Perdomo not holding any grudges against ump Blaser after Classic ending

Geraldo Perdomo was caught off guard by the question. The Diamondbacks' shortstop was asked prior to Thursday's Opening Day game what he thought about the fact that umpire Cory Blaser would be behind the plate for Friday night's game.

Blaser was behind the plate for the Team USA-Dominican Republic game, and he called Perdomo out on strikes on a 3-2 pitch that appeared to be below the zone. It ended the game and the Dominican Republic was eliminated from the WBC.

Blaser's name was displayed in the visitor's clubhouse lineup with the rest of the umpire assignments, but that it didn't even register with Perdomo should tell you how quickly he put the call behind him, and how genuine a person he is.

• Final: Dodgers 5, D-backs 4

"Oh wow," Perdomo said when it was pointed out to him. "Like I said before, everybody's human. Everybody makes mistakes. [Umpires] are not machines."

Perdomo said something similar in the days after the call when he returned to Spring Training.

"Us as players, we make errors, we make mistakes, too, so they're human, they are not machines," Perdomo said. "We didn't lose the game right there. We had a lot of opportunities to win that game or tie that game."

Perdomo was asked if he would say anything to Blaser about the call when he went to home plate Friday night.

"No," Perdomo said. "No, no, no. He's a great guy. I love Cory. He's been really good with me. You know, whatever happened behind the plate that night is part of the game. But he's a really great guy."

Perdomo didn't even say much to Blaser when it happened.

"I only said, 'You know, Cory, that's a ball,'" Perdomo said. "But that's it."

Perdomo and Arizona manager Torey Lovullo have what both describe as a father-son type of relationship, and the pair talked that night and also the next day. Lovullo said Perdomo made the same comments to him that he did to the media Thursday.

"I'm proud of the way he handled it, because the easy thing would have been to say that he ruined that moment and prevented us from advancing," said Lovullo. “So when Gerry and I talked about it that night and part of the next day, he said there were four or five other things that also put us in that position. So it wasn't Cory Blaser's fault."

Perdomo demonstrated just how much it was behind him when he approached the plate for his at-bat in the first inning Friday as he put his arm around Blaser and patted him.