Armondo Galaragga had pitched a perfect game through 8.1 innings after some support from Austin Jackson with an amazing play in center to help him reach the point of almost perfection. Afterward he got Mike Redmond to ground out to short for the 26th out of the game. So far, 26 up and 26 down or in other terms "so far so good". He had to secure one more out to complete the perfect game and become the 21st pitcher in baseball history (since 1870) to throw one. The first pitch was a curveball on the outside corner for a strike while the second pitch was a ball in the same place but below the knees. The next pitch would decide the fate of Armondo's perfect game. A fastball brought on a sharp grounder between first and second base, to be quickly backhanded by the first baseman to Ordonez and thrown to Galaragga at first for a routine out; Only Jason Donald was safe. In what was clearly an out by a full step, first base umpire Jim Joyce cost a young pitcher, just called up from Triple A a week before his start, his first and most likely only perfect game opportunity.
This situation reminded me of how some ancient Generals were put in perfect situations only to have them taken away by some hideous calls by there allies or superiors. For example Hannibal had everything going for him in his campaign against Rome in the Third Punic War, as he had waged victory after victory against the Roman army. He was striving for the perfect campaign. But then, just as he was about to reach his goal, he stopped at the gates and would not invade. Instead he gave time to his enemy to amass a new army and push him out of Italy. For his army, this ha to be extremely debilitating. They had just come all the way from Hispania only to be let down by their official. The perfect campaign was no more.
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