All eyes were on Armando Galarraga again Tuesday night as he set out to try to prove that last week's asterisked perfect performance was no fluke.
    The Tigers, however, were looking for something more basic. They wanted to see signs that Galarraga can continue to be a viable member of their starting rotation -- and not just a one-night wonder.
    What they saw on Tuesday -- two runs on seven hits over five innings -- was a pitcher who wasn't as effective or impressive as, say, Justin Verlander usually is. But they also saw a starter who wasn't as worrisome as, say, Dontrelle Willis had usually been.
    Galarraga didn't get the win. In fact, the five innings represented his second-shortest stint since he was summoned from Toledo. And it fell well short of the seven innings Jim Leyland likes to get from his starting pitchers. Some might say Armando reverted to form.
    But at least Galarraga kept the score close. At least he kept his team in the game and gave the Tigers the chance to eventually win it. 
    Considering how far Galarraga's stock had fallen until last Wednesday's purloined perfecto, that is all the Tigers can ask.
    Leyland's original plan was to have Galarraga skip Tuesday's start in order to keep the rest of the rotation on a five-day schedule. That shows you where Galarraga stood in the Tigers' pitching pecking order.
    But after Armando etched his name in the history books last week, the Tigers' manager didn't dare scratch America's new poster boy for sportsmanship.
    One final thought on the Galarraga Affair:
    As wrong as first base umpire Jim Joyce's infamous "safe" call last Wednesday night was, it was a testament to the integrity of the game.
    The easiest thing in the world for Joyce would have been to call Cleveland's Jason Donald out.
    The Comerica Park crowd would have gone crazy, the Tigers were have been ecstatic, and -- as close as that play was, and as dominant as Galarraga had been all night -- the Cleveland Indians would have said nary a word.
    And the next morning, the national media would have been singing the Tigers pitcher's praises -- for all the right reasons.
    However, in that instant, in Joyce's eyes, the runner was safe and the umpire ruled accordingly -- without concern for the consequences.
    The fact that Joyce's call was so utterly and obviously incorrect was unfortunate. Some might even call it tragic.
    But it was an honest mistake. For that reason, the sometimes-suspect integrity of baseball has never been more undisputable.