Shit happens. I saw the replay, the ump was off, but it was relatively close. when i heard the description i was expecting the runner to be like 15 feet from the base.

mistakes like this happen all the time in baseball, they aren't over turned. the situation is magnified because the guy was one out from a perfect game.

This is actually a problem in all sports. My favorite sport, hockey, has reffing issues as well. They refs don't call the playoffs the same way they do the regular season and that leads some teams who are prone to getting penalties to get away with things they otherwise would not be allowed to. It cheapens the game.

Call everything the same, or nothing.

The ump screwed the pooch, it happens. If Selig overturns this, then he should also disbar all the steroided players records. If you can go back and overturn something, then why not everything?

I wouldn't want it now, if I was Gallaraga. The thrill is gone, the thrill is gone. And the rocord would forever be follow by the dreaded asterick*****

Posted by: seattle slough at June 03, 2010 01:43 PM (JRGA6)

Jeebus, not withstanding the fact that is exactly what was told to the Duke Lacrosse team to fully appreciate the idoiocy of your statement you would have to ignore the fact that the Duke Lacrosse team was procecuting by a Democrat AG who only did it because he thought it would help his street cred with black voters.

In other words it was done on purpose, the missed call at first base was not.

Suck it up cupcake.

(Not to him of course, as it handled the snafu with grace and dignity.)

Just what I like to say to the whiners in life generally.

Posted by: seattle slough at June 03, 2010 01:43 PM (JRGA6)

Fuckin tool or Fuckin sock?

Also DrewM.

If Selig does overturn this and give him the perfect game, i am willing to bet more people remember this "perfect" game more than any of the other 20 or so.

Disagree, Drew.  There are many, many times that less-controversial missed calls are reviewed and overturned by instant replay in baseball.  There's no reason to keep an incorrect result when the correct result is clearly at hand.

If the game's outcome was in doubt, then there may be reason to leave it as-is, since it may affect many, many other people directly in organizations across MLB.  But in this case, where the result of the game was not in doubt, there's no good reason not to award the perfect game to the pitcher who pitched it.

Posted by: laceyunderalls at June 03, 2010 01:50 PM (pLTLS)

With diced onions and cheddar cheese?

The call was a crying shame, but that's part of baseball or any other sport.  Galarraga and Joyce handled themselves beyond well -- truly a story for baseball history.  Leave the game and the story alone.

Posted by: HeatherRadish at June 03, 2010 01:47 PM (mR7mk)

--I was thinking about that myself, and wondering if it is because the 'roids are receding from MLB.

Posted by: laceyunderalls at June 03, 2010 01:50 PM (pLTLS)

Come meet your new husband my leetle preety!

Posted by: Monty at June 03, 2010 01:55 PM (4Pleu)

Maybe Selig will institute a "24 second Pitch Clock" to speed up the game.

Come meet your new husband my leetle preety!

Posted by: Bubba Jose Fernández, Joran's new Chilean prison cellmate at June 03, 2010 01:57 PM (wOGfT)

Being locked up for the rest of your life in a South American prison is a fitting end for that jerk.

Conservatism is based on the idea that life isn't fair, people aren't perfect and there's nothing you can do about it in this lifetime. We shouldn't be about trying to make sure bad things never happening but in dealing with them well when they do. I have no idea what Gallaraga thinks about HCR but his reaction to his misfortune is a perfect example of a conservative temperament.

Drew, gotta disagree.  Conservatives agree that life isn't fair and we should deal with it.  Conservatism believes (or should) that when we see things we can reasonably fix, we should.

I don't think that the call should be overturned, but I see no problem (besides the fact Baseball is boring enough without it) with instituting instant replay.  As long as everyone is playing by the same rules, the specific rules themselves can (mostly) be interchangeable.  It would be bad if instant replay only came in to play if, say, a team was losing and it might help them catch up.  Or only if someone has been pitching the perfect game and a runner gets to base.  If, like in Football, there are set, limited, circumstances in which replay can be used?  I say go ahead.  Or not.  But either way would be fine.

