant Replay!

The people have spoken. Not this people, but you people.

In the light of the Armando Galarraga umpire impaired perfecto, I threw this poll up there. And you want instant replay by more than a 2:1 margin.

Some of you still can't make up your minds.

Selig Won't Change Call

There's been a lot of debate ever since last night that Major League Baseball should step in and change the out call from last night's Armando Galarraga near perfect game. It was announced earlier today that Bud Selig and MLB were reviewing the situation. One that, in my opinion, should not be reversed. Bad precedent and such.

Selig, though not coming right out and saying it, agreed. He released this statement a short time ago.

"While the human element has always been an integral part of baseball, it is vital that mistakes on the field be addressed," Selig said in a statement. "Given last night's call and other recent events, I will examine our umpiring system, the expanded use of instant replay and all other related features."

As usual, Selig and MLB is being reactive rather than proactive. But I do agree with not overturning the call.

No perfect game, but Galaragga did receive a brand new Corvette from GM (Selig would have given him one of the used cards from his dealership) before today's game. He also brought out the lineup card to the umps and had a nice exchange with Jim Joyce. The ump was in tears as fans applauded.

Here's some great video from a fan at last night's game.



photo courtesy of nytimes.com

Motor City Badman

History was in the making tonight in Detroit. Two outs, top of the 9th. Tigers right-hander Armando Galarraga was one out away from a perfect game against the Cleveland Indians. That's right, a would be third perfect game this season.

Tigers' centerfielder Austin Jackson had kept the perfecto intact with a remarkable over the shoulder basket, catch to rob Mark Grudzielanek of an extra base hit to start the 9th. Mike Redmond grounded out routinely for the second out. That left everything up to rookie Jason Donald. As it turned out not everything was up to the Indians' shortstop.

Donald hit a grounder to the right side. First baseman Miguel Cabrera speared it and threw to Galarraga covering. The pitcher caught the ball and stepped on the bag in one motion. He then raised his arms to begin the celebration. There was just one problem. First base umpire Jim Joyce had called Donald safe.

Cabrera and Galarraga were both stunned. The crowd booed. Tigers manager Jim Leyland came out, but didn't argue with his usual gusto. He seemed stunned too. A bang bang play would generally go to the pitcher with the great game going. But this wasn't even a bang bang play. It wasn't even close.

Galarraga retired Trevor Crowe to complete the one-hitter. And then the booing really began. Leyland came out and this time really lit into Joyce as did some of Galarraga's teammates. After the game Joyce lit into himself.

“It was the biggest call of my career, and I kicked the (stuff) out of it,” Joyce said, looking and sounding distraught as he paced in the umpires’ locker room. “I just cost that kid a perfect game.”

“I thought he beat the throw. I was convinced he beat the throw, until I saw the replay.

“I don’t blame them a bit or anything that was said,” Joyce said. “I would’ve said it myself if I had been Galarraga. I would’ve been the first person in my face, and he never said a word to me.”

Galarraga later accepted Joyce's apology and the two embraced. While Joyce gets major points for owning up to his mistake, the mis-call continued the trend of umpires making really bad calls in really big spots.

One only needs to think back to last year's playoffs when Phil Cuzzi erroneously called a Joe Mauer potential extra base hit foul when it was clearly fair. Major League Baseball needs to step up and do a better job of reviewing/correcting and yes, reprimanding umpires who do a poor job of either play calling or mishandling of situations (attention Joe West).

Joyce is said to be one of the best umpires in the game, so perhaps with time this will blow over. (It certainly hasn't for Don Deckinger who made a huge error in the 1985 World Series and is often referred to in these situations.) But the problem of MLB umpiring will continue to be a hot topic until Bud Selig and company get off their behinds and actually do something productive.

As you've noticed I have stuck to correcting/massaging the human error. I am completely against the use of instant replay for judgement calls. But what do you think? Take the new poll at the top of the page and let me know what you think.

Dallas Braden is Now a Perfect DBag

First things first. I have to give major credit to Dallas Braden on his accomplishment on Sunday. Pitching a perfect game is the hardest thing to do in baseball. To do it against a formidable lineup such as that of the Tampa Bay Rays makes it an even greater accomplishment. Unfortunately, it was done before only 12,000 plus fans at the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum. (Catfish Hunter's perfecto in 1968 was in front of almost half that amount.)

Now back to Braden. He really reminds me of Billy Martin. Especially due to his close relationship with his grandmother, who raised him when Braden's mother died of cancer at just 39 years of age. Needless to say, Mother's Day had not been a good day for Braden in prior years.

Like Martin, Braden grew up in Northern California and had a bit of an attitude. While Martin's Mom was said to be even tougher than him, Braden's grandma, Peggy Lindsey, has some spunk herself. After the perfect game she said, "Stick it, A-Rod". Apparently, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

The perfecto comes on the heels of more statements Braden made last week about the A-Rod incident, hinting that a fight might be in store. A-Rod, to his credit, took the high road and said he was done talking about it (he did give Braden credit on Sunday.).

So while Braden has now given a major boost to his resume, things should still be interesting when and if he faces the Yankees. He should just let the whole thing go, but after shooting his mouth off so much, I doubt he will. Which would be a mistake for him, the A's, and the Yankees. No good could from it, but plenty of bad could result in injuries, bad feelings, and a black eye to baseball.

Let it go Dallas. Enjoy your time in the sun. And, oh yeah, STFU.

A Perfect May Sunday for Baseball

We don't know how today's Yankees-Twins game will turn out, but we do know how their meeting went on May 17, 1998. That it is when David Wells, to paraphrase John Sterling, "achieved baseball immortality".

The man known as Boomer retired all 27 batters he faced, the final- Pat Meares, hit a lazy fly ball that nestled into the glove of right fielder Paul O'Neill for a 4-0 Yankees win.

A joyous celebration followed. The Yankees were so fired up they actually lifted Wells off the ground. No one in their right mind would have attempted that under normal circumstances! (Perhaps that's why Bernie Williams had so much shoulder trouble at the end of his career.)

Wells' opponent that day was future Yankee LaTroy Hawkins. One year later David Cone would achieve perfection against another future Yankee, Javier Vazquez. Needless to say, neither opponent worked out too well in pinstripes.

A.J. Burnett faces Kevin Slowey today, so if somehow Burnett were to match the feat, Slowey would know where his future lies.

Box Score