'Perfect' blown call

DETROIT, June 3 (UPI) -- Detroit pitcher Armando Galarraga lost a perfect game -- and a no-hitter for that matter -- on a very imperfect call.

Galarraga retired the first 26 Cleveland Indians batters he faced Wednesday and appeared to have finished off baseball's 19th perfect game when he took a toss from first baseman Miguel Cabrera, who had fielded a grounder hit by Jason Donald, and tagged the base.

But Jim Joyce, a major league umpire since 1987 who has earned post-season assignments 11 times, signaled safe. That set off an argument but the call was unchanged.

Joyce later admitted, "I just missed the damn call." Replays showed just how true that was.

Galarraga met with Joyce after the game, saying afterward, "He feels so bad."

Galarraga said, "I told him, 'Nobody's perfect.'"

There has been a surge in perfect games recently. Randy Johnson pitched the game's 15th perfect game (since 1900) on May 18, 2004, and there wasn't another until July 23, 2009, when Mark Buehrle turned the trick. There have been two this season with Dallas Braden pitching a perfect game May 9 and Roy Halladay matching the 27-up, 27-down feat May 29.