Posted by: DrewM. at June 03, 2010 01:58 PM (X/Lqh)

Hey, he said he was a lawyer didn't he?

Maybe Selig will institute a "24 second Pitch Clock" to speed up the game.

Posted by: conscious, but incoherent at June 03, 2010 01:58 PM (YVZlY)

There already is a 30 second between pitches rule.  That never gets enforced.

The best way to speed up a baseball game?  Call balls and strikes like the book defines them.  Each game will be about an hour and a half.

Can we just move to blurnsball already?

And abandon the great game of Calvinball?

Have you no decency, man?

And abandon the great game of Calvinball?

Have you no decency, man?

There can be both. But baseball needs to be jazzed up.

And abandon the great game of Calvinball?

great reference.

Okay something *seriously* sexy about a bunch of men arguing over a piss-poor call. Add some conservative ideology into the mix, oh boy....

Wait, what was I saying?

Oh yeah, carry on, carry on.....

If shit calls are "part of baseball", then why not just have a game without players, and have the ump just decide who wins that day.

Am I the only person who thinks baseball is the worst? It ranks slightly above soccer in my mind.

Come meet your new husband my leetle preety!

Posted by: Bubba Jose Fernández, Joran's new Chilean prison cellmate at June 03, 2010 01:57 PM (wOGfT)

Hands off, bitch!

No, no, no, a thousand times NO.

Bad things happen in life, there is no escaping it. What matters is how you react to them. Both Joyce and Galarraga handled this situation with a grace and dignity that most of us could only hope to achieve.

How can any self-respecting conservative support replay in baseball?

I thought correcting wrongs where you find them, regardless of whos feeling get hurt is part of conservitism.

"Right" the wrong I say. This has nothing to do with conservitism or leftism but right and wrong, but instead the triumph of good over bad.

If shit calls are "part of baseball", then why not just have a game without players, and have the ump just decide who wins that day.

Posted by: Zimriel at June 03, 2010 02:10 PM (9Sbz+) 

Replace the umps here with the league office, and you've just described the NBA playoffs!

 Sure, go ahead and reverse it, while your at it could you take care of this little problem that cost the St. Louis Cardinals the World Series?

In the bottom of the 9th inning with tow outs, umpire Don Denkinger called Royals batter Jorge Orta safe at first base - a call refuted by broadcast television's instant replay.

Not really.

Baseball instituted limited use of replay a couple of years ago and only allow it in very specific situations all having to do with home runs (fair/foul, over the wall or not).

My take is, it was a perfect game.  You shouldn't negate a perfect game over a clearly bad call.  But we can agree to disagree I hope.

Posted by: alexthechick at June 03, 2010 02:11 PM (8WZWv)

nice!

My take is, it was a perfect game.  You shouldn't negate a perfect game over a clearly bad call.  But we can agree to disagree I hope.

Posted by: Truman North at June 03, 2010 02:14 PM (e8YaH)

No we can't. Rand Paul!

Posted by: DrewM. at June 03, 2010 01:58 PM (X/Lqh)

He really is this stupid Drew.  Just look at his "Nikki Haley says she barely knew Folks so she did it" without any proof of her saying that, his other comments about the Duke rape case, and let's not forget his Obama admin defense of "offering someone a job is not a bribe or crime" arguments.  All aspects of his arguments requires not only complete ignorance, but ignoring what is being said directly to him.

Posted by: logprof at June 03, 2010 02:14 PM (Mmw0q)

You know, I don't think leftists and communists abolish the death penalty because they're pussies (though they are).  They abolish the death penalty so they can hang the threat of releasing a bunch of murdering psychos over everyone's head.

"Oh, but if we don't get the tax monies we're gonna have to let the bad guys go."

Instant replay leads to waffling; there should be no waffling in sports (as a paradigm for life).  No getting out of "shit happens", just man up and face it or whinge and cry about it...instant replay/turning over calls is for touchy feely hippies who want life to alwasy be "fair"!!!!!!!

*yeah, I feel like stirring the pot today, lol!

