Miguel Cabrera

In a fairly unsurprising move, Bud Selig has announced that he will not in fact reverse the blown call by umpire Jim Joyce that cost Armando Galarraga the 21st perfect game in the history of Major League Baseball. 

Selig did say "that Major League Baseball will look at expanded replay and umpiring". This is an improvement over the current system in place, but it doesn't change the fact that a young pitcher has been robbed of baseball immortality. 

On June 2, Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga was robbed.

Not robbed of a home run, but of a perfect game.

Galarraga retired 26 straight hitters, placing him one out away from a perfect game.

Jason Donald of the Cleveland Indians stepped to the plate, the last chance to end perfection.

Donald slapped a ground ball between Miguel Cabrera at first and Carlos Guillen at second. Cabrera ran over to field the ball, backhanded it, and threw it to Galarraga at the bag. The throw beat the runner by half a step. A perfect game! Right?

Wrong.

It was two seasons ago in a men's wood bat summer league game. It is a good league, with great competition and many former (and at least one current) major leaguers as alumni.

I was base umpire, situated behind the pitcher's mound in a two-man team. Man on first, one out, late in a tied game.

Batter hits a ground ball to the hole in short, throw is made to second for the force out, then the relay is made to first.

Bang-bang play, and I signal OUT! Double play and inning over.

Last night, as I was sitting at home, I saw the news come across that Ken Griffey Jr., one of the best players in the game, at least in this era, had retired.

I remembered watching his first years in Seattle and being so awestruck by not only his effortless left-handed swing but also by the speed he had in the outfield. He made highlight reel play after highlight reel play that will continue to be watched by the next generation of fans.

Not only that, but he survived the steroid era and proved that a player can be great without using illegal supplements to do it.

General Motors Plants have been taken away over the years and Detroit has suffered. Detroit has suffered their share of pains by far, and another one occurred tonight. Armando Galarraga, the 28-year-old from Venezula, was one out away from a perfect game against the Indians.

It looks like Max Scherzer's brief stint with the Detroit Tigers' Triple-A affiliate the Toledo Mud Hens was just what he needed.

Scherzer dominated while in Toledo, and he looked to be in top form against the Oakland Athletics on Sunday.

The DTrain is going to be laying down new tracks....right out of Detroit. Dontrelle Willis, the struggling left hander, was designated for assignment after Saturday night's loss to the Oakland Athletics at Comerica Park.

The move removes Willis from the 40 man roster and leaves the Tigers 10 days to trade him, release him, or send him outright to the minor leagues. However, Willis would have the right to refuse any minor league assignment and become a free agent.

This likely ends Willis' tenure in the Tigers' organization, which has spanned the past three seasons. 

Somewhere, sometime in the history of the baseball world, it was deemed that the Fourth of July holiday should be the benchmark to determine whether your team had a snowball’s chance in Hell of waving the pennant at the end of the season.

Not sure why July 4. Why not Flag Day, June 14? Seems appropriate; the pennant is sometimes called the “flag."

Labor Day is cheating; there’s less than a month left, so that’s hardly a step out onto the limb.

After what could be construed as a successful west-coast road trip, the Detroit Tigers came home Friday to face the Oakland A's.

And lost 5-4.

Miguel Cabrera supplied all of the offense for Jim Leyland's club.

Yes, all of it.

The Detroit Tigers are fresh off two wins in M.C. Hammer's old stomping grounds—Oakland, Cal.