I know it has been awhile since I last wrote something. I have something in the pipeline about Miami University, my wonderful Alma Mater, but it isn't ready yet. So here's my take on Armando Galarrga, Jim Joyce, and The Commissioner's decision.
By now, I'm last to the party, as per usual, to tackle a subject. But there is benefit to this. I have seen the reaction of Major League Baseball, of all the pundits, of all the players of all the bloggers and everyone else I haven't yet mentioned. Having weighed everything, all the opinions, all the "coulda woulda shoulda" of the situation, I would not have changed a thing.
Baseball is a game played and officiated by humans. Errors occur in baseball (they keep track of them in the box score!) and from time to time the occur by people not wearing a team's uniform.
Such was the case with Jim Joyce's call in the ninth two nights ago. He blew it. He said he blew it. He was destroyed in every forum, from a very public boo'ing at the hands of the Detroit faithful in Comerica Park, from bloggers, tweeters and columnists the next day, even his Wikipedia page was edited, re-edited, re-re-edited and now locked because of his call.
Such was the case with Jim Joyce's call in the ninth two nights ago. He blew it. He said he blew it. He was destroyed in every forum, from a very public boo'ing at the hands of the Detroit faithful in Comerica Park, from bloggers, tweeters and columnists the next day, even his Wikipedia page was edited, re-edited, re-re-edited and now locked because of his call.
Meanwhile, Armando Galarraga, someone you probably thought retired many years ago, is left with a masterful night that should have, admittedly, been much different. The kid went out and pitched the 21st Perfect Game in MLB history. But he didn't. He's left with a 1-hit, complete game shutout.
And that's exactly what should have happened.
What's the alternative? What happens if Bud Selig comes out and overturns Jim Joyce's call (yeah, he didn't)? My informal survey of Tigers' fans would applaud it. And some (shining example: Olbermann) have pointed to a precedent to change perfect games and no hitters.
That's all well and good, but those occurrences changed the way we look at statistics. Change this ruling and then every umpire in the big leagues tightens up their own "strike zones" before every close play. Would you want to be the umpire with the most league overturns? Or maybe they start calling the games a little looser because, hey, if they screw up then the league can come in and make it alllllll better!
The argument brought to the forefront in all of this is that for instant replay. The calls on twitter following the play were very much in favor of it. Curt Schilling wants it. The aforementioned Olbermann wants it. ESPN.com's Senior baseball writer Jayson Stark wants it. But as a friend of mine posited just hours after the Joyce Call, the likelihood that a call of this magnitude has the chance to occur ever again is minute at the very best. The knee-jerk reaction is common in the world of the 24-hour news cycle and that's probably why we see opinions like this.
But baseball has never been like this and it shouldn't change because of one freakishly missed call.
Pardon me for tapping my inner George Will but purely from the competitive side of this story, nothing is different from "out 27" to "out 28" two nights ago. The Tigers still won, Galarraga got said win and Fausto Carmona got the Loss. Those facts would not change if there were a perfect game. This is undeniable.
Joyce got the call wrong. But baseball got the call, unfortunate though it may be, right.
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