Posted by: alexthechick at June 03, 2010 02:11 PM (8WZWv)

That's racist!  Just ask my new BFF Al Sharpton!

--I pretty much only watch soccer during the World Cup and if it's something huge like last year's Confederations Cup, but that's still more soccer over a four-year span than baseball.

I agree with the umpire who racked down and sped games up.  College baseball puts limits on the masturbatory stepping in and out of the batter's box that infests MLB, and that can make up for a lot of time lost to a replay system.  Personally, i think a good start would be a challenge system like the NFL's which would force managers to be judicious about what call to contests, and reduce the (also masturbatory) screaming matches between them and the umpires.

This weeks Heros:

1- That Baseball Pitcher who didnt cry

2- That Jewish BigBalled HS Kid with the flag

Posted by: Truman North at June 03, 2010 02:14 PM (e8YaH)

No! You're banned!

Wait, who let Charles Johnson in here?

Posted by: Instant Replay at June 03, 2010 02:14 PM (0q2P7)

You know, I don't think leftists and communists abolish the death penalty because they're pussies (though they are).  They abolish the death penalty so they can hang the threat of releasing a bunch of murdering psychos over everyone's head.

"Oh, but if we don't get the tax monies we're gonna have to let the bad guys go."

Posted by: Editor at June 03, 2010 02:18 PM (pUfK9)

--Actually, it may be deeper than that, though to me the one you give is a new and interesting angle.

It's often a symptom of secularism.  To use a baseball analogy, if deep in your heart you're convinced there's no concept at all of an eternal, cosmic justice, be it Karma or Judgment or some sort of afterlife, if you blow a call, that's it.  There's nowhere to appeal.

I will settle this once and for all.  We're going to play the game again!

138  As has already been stated: the fans already know he pitched the perfect game; history will likely remark that he pitched a perfect game.  You don't need the numbers all nice and neat in the stat book to know that -- in fact, I could argue from a metaphysical standpoint his perfect game becomes something more because it was miscalled...that the imperfection of the call allows this game to transcend the dry, emotionless analytics of the stat sheet; the perfection of imperfection as it were.

But I digress -- mainly I find instant replay to have ruined just about every sport I used to enjoy, it takes forever, causes players and coaches to become pissy crybabies who challenge every single call, and takes authority from the individual (the umpire/referee) and gives it to a faceless bureacracy...and it causes the games to drag out forever, which is bs because if the game drags too long my butt bones start poking through to the seat and my legs get numb...not enjoyable.

1- That Baseball Pitcher who didnt cry

Posted by: Frosty Wench at June 03, 2010 02:21 PM (vwh8M)

--Actually, by some accounts I've read, he did cry.

Posted by: seattle slough at June 03, 2010 02:24 PM (JRGA6)

I will slough, your argument comparing a frigging baseball game to a court proceeding is one of the most assine and stupid arguments I have heard. How's that work for you?

I'd love to get some more of that brilliant buzzion logic flowing up in here.

Posted by: seattle slough at June 03, 2010 02:24 PM (JRGA6)

As opposed to your logic where the law is equivalent to a baseball game?  Not just as use for some metaphorical explanation for the law but equivalent to it.  Because a blown baseball call is the same as falsified rape charges.  Because believing that you should retroactively alter a score in baseball is the same as believing that we shouldn't be able to overturn poor court rulings.  And I'm the one deserving of having their logic sarcastically called brilliant.

Posted by: polynikes at June 03, 2010 02:30 PM (m2CN7)

No, I am saying the rules are the rules. If Sellig changes this call why would he not change other bad calls? Why not have him review every game every day and change all the calls that were wrong?

It's a frigging game and bad calls have been part of it since they started playing it.

169 -

Well then that leave #2.

The Kid wins!!!

Posted by: huerfano at June 03, 2010 02:34 PM (Updet)

I'm with you there, actually there is only one pussy league that uses that rule.

_{This isn't soccer, where acting is at least as important as athletic skill,}

Lots o' decoy plays in baseball.  Plus, it's not a pinko-commie sport, like soccer is.

