wow...

In the 1975 screen version of Barry Lyndon, Lyndon, played by Ryan O'Neal , has wooed the wealthy widow and will soon marry her. Her son, who detests Lyndon, speaking about the marriage, tells his mother, "Not in this way. And not in such haste. And certainly not to this man."

That is what i thought when the first base ump ruled Cleveland's number 9 hitter safe on an infield single tonight. What was exceptional about the single is that Armando Gallaraga had retired 26 batters in a row prior to the single, and the replay showed the batter was out. Not in this way.

Now I know that umpires are human and make mistakes. Hell, the Tigers have had calls go in their favour recently (Ramon Santiago's phantam tag on a double play at second last night, to name one), but none carrying the magnitude of tonight's call. Not in this way.

The ground ball was wide of first, Cabrera fielded it cleanly, Gallaraga beat the batter ( the 9-hole, whatever his name is) to the bag and caught the ball with his foot on first clearly before the batter got there. Miggy's expression of joy turned to wonder, Armando's excitement was gone as a big you-gotta-be-kidding smile washed across his face. Safe. Not in this way.

Let it be a sharp liner to left-center (like the one Jackson caught over his shoulder a-la Willie Mays to get the first out of the ninth), or even a bloop single to right that breaks up the perfect game and gives Tiger fans something to bemoan. But not in this way.

omg whatryagonna do? Can they appeal this sort of thing to the League? Almost wouldn't be right, to get the accollade second-hand, I say.

We'll move on, and talk about this night for a long time. Congrats Armando! To the Tigers: Keep beating mediocre teams and keep hitting mediocre pitching (as Jim Price likes to say).

26 in a row is still a hellofa run.