perfect game taken away

[rivers121]

I know that the umpire clearly blew the call and that it should in fact be a perfect game. However, although the umpire is entirely to blame for the missed call, perhaps Miguel Cabrera avoids this catastrophy all together if he plays his own position? He literally takes over the second baseman's territory to make this play, and although just about 99.9% of people say he was doing his job, he is forcing the pitcher to sprint to 1st base and deal with a "timing" play to get the last out of a perfect game. If the perfect game is not on the line, Cabrera would not have gone over that far to second base territory to grab that ball. He would've let the 2nd baseman cleanly field it and get the easy out at first base. Sometimes people try too hard to play "hero" in these situations and unfortunate events ensue. Now, it is still entirely the umpire's fault, but if we throw semantics into play, perhaps looking back this never even becomes a mistaken call in the first place if Cabrera doesn't try to be the hero.

Flame away at me as I'm sure you will, but it is still a legitimate point because any time a pitcher is running to first base, the umpire tends to be out of position to catch everything at once. The umpire is trying to watch to see if the pitcher cleanly holds onto the ball at the same time as getting his foot on the back before the runner, while they are both racing to the bag simultaneously. NONE of this happens if the 2nd baseman fields the ball that was clearly hit to him and Cabrera goes to 1st where he belonged on the play.

 

[HalfElven]

No Flame, just a few comments.
First off your comment about Cabrera trying to be a "Hero" by making that play, that would be true if that was the only time he had done that this season. In fact that's about the fourth or fifth time he's gone after a ball like that.

That being said, your right about it normally being the second baseman's job. But I don't agree it would have been an easier play, since the second baseman had been playing shaded more toward second and would have had to made the play on the grass and with a fast runner like that who knows.

Also take into account that Cabrera is still learning the finer points of being a first baseman, the tigers moved him from third. As a third baseman your instinct is to make a stab at everything that comes within your range. Nobody but Cabrera knows for sure what was going through his mind, maybe he was just trying to help make sure his teammate achieved what he had worked so hard at.

Now as to the ump, I'm ashamed to admit I was like everyone else when the play happened. Yelling and calling the ump everything I could think of, I even made up a few words. That is until I saw the way Galarraga reacted to the call. He didn't scream or yell or threaten, he went back and got the last out then congratulated the rest of his teammates on a win. Even after the game he showed what sportsmanship is all about.

Was he robbed? Yes
Was it a bad call by the ump? Yes
Should Cabrera have let the second baseman field the ball? Maybe
Am I proud to have a player like Galarraga on my team? Definitely