Posted by: joncelli at June 03, 2010 02:34 PM (RD7QR)

FIFme

188 I don't watch games at home -- and I've given up on every professional sport except baseball and hockey (I don't even like watching college football and basketball anymore).

I like to be in the stands...and instant replay does nothing for a person like me (hey, a selfish reason, but I'm entitled to it).

Posted by: damian at June 03, 2010 02:38 PM (4WbTI)

Word!

Posted by: Intrepid at June 03, 2010 02:36 PM (92zkk)

--It would not be necessary to "penalize" the team that does not win a challenge, just limit the number of challenges.  Would that waste any more time that the moronic shouting matches?

Is it wrong that I'm hoping a Capt. America-esque analogy involving Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, and Joe DiMaggio as representing figures of the Dem party standing up to the evil umpire that is conservatism is coming up here shortly from seattle sloopy?

It would be historic...if not unprecedented.

Posted by: Boo Berry at June 03, 2010 02:40 PM (uFokq)

FIFY.

Court proceedings are a part of "life."  Certainly, as big a part as baseball.

Jeeebus Slough, You do understand don't you that a court proceeding is where one party accuses another party of a wrongdoing that could cost the accused his treasure, freedom or his life don't you?

Do you also realize that baseball is a game?

For you to see any comparison in the two is beyond stupid.

Posted by: Unclefacts, AoSHQ Professional Debate Team at June 03, 2010 02:45 PM (erIg9)

stupid is on an endless loop.

There can be both. But baseball needs to be jazzed up.

Posted by: taylork at June 03, 2010 02:05 PM (0Hn5w)

I always liked Gallagher's suggestions for jazzing up baseball:

1 - Instead of a pitcher's mound, have a pitcher's pit.  The pitcher stands in a hole and just pops up and fires pitches at the plate whenever he feels like it.

2 - When a batter hits the ball he doesn't have to drop the bat and run to first base- he can charge towards any base he wants swinging the bat around as he goes.

Posted by: koopy at June 03, 2010 02:48 PM (awinc)

Word!

You do understand that the facts of this call is unlike any other and will likely never occur again?

Posted by: polynikes at June 03, 2010 02:44 PM (m2CN7)

Tell that to the 85 Cardinals.

Totally agree, Drew. As sad as it is, you can't go back.  And as a life-long Tiger fan, I'm so proud of Galarraga, Leyland and the team that...well, that's something! And Joyce is a great guy too.

The kid pitched a perfect game. The GAME will remember, as a commenter at Althouse so aptly said.

Posted by: MikeTheMoose at June 03, 2010 02:45 PM (0q2P7)

--and I think if we have to politicize it, a conservative would say, "Okay, we've reached the point of diminishing returns where further improvements to getting calls right actually becomes more more costly than the value gained," while a libtard would constantly demand that a perfect outcome be reached, cost be damned.

#226 Lineup cards are valuable souvenirs from important, historic games, like the Cal Ripken, Jr., one that broke Gehrig's record.

Posted by: seattle slough

Okay dog food. You tried comparing a blown call by an umpire to a railroading effort by a corrupt prosecutor. And the spiel about how "other well meaning persons involved" doesn't cut it.

It was Nifong's decision to prosecute, not the cops.

It was his decision to handle it himself.

It was his decision to hold a press conference that vilified the players even as they were cooperating with him, where he claimed that they were not.

It was his decision to suppress evidence, and collude with the supervisor at the lab that handled the physical evidence.

It was his decision to roust a cab driver who corroborated the alibi of one of the players that Magnum finally mangaged to identify, from a stacked line up of photos that Nifong helped create ( all of the photos were Duke players. There were no clearly innocent persons, and Magnum was told that.

Other than that, you have a lock on the situation.

Posted by: Kenisaw Mountain Landis at June 03, 2010 02:50 PM (LH6ir)

It makes perfect sense to me!

What's really scary is how oil spread accelerates when it rounds the corner -- some time around Independence Day.

