perfect game, imperfect umpire

DETROIT (AP) — Armando Galarraga squeezed the ball in his mitt, stepped on first base with his right foot and was ready to celebrate the first perfect game in Detroit Tigers’ history.

What happened next will be the talk of baseball for the rest of this season and likely a lot longer.

Umpire Jim Joyce emphatically called Cleveland’s Jason Donald safe and a chorus of groans and boos echoed in Comerica Park.

Then Joyce emphatically said he was wrong.

“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,” he said after the Tigers’ 3-0 win.

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DETROIT — Armando Galarraga bitterly sipped a beer minutes after he almost pitched a perfect game, lashing out at first base umpire Jim Joyce for blowing a call on what would have been the final out to negate his place in baseball history.

An apology and hug changed Galarraga's attitude.

Joyce, in tears, asked for a chance to apologize after the Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians 3-0 Wednesday night.

"You don't see an umpire after the game come out and say, `Hey, let me tell you I'm sorry,'" Galarraga said "He felt really bad. He didn't even shower."

MLB declined comment on Joyce's call. As it stands, baseball replays can only be used for questionable home runs. There's no appealing a judgment call, either by replay or protest.

Social networking sites, meanwhile, were buzzing about it.

Galarraga, who was barely known outside of Detroit a day ago, and Joyce, whose career had flourished in relative anonymity, quickly became trending topics on Twitter. At least one anti-Joyce Facebook page was created shortly after the game ended and firejimjoyce.com was launched.

Joyce has been calling balls and strikes and deciding if runners are out or safe as a full-time major league umpire since 1989. He has been respected enough to be on the field for two World Series, 11 other playoff series and a pair of All-Star games.

A split-second decision he made will probably haunt him for the rest of his career.

Joyce emphatically signaled safe when Cleveland's Jason Donald clearly didn't beat a throw to first base for what would've been the last out in Armando Galarraga's perfect game for the Detroit Tigers, setting off a chorus of groans and boos that echoed in Comerica Park.

The instantly infamous play also will add to the argument that Major League Baseball needs to expand its use of replays.