Curveballs for Jobu

Curveballs for Jobu is Off Base Percentage's daily trip around the ballparks.

Today's honorary bat boy: Rance Mulliniks




Yankees 12, Orioles 7. The offense did lots of damage-15 hits, three homeruns, one a grand slam by Curtis Granderson, 5 RBIs for Nick Swisher, whose nickname is Acquired for Wilson Betemit. I think Alvaro Espinoza even got a single in this one.



I just have one suggestion for Wednesday night's game: could someone please tell Chad Gaudin (2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER) it's actually an afternoon game?

Phillies 10, Marlins 8. Michael Stanton's debut in the Florida outfield was a success: three singles in five trips. But the younster was overshadowed by a man impersonating pre-United States Jose Contreras. Fake Jose allowed a run, but struck out two for the win as the Phillies erased an 8-7 deficit with a three-run eighth. Contreras, 72, has a WHIP under 1 in 22 games out of the Philly pen.

Tigers 7, Whitesox 2. Armando Galarraga was again robbed of a perfect game when Juan Pierre led off the bottom of the first with a single. The Tigers' righty had to settle for a five-inning no-decision, but Detroit made a winner of Brad Thomas (two perfect innings) when it rallied for six runs in the seventh against Matt Thornton, who was Simply Irabuian (1/3 IP, 5 ER).

Redsox 3, Indians 2. Nothing like the Cleveland offense to end a slump. Tim Wakefield had allowed 15 earned in 9 2/3 innings in his last two starts against KC and Oakland. Tonight, Wakefield surrendered one earned run and struck out six in 7 1/3 innings of four-hit ball. Wakefield also passed Giant Asshole Roger Clemens on the all-time Redsox list for innings pitched. Wakefield has now pitched 2,777 innings, while Clemens finished his Boston career with 2,776, nearly 2,700 of them with a litle man named Ivan living in one of his sideburns (rumor).

Nationals 5, Pirates 2. Ian Desmond went 0-for-3 with three ground outs. Nothing else really happened.

Someone Tell Milt Pappas To Be Quiet

With the Armando Galarraga-Jim Joyce talk beginning to die down a bit, it's a good time for former pitcher Milt Pappas to whine and complain about a perfect game he lost 38 years ago. It was on September 2, 1972 at Wrigley when Pappas had retired the first 26 batters he faced and had a 1-2 count on Padres' pinch-hitter Larry Stahl. Like absolutely nothing that happened Wednesday in Detroit, home plate umpire Bruce Froemming called three consecutive balls and Stahl walked, ending Pappas' perfecto.



At the time, Pappas told the Chicago Tribune his pitches were "borderline but balls", but cranky old Milton has changed his mind over the years and now criticizes Froemming. Since no one cares about Milt Pappas except the good people at Cooley High School, he took the Galarraga opportunity to call out Froemming, again.

From an interview with SI.com:

I just felt that the last three pitches -- because I had one ball and two strikes on the last hitter -- were there on the outside corner, but he called them all balls. If you look at Don Larsen's perfect game in the World Series, the last pitch thrown to [Dale] Mitchell went under his chin, for God's sake. The umpire knew what was going on, that there was a perfect game going on, and he called him out. Dale Mitchell never said a word. Yet you've got Bruce Froemming saying years later that he didn't know I had a perfect game. How dumb can that be? The umpire didn't even know what was going on in the course of a ballgame, which was ludicrous. I just don't understand why he called those pitches balls when there was a perfect game on the line. He's a very arrogant man.

Hey, Bruce Froemming: didn't you know that young man's got a perfect game going?! This is history, possibly. Those pitches have got to be called STRIKES, no matter where the location! Remember who was umpiring behind the plate during Don Larsen's perfect game? No? Well he knew what was happening and he wasn't about to let some HITTER get a HIT or draw a WALK just because the pitch was six inches high. That's Milton Stephen Pappastedios out there on that mound, show some respect!

Curveballs for Jobu

Curveballs for Jobu is Off Base Percentage's daily trip around the ballparks.

Today's honorary bat boy: Rick Wilkins




Tigers 3, Indians 0. Armando Galarraga had a perfect game through 8 2/3 innings before Jason Donald hit a ground ball to first base. Miguel Cabrera's toss to Galarraga looked to be in plenty of time to get Donald, but umpire Jim Joyce called the play safe. It's a horrible way to lose a perfect game, but the 28-year old was still masterful. He only had one inning where he threw more than 11 pitches-the ninth-and in the sixth and seventh innings he combined to throw 14 pitches.




Dodgers 1, Diamondbacks 0 (14). I didn't think anything could smell worse than Arizona's logo until the Diamondbacks went to LA for a three-game series. Game 1, Monday: Dodgers get two runs on a Kelly Johnson throwing error to tie the game in the 8th, then win in the 9th on Esmerling Vazquez's balk. Game 2: Matt Kemp's solo home run wins it in the bottom of the 10th. Wednesday's game 3: 86-year old Garret Anderson delivers an RBI-single in the bottom of the 14th to complete the sweep. The Flying Parras have gone 31 innings without scoring a run, a franchise record.

Fantasy Stat of the Day: Travis Schlichting got his first major league victory for LA.

Padres 5, Mets 1 (11). Adrian Gonzalez hit an opposite field, walk-off grand slam for San Diego. Yesterday, it was the Braves, today I ask: are the Padres the best team in the National League? These guys think so:



Rangers 9, Whitesox 5. Tough times for current and former Angels. First, Kendry Morales destroys his ankle after jumping on home plate after a walk-off home run, now Vlad Guerrero hits himself in the eye with a ball that ricocheted off the top of the backstop during batting practice. What's next, Adam Kennedy accidentally swallows a rosin bag?

Cubs-Pirates, ppd. Cubs tie! Cubs tie! Cubs tie! Cubs tie!

Jim Joyce Is Famous

In a busy night for baseball, the most talked about story tomorrow will be a safe call made by veteran umpire Jim Joyce. The Tigers' Armando Galaragga was one out away from the third perfect game of the season when Jim Joyce blew a call at first base. Jason Donald hit a ball that Miguel Cabrera had to field forcing Galaragga to cover first, which he did in time. Joyce called Donald safe as Galaragga began to celebrate. As you can tell by my screen grab, he was out. Well, that's what you'd see if I managed to get the bag in the picture. You can also tell from my screen grab that I'm not very good at screen grabs. That's why I get the big bucks!

Galaragga retired the next batter to complete the one hitter and Joyce was mobbed by irate Tigers. Unfortunately for us, it wasn't real tigers. This story would be much better. Seconds later, Joyce's Wikipedia page was updated for accuracy.



Before this post gets any uglier with my fabulous HTML skills, I'll leave you with the video replay of the blown call. It should be available for about 30 more minutes before MLB shuts down the Internet.



Important Twitter Update: From @TomLeyden Jim Joyce was distraught. "Most important call of my career and I kicked the s$&t out of it. I cost that kid a perfect game."