If the oil keeps leaking until Augustr even Christmas,  these flow patterns could describe a massive quantity of oil."

I hate instant replays -- because as stated earlier, it takes the ref/ump out of the game and gives outcome possiblity to a faceless group -- takes the humanity out of the game imho.

And it takes the spectators out of the game too -- let's face it, when you're sitting there in the stands (or at home chugging a beer, instead of raking the leaves), aren't the boos, jeers, and cheers just as much part of the game as what's going on in the field.  Do you really want to silence that? (which instant replay kinda does)  Takes the emotion right out of the game imho.

Baseball (and football, and hockey) are not supposed to be reduced to a golf gallery clap!

Awarding a perfect game after the fact?  That's horseshit.

It's like giving Barry Obama +44 mulligans.

What's really scary is how oil spread accelerates when it rounds the corner -- some time around Independence Day.

If the oil keeps leaking until Augustr even Christmas,  these flow patterns could describe a massive quantity of oil."

Posted by: curious at June 03, 2010 02:57 PM (p302b)

I hope its not the same simulation software used to determine the ash cloud from iceland.  Because we know how precise that was.

Posted by: LincolnTf at June 03, 2010 03:00 PM (7EDH5)

Hell he's probably going to be more well known because of the non-perfect perfect game than he would have if it had been a perfect game.  Seems like he qualifies for a sports question on Jeopardy or inclusion in Trivial Pursuit now.

I thought a death cloud was what you got after the morons consumed large quantities of chili?

I'm on the "don't change the outcome" side of things, though some of you "do change its" are swaying me.

Also, Calvinball should really be a national sport.

National Center for Atmospheric Research

Damn, I just realized, my brother-in-law works there.

The model of fair play in baseball presumes an honest effort by the Umpires to make good calls.

As long as that is intact, the game remains fair because a "bad" call is as likely to go for you as against, and that input of non preferential randomness is no worse to deal with than any other random event in the game, like a bad bounce, slippery grass, ball in the sun, and the like. Only when malice effects the calls, does a bad call actually become "unfair".

We didn't get that memo...

Do we have Bud Selig's birth certificate?

Posted by: taylork at June 03, 2010 03:11 PM (0Hn5w)

To lemony for my taste, what is good though is sharks with friggin lazers. Not only are they tasty but the could also fix the oil spill with the direction from the yellow submarine of Barack Obama and his new BFF Paul McCartney.

OT

You can always depend on Californica to bring da stoopid.

Okay, I'll put forth some serious comments here.

What this case proves is that "conservatism" does not mean "whatever Drew says it means". Drew put his pants on the wrong way around today (again).

Conservatism can incorporate the rule of law and the right of appeal through that law; but, it can also incorporate the rule of shitty laws, like the divine right of Bud Selig. Either one has a "conservative" argument.

Chevrolet just gave Galarraga a 2010 Corvette convertible according to an email my sister at GM wrote me.

Nice!

Chevrolet just gave Galarraga a 2010 Corvette convertible according to an email my sister at GM wrote me.

Nice!

Posted by: Darcy at June 03, 2010 03:20 PM (+Z6FM)

You do realize that they used your money to pay for that car don't you?

Also in the news today...Jim Joyce rules the BP oil spill

"Safe"

Good God, you are now being actively stupid. 

That's how he always is alex.  He needs to actively ignore what is being said to him on multiple times to maintain his little fantasy world.  Since he's brought the Duke case up here, his fantasy there involves ignoring the questions "what would his response and the media response have been if black athletes were falsely accused by a white woman, and the faculty and staff had pronounced them guilty without trial and the aftermath" and twising all of that into the idea of "hypothetical black athletes would never be falsely accused by a white woman." 

@robtr

I thought it was nice. It made me smile. And I really don't want to get into a discussion on the evils of GM. I have tons of family working there, and as a Michigander, I'd like them to succeed. I know that's an unpopular thought to a lot of conservatives, but in this case, the politics are very local and close.

