The calls of admiration began out by the bullpen during his pregame warm-ups Tuesday night and mushroomed when Armando Galarraga walked to the mound for the first time in five days. The Chicago White Sox fans’ ovation for the Detroit Tigers’ starting pitcher grew louder, and it immediately became clear: Galarraga’s near-perfect game last week was more than a blip on the news cycle.
“I heard them a little,” Galarraga said of the White Sox fans, “but I was trying to focus.”
In the days since the infamous missed call by umpire Jim Joyce cost Galarraga a perfect game and sent the 28-year-old Venezuelan pitcher from relative unknown to national stardom — he was even featured on the “Today” show — Galarraga has been lauded for the grace he showed that night. Fans, players and coaches have let Galarraga know how much they appreciated his professionalism and class in handling Joyce’s mistake. And for Galarraga, it was a week filled with a range of emotions that challenged him to maintain focus and prepare for his next start.
AP Photo/Paul SancyaTigers pitcher Armando Galarraga hands the lineup card to umpire Jim Joyce the day after Joyce missed a call and cost Galarraga a perfect game. Galarraga and Joyce have been lauded for how they handled the mistake.
That came Tuesday, and although the baseball world’s attention was focused elsewhere on Nationals rookie starter Stephen Strasburg, Galarraga had a solid outing. His final line showed five innings, seven hits and two runs allowed in the Tigers’ 7-2 win against the White Sox — a step forward for him, one he very much needed.
“I’m glad it’s over,” he said, “that [perfect game] story is over now. It’s time to start a new story.”
The story Galarraga wants written about him now doesn’t end with an almost-perfect game taken away by an umpire. He wants to be known as a good major league pitcher. For that to happen, he knows he needs to prove it. And everyone in the Tigers’ clubhouse is aware of the challenge Galarraga faces.
“Maybe if he doesn’t have the career he should have, maybe people are going to say it was one of those things that everything just went his way that day,” said teammate Gerald Laird. “If you can’t come out and establish a presence in the major leagues, later in life they’ll just bring it up that he was just an average pitcher in the big leagues who just had his day. I hope he’ll [instead] be looked at as a really good major league pitcher.”
So how does a player who started the season in the minor leagues and who has struggled to find consistent success during his career get to the brink of a perfect game? And how has he handled the fallout with such aplomb? It turns out a series of conversations the Tigers had with Galarraga leading into la
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