An Imperfect Perfection
I am in the middle of writing like 4 posts at once and can’t seem to properly finish any of them. But, I do want to throw out a quick one on my thoughts on what transpired in the baseball game on Wednesday night in Detroit where Armando Galaraga was robbed of his perfect game on a blown call by first base umpire Jim Joyce.
First, off let me state I feel just horrible for both the pitcher and the ump. The kid pitched his ass off and by all rights should have pitched a perfect game, sans one bad call. Joyce did not want to make a mistake and certainly didn’t do it on purpose. You know deep down that guy just has to feel awful and his entire 21 year career as an umpire will now come down to that one blown call.
I also feel everyone involved has handled this with the utmost class and professionalism. You would have certainly understood if Galaraga had bashed the ump in his post game interview for taking away his chance at history. But instead he took the high road and to that I say good for him. He certainly made me a fan. The Tigers organization and Jim Leyland also deserve high marks for coming out in support of Joyce. Leyland in the heat of the moment lost his cool, but once he calmed down, again came to the defense of the umpire.
Joyce himself also deserves some praise for how he has handled this. He came right out in the first post game interview after seeing the replay and admitted his mistake and owned to it. He answered every question and took responsibility for what happened. No one is perfect and the guy simply missed the call. To err is human.
All of this has led to cries from many fans and media persons out there. First, Bud Selig should reverse the call and award Galaraga a perfect game. Second, there should be more instant replay in baseball. I am against both ideas. It is very easy to overreact to the events that took place. But, I hope sanity prevails.
It is rare I agree with Bud Seilg. While many in the media will fawn over what Bud has done for the balance sheets of the owners, as a fan of the game it has sickened me. He is the only commissioner in baseball history to cancel a World Series. (And I know there is plenty of blame for that one, but in the end what did that work stoppage accomplish for the owners? I will answer for you, nothing.) He overreacted to one tie in an All Star game and now we have the fate of home field advantage in the World Series based on who wins a meaningless game in July. He created the abortion that is interleague play. I know a lot of people love it, but count me as someone who views it as unnecessary and patently unfair. (If you want to me to bore you with all the details of why I think so, just ask.) I could go on and on but I won’t.
With all that said, on this one I have to agree with Selig. You cannot overturn the call and to do so would start a really bad and dangerous precedent. I mean where do we stop? Do we now award the 1985 World Series to the Cardinals because Don Denkinger missed the call at first base? Does Milt Pappas get his perfect game because he ump called ball four with 2 outs in the 9th? Baseball for as long as it has been played has never been perfect. It is after everything is said and done simply a game. It is not life or death. It is played by great men who sometimes are not so great. It is judged by umpires who are human and are prone to all human frailties. But, that is part of what makes it great. This is also why I am dead set against more replay in baseball.
I realize I am fighting a losing battle. It is coming and there is nothing I can do about it. We have it on home run calls (somehow the game survived for 120 years without it) and soon its reach will further poison the game. Baseball is not like football and hockey. There is an ebb and flow to it, and the last thing we need is to have more interruptions and longer games. Yes, it sucks when a call goes against your team. But, there is an old saying breaks tend to even out. Football plays 16 games, and baseball plays 162. During 162 bad calls are going to go both ways and like I said tend to even out.
Even in football with instant replay how many times will you look at a replay and think, okay that will be overturned and the ref comes out and lets a call stand? The NFL has been using replay for over a decade and has still not perfected it. Nothing gets my goat more than watching a football game celebrate a touchdown only to have some coach throw the red flag to dispute it. It totally disrupts the flow of the game and like I said, even with replay sometimes the refs still get it wrong.
I get the argument on the other side. I really do. I understand the want to have calls be 100% accurate, but that is fantasyland stuff. There are always going to be calls that are incorrect, replay or no replay. Baseball umpires as a whole do a pretty good job (save for Laz Diaz and Angel Hernandez the two worst umps in baseball.) I know the umpires now want more replay, but I just think this is a huge over reaction. This is the first time in the 130 year history of baseball that a perfect game was lost on a bad call at first. Somehow even without replay the game will survive.