Posted by: Gary Bettman at June 03, 2010 03:18 PM (vD76z)

Bettman actually fought the union and has better the league, Selig has worsen the league in ratings and sat back as roids ruined the game in the 80s and 90s

 worst commissioner in sports strikes again

You rang?

Posted by: Gary Bettman at June 03, 2010 03:18 PM (vD76z)

HULL WAS IN THE FUCKIN CREASE!

 Posted by: Darcy at June 03, 2010 03:25 PM (+Z6FM)

Uh, #349 wasn't me. And fuck you. I never said anything close to that.

Posted by: Darcy at June 03, 2010 03:25 PM (+Z6FM)

Well glad we could help out, we just had that money laying around in jars buried in the backyard anyways. None of the rest of us had any plans for it.

"The lemon shark is also known to form loose aggregations based on size and sex and have been seen congregating near docks and fishing piers during the night..."

Sounds like Spring Break: Panama City '84.

Uh, #349 wasn't me. And fuck you. I never said anything close to that.

Posted by: Darcy at June 03, 2010 03:30 PM (+Z6FM)

Oh Darcy, let's go to school.  You will note I enclosed your comment in quotations attributing it properly to yourself.  That was followed by a comma to break the sentence,  and my addition of  with money that belongs to someone else.

Also, do you wish to walk back your "fuck you" comment or does it stand as a testament to your good nature, or do you actually wish to fuck me?

I thought it was nice. It made me smile. And I really don't want to get into a discussion on the evils of GM. I have tons of family working there, and as a Michigander, I'd like them to succeed. I know that's an unpopular thought to a lot of conservatives, but in this case, the politics are very local and close.

Posted by: Darcy at June 03, 2010 03:25 PM (+Z6FM)

I understand your sentiment. And I don't wish ill of your family. But if GM was going to succeed, the time to start was 10 years ago. Their time is past. They are a ward of the state and the state will finally pull the plug.

great tweet by jimmiebjr:

If the President had been working 1b last night, he would have blown the call, then blamed the ump who worked 1b the night before.

yes like their cousins fannie, freddie, and the rest of the crew...

Those parasites will get it too, when the government gets pushed to the edge of the cliff, or failing that, over the edge.

@Fish

Oop. You're right. I read it wrong. I read, but rarely comment here. I'll take your gracious offer to walk it back. Thank you.

I don't agree with the bailout of GM. I hope they pay the government back, is all. That's what I meant by succeeding.

Anyway, I'm out.

Update: So Selig must have consulted with his league bookies officials.

"Death Cloud" used to be my roommates secret weapon.   Damn, it worked, too. 

But then came the day that I turned the tables on him - dueling Death Clouds.  Everyone had to leave. 

Posted by: moviegique at June 03, 2010 03:38 PM (ey5wt)

Heh, yup I'm just to left of Lenin. That's why I'm against Obama picking winners like Unions and losers like those who aren't in Unions to give our tax money too.

For the record I didn't blame Darcy for anything. I just reminded Darcy that Government Moters still owes us lowely tax payer $48 Billion and that maybe before they start giving frigging $60,000 cars to wealthy baseball players they could pay that back because that's just the kind of liberal I am.

Posted by: moviegique at June 03, 2010 03:45 PM (ey5wt)

When GM gives away money before they pay us back I am going to say something about it.

Learn to live with it.

Posted by: moviegique at June 03, 2010 03:45 PM (ey5wt)

You know what , don't learn to live with it. Let it eat at you.

I really could care less either way.

Thanks, moviegique.

Selig made the right call.  We can't make it a perfect game, because it wasn't perfect.   The umpire screwed it up.  Too bad an umpire has the power to do that, but he does.  If we *did* try to go back and change it, it would forever be the game with the asterisk, the "Perfect" game that really wasn't perfect but we decided to call it that because that was the touchy-feely-please-mommy-make-it-all-better thing to do.

Posted by: moviegique at June 03, 2010 03:51 PM (ey5wt)

You seem to be quite the internet tough guy. There is alot of that going around now.

