Jon Heyman tweets that the Reds have signed Armando Galarraga to a minor league deal.

Aug 8, 2012; Houston, TX; USA; Houston Astros starting pitcher Armando Galarraga pitches against the Washington Nationals during the first inning at Minute Maid Park. (Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports)

Galarraga is more known as having a perfect game taken from him by a dreadful call by umpire Jim Joyce. (You can see a still of the play here.) After the game, Joyce admitted that he “kicked the sh*t out” of the call and he “cost that kid a perfect game”. More known was how gracious Galarrga was stating that “nobody’s perfect”. Galarraga would deliver the Tigers lineup card the following game…with Joyce being the home plate umpire.

And much changed for both with that blown call. An ESPYs appearance. A book they co-authored. And an MLB edict stating Joyce could not work any series where Galarraga’s team plays.

Is it safe to say Joyce could keep any plans in tact that involve coming to Cincinnati?

Quick trivia. Who was the batter that hit the ill-fated grounder to Miguel Cabrera? Jason Donald, then of the Tribe, now a Red.

Irony can be cruel.

Here’s Galarraga’s journey since his days in a Tigers uniform…

• January 24, 2011: Traded by the Detroit Tigers to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Kevin Eichhorn (minors) and Ryan Robowski (minors).
• September 30, 2011: Granted Free Agency.
• January 18, 2012: Signed as a Free Agent with the Baltimore Orioles.
• April 6, 2012: Released by the Baltimore Orioles.
• May 21, 2012: Signed as a Free Agent with the Houston Astros.

Galarraga did pitch in five games for the Houston Astros last season (all starts) compiling a record of 0-4 with an ERA of 6.75 with a WHIP of 1.917.

UPDATE (1/22/13 @ 12:53PM ET): This has been confirmed by Mark Sheldon.

The Reds were involved in more one run games than any other team in the Major Leagues.  The Reds won more one run games than all but 3 teams in the league:  Milwaukee, San Francisco and Cleveland.  Milwaukee is the only one of these teams that made the playoffs interestingly.  Detroit, Atlanta and Toronto also won 29 one run affairs as did the Reds.  Where the Reds led the league is in the category of one run losses.  They lost 33 one run games.  The losses were recorded by 12 different pitchers.  So in picking my twelve games, I favored home games as the best opportunity for the Reds to win but to keep it interesting, I selected a game lost by each of these 12 pitchers.  Let’s break them down as we walk down memory lane.

(more…)