MLB bans Jim Joyce from umpiring games involving Armando Galarraga’s team

By Jun 2, 2011, 11:19 AM EDT
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It’s a moot point for now after the Diamondbacks demoted Armando Galarraga to Triple-A, but Amy K. Nelson of ESPN.com reports that MLB has banned Jim Joyce from umpiring “any series in which Galarraga’s team plays.”

Joyce’s botched call ruining Galarraga’s perfect game last season forever linked them in history and they’ve since become business partners by co-authoring a book, so MLB’s ruling certainly makes sense.

Nelson reports that Joyce was replaced by another umpire when his crew worked a Diamondbacks series in early May, noting the similar arrangement with umpire Jim Wolf and his brother, Brewers pitcher Randy Wolf. Wolf is allowed to umpire games involving his brother’s team, but is not allowed to call balls and strikes when his brother is pitching.

Today is the one-year anniversary of the “imperfect game” and Galarraga will spend it at Triple-A after posting a 5.91 ERA in eight starts for the Diamondbacks. Overall since the game he’s 5-12 with a 5.10 ERA in 29 starts.

Dodgers place pitcher Noah Syndergaard on injured list with no timetable for return

Associated PressJun 8, 2023, 9:19 PM EDT
dodgers syndergaard
Katie Stratman/USA TODAY Sports
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CINCINNATI — The Los Angeles Dodgers placed pitcher Noah Syndergaard on the 15-day injured list Thursday with a blister on the index finger of his right throwing hand.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the timetable for Syndergaard’s return is unknown despite the 15-day designation.

“The physical, the mental, the emotional part, as he’s talked about, has taken a toll on him,” Roberts said. “So, the ability to get him away from this. He left today to go back to Los Angeles to kind of get back to normalcy.”

Syndergaard allowed six runs and seven hits in three innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night, raising his ERA to 7.16.

Syndergaard (1-4) has surrendered at least five runs in three straight starts.

Syndergaard has been trying to return to the player he was before Tommy John surgery sidelined him for the better part of the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Roberts said Syndergaard will need at least “a few weeks” to both heal and get away from baseball and “reset.”

“I think searching and not being comfortable with where he was at in the moment is certainly evident in performance,” Roberts said. “So hopefully this time away will provide more clarity on who he is right now as a pitcher.

“Trying to perform when you’re searching at this level is extremely difficult. I applaud him from not running from it, but it’s still very difficult. Hopefully it can be a tale of two stories, two halves when he does come back.”