 I do not understand this Luddite instinct that many baseball fans have

Tradition dies hard. 

Why does everyone call a no hitter a perfect game? Pitching 27 strike outs with 81 pitches would be the perfect game.

Posted by: moviegique at June 03, 2010 04:02 PM (ey5wt)

Your arguments make about as much sense as Seattle Sloughs. Maybe in all of your wisdom you can tell me what a kid earning a A is a shitty school has to do with a company that owes us $48 Billion giving away cars?

I am sure that makes sense to you but I just don't see it.

OT

You can always depend on Californica to bring da stoopid.

Posted by: maddogg at June 03, 2010 03:18 PM (OlN4e)

--Funny that the photo posted is from a meeting a bout traumatic head injuries.

Posted by: moviegique at June 03, 2010 04:02 PM (ey5wt)

Oh and no I don't want to fight you. You're not worth the energy.

Let me apologize to Darcy and make things all better. I am glad the taxpayers could all come together as a collective and provide a place for Darcy's relatives to work. I think we should make it a frigging national policy that everyones job should be gauranteed by the government.

Sorry Darcy, really.

Actually, wouldn't throwing 27 pitches to get 27 outs be the ultimate perfect game?

Posted by: DrewM. at June 03, 2010 04:13 PM (X/Lqh)

The perfect defensive game perhaps?

Look, the criticism of GM giving away a car when they are massively in debt is fair, okay? I'm very sorry I mentioned it, or even took issue with robtr. I actually did think it was nice *for Galarraga* at first thought.

And for what it's worth, I don't think moviegique was disagreeing with the criticism of GM, really.

My sincere apologies for my prickliness on the subject. As much as it as odds with my common sense and conservative thoughts, I simply cannot root for GM to fail.

Posted by: moviegique at June 03, 2010 04:30 PM (ey5wt)

You seem to be intent on calling me names. I am in Kirkland, WA, fuck , come on over and you can continue.

My sincere apologies for my prickliness on the subject. As much as it as odds with my common sense and conservative thoughts, I simply cannot root for GM to fail.

Thats all right, as a man who owned nothing but Chevrolets and Jeeps for 30 years, I'll root for failure enough for both of us.

Huh.

Oh, I'm sorry, I guess the whole "you're not worth the energy

I feel better now, really. The energy isn't a problem so come on over.

But baseball then mends the heart it has broken, and in the most magnificent ways, in ways that uplift players and fans, alike.

"1985 called, Royals, the Cardinals want their trophy back. --Ron Denkinger"

 Indeed. As a long suffering Astros fan I can't summon up much sympathy either. Fred Brocklander blew two calls at first base that cost the Astros the 1986 NLCS.

Everybody who cares knows it was a perfect game and there is going to be an asterisk in all the sports almanacs that will explain what happened. This may end up as the most famous perfect game in baseball history because of the screw-up.

Posted by: Boo Berry at June 03, 2010 01:56 PM (uFokq)

Last night he said he honestly wasn't sure but he thought he'd be called out for certain, given the circumstances of the game.  This morning he said he watched the video and he was out.  But he praised the way Galaragga and Joyce handled it.  Funny thing is, he's only been in the big leagues for 2 weeks and he probably never anticipated being involved in something this big.

Why does everyone call a no hitter a perfect game? Pitching 27 strike outs with 81 pitches would be the perfect game.

Posted by: ed davis at June 03, 2010 04:06 PM (nBE5A)

Posted by: Karl Hungus at June 03, 2010 03:56 PM (/Mla1)"
I think this is the thread winner but this one is close for a different reason, it's true:

"414 Maybe they should give it to the pitcher so the umpire won't have to live with it for the rest of his life.

Posted by: FUBAR at June 03, 2010 04:18 PM (J5Srq"

I really think the umpire ruined his career last night.   Oh, the union will get involved and he will umpire again, but for him, it will never be the same.  He will always be whispered about as the "umpire who blew the call on the perfet game".   the pitcher can always pitch another perfect game or even two or three but the umpire can never take back that call and all the whispering about "what happened" and "why he did it".

