Thursday, June 03, 2010

The (Mostly) Perfect Game

A few thoughts on the blown call last night:

- Jim Joyce, by all accounts, is a good guy and great umpire. But he screwed this one up badly. Criticism is deserved.

- Threats against his family though are just stupid.

- Everyone involved acted with class. A shocking amount of class really. It speaks well of everyone involved.

- "Blown calls are part of baseball." "Human error is part of the game." I've heard that all day. It's garbage. I'm not really a baseball guy, but one of the things I do appreciate most about baseball is the history and tradition. Still, to keep technology out that could avert many mistakes is foolish.

- "Instant replay would make the game too long." Who could tell the difference? There's plenty of ways to cut more time out of MLB games, and replay can be done quickly if handled right. College football has an extensive replay system, but the overall amount of time added is minimal, especially compared to the impact of major blown calls.

- The bottom line for me: It is intolerable that thousands of fans at home can easily see that a call is wrong and nothing can be done to change it.

- I'm glad the MLB isn't stepping in and reversing the call. Yeah, it was bad, but I think that would be worse. And set an awful precedent.

- That Corvette sure is shiny.

- Armando Galarraga will probably be remembered better and longer because the game ended this way. Maybe he should change his number to 28 though.

- Politicians "declaring" it a perfect game and trying to score cheap political points? That's lame.

1 comment:

Ump said...

I agree, my mom was telling me Granholm was going to try to do something about the mess. Really? Granholm really thinks she has pull on this? "You know, we weren't going to change the call, but then Michigan Gov. Jenny Granholm called and said I 'better do something about it, or else!' So, I reversed the call." Really?

What a class move by everyone involved. I'm sorry it happened, but you have to own it and take all the crap, no matter what. You cannot eject anyone. You eat it and take it. No one has a right to treat the ump like crap, but he better give them that right. You know it's coming.

The Car: What is a $60,000 car to these guys? Is that the equivalent of my boss buying me Subway...not from the $5 menu?

Great idea off of yesterday's "Mike and Mike": Not having instant replay is just as bad for Jim Joyce. I'm sure he would have loved to throw a red flag and request a replay, but there isn't one. It's bad for Galarraga, but also Joyce.