First, off let me state I feel just horrible for both the pitcher and the ump. The kid pitched his ass off and by all rights should have pitched a perfect game, sans one bad call. Joyce did not want to make a mistake and certainly didn’t do it on purpose. You know deep down that guy just has to feel awful and his entire 21 year career as an umpire will now come down to that one blown call.
I also feel everyone involved has handled this with the utmost class and professionalism. You would have certainly understood if Galaraga had bashed the ump in his post game interview for taking away his chance at history. But instead he took the high road and to that I say good for him. He certainly made me a fan. The Tigers organization and Jim Leyland also deserve high marks for coming out in support of Joyce. Leyland in the heat of the moment lost his cool, but once he calmed down, again came to the defense of the umpire.
Joyce himself also deserves some praise for how he has handled this. He came right out in the first post game interview after seeing the replay and admitted his mistake and owned to it. He answered every question and took responsibility for what happened. No one is perfect and the guy simply missed the call. To err is human.
All of this has led to cries from many fans and media persons out there. First, Bud Selig should reverse the call and award Galaraga a perfect game. Second, there should be more instant replay in baseball. I am against both ideas. It is very easy to overreact to the events that took place. But, I hope sanity prevails.
It is rare I agree with Bud Seilg. While many in the media will fawn over what Bud has done for the balance sheets of the owners, as a fan of the game it has sickened me. He is the only commissioner in baseball history to cancel a World Series. (And I know there is plenty of blame for that one, but in the end what did that work stoppage accomplish for the owners? I will answer for you, nothing.) He overreacted to one tie in an All Star game and now we have the fate of home field advantage in the World Series based on who wins a meaningless game in July. He created the abortion that is interleague play. I know a lot of people love it, but count me as someone who views it as unnecessary and patently unfair. (If you want to me to bore you with all the details of why I think so, just ask.) I could go on and on but I won’t.
With all that said, on this one I have to agree with Selig. You cannot overturn the call and to do so would start a really bad and dangerous precedent. I mean where do we stop? Do we now award the 1985 World Series to the Cardinals because Don Denkinger missed the call at first base? Does Milt Pappas get his perfect game because he ump called ball four with 2 outs in the 9th? Baseball for as long as it has been played has never been perfect. It is after everything is said and done simply a game. It is not life or death. It is played by great men who sometimes are not so great. It is judged by umpires who are human and are prone to all human frailties. But, that is part of what makes it great. This is also why I am dead set against more replay in baseball.
I realize I am fighting a losing battle. It is coming and there is nothing I can do about it. We have it on home run calls (somehow the game survived for 120 years without it) and soon its reach will further poison the game. Baseball is not like football and hockey. There is an ebb and flow to it, and the last thing we need is to have more interruptions and longer games. Yes, it sucks when a call goes against your team. But, there is an old saying breaks tend to even out. Football plays 16 games, and baseball plays 162. During 162 bad calls are going to go both ways and like I said tend to even out.
Even in football with instant replay how many times will you look at a replay and think, okay that will be overturned and the ref comes out and lets a call stand? The NFL has been using replay for over a decade and has still not perfected it. Nothing gets my goat more than watching a football game celebrate a touchdown only to have some coach throw the red flag to dispute it. It totally disrupts the flow of the game and like I said, even with replay sometimes the refs still get it wrong.
I get the argument on the other side. I really do. I understand the want to have calls be 100% accurate, but that is fantasyland stuff. There are always going to be calls that are incorrect, replay or no replay. Baseball umpires as a whole do a pretty good job (save for Laz Diaz and Angel Hernandez the two worst umps in baseball.) I know the umpires now want more replay, but I just think this is a huge over reaction. This is the first time in the 130 year history of baseball that a perfect game was lost on a bad call at first. Somehow even without replay the game will survive.
posted by 10withmop at 2:51 PM
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