By not following the advice of the lawyers on above the law....the commissioner probably tainted the game....

Posted by: Rich Rostrom at June 03, 2010 04:32 PM

I agree.  We have no idea how many of the earlier calls in the game were questionable and favored the pitcher.  This is why changing any call after the fact can lead to a real mess.  Just because this was a "special" instance doesn't make it any different than the first inning or fourth inning or even another game that the pitcher worked.   If people want replay to affect the game it has to be instittuted before the season starts, not after some particular play/game. 

I really think the umpire ruined his career last night.   Oh, the union will get involved and he will umpire again, but for him, it will never be the same.  He will always be whispered about as the "umpire who blew the call on the perfet game".

I don't think so; his classiness in owning up to his mistake has endeared him to almost everybody.  In an age where nobody likes to own their fuckups, his way of addressing it promptly put him ahead of the crowd.  Sports fans can be assholes and dicks about a lot of things but they appreciate stand-up people.

Posted by: DrewM. at June 03, 2010 05:10 PM (X/Lqh)

Ask Bill Belichek after the Indy game last year.  He didn't use his challenge, but they had blown all their timeouts, and it was before the 2 minute warning so no challenges from the booth.

Posted by: seattle slough at June 03, 2010 05:00 PM

Actually the reason for the camera was twofold, and not a good comparison to baseball..  One, the fact that alot of dirt and mud is thrown up from many tracks, especially back in the early days or from the effects of bad weather.  This made it difficult to see the close races.  Second, this isn't simply a fact of two or even three participants(one or two players and an ump) but could be many more extremely large animals.  This also made it difficult for a judge to see and also makes it very dangerous, much more so than baseball.   Personally you couldn't pay me enough money to stand that close to a herd of charging horses. 

Posted by: Kenisaw Mountain Landis at June 03, 2010 05:31 PM (LH6ir)"

Yes, no outright punishment but come on, everyone will say "oh that's the umpire wh ruined the perfect game"....every time he is the umpire.  They will whisper but they will still say it...

This absolutely ruins his career.....not his job, his career....

Selig was totally unfair to the ump.....the union should be yelling now...where are they?

This absolutely ruins his career.....not his job, his career....

Posted by: curious at June 03, 2010 05:42 PM (p302b)

How?  By being in MLB he's gone as far in his career as an umpire can.

Maybe guys are different from women but women would never forget this.

Men are different than women; we remember things and carry grudges, but about different types of things.

Posted by: DrewM. at June 03, 2010 05:10 PM (X/Lqh)

Suppose baseball had a system where all close plays were reviewed by an off-site league official -- much like the NHL -- when this atrocious call occurred.

Then what?

Honestly, we live in a world where every baseball play is replayed on TV several times from several angles immediately after it ends, yet we're to accept that using said replays to ensure that official rulings are correct is somehow bad for the game. I'm not buying it.

The pace of baseball is such that even three or four replays in a game wouldn't disrupt the flow much, if at all. Baseball needs to enter the 21st century already and do what's right. Expand replay so crap like this doesn't stand anymore.

This absolutely ruins his career.....not his job, his career....

Posted by: curious at June 03, 2010 05:42 PM (p302b)

How?  By being in MLB he's gone as far in his career as an umpire can.

Posted by: Captain Hate at June 03, 2010 05:52 PM (+lZy

And he's owned up to it.  And its a call that blows a guy stats, not one that eliminates a team from playoff contention.  I'm willing to bet you can't find an umpire in baseball that has never made a bad call.  I don't think this will hurt him careerwise in the long run.

I think a good comparison for this would be a quarterback on his way to a perfect 30 for 30 passing game.  And his last pass of the game the ref rules it an incomplete pass and there's not enough evidence for a review to overturn it due to poor camera angles.  But it did look like a catch, and later the ref admitted to it probably being a catch.

Its one game, one mistake, and the only thing that it really affects is a players stats.  Its not enough to justify  Roger Goodell coming in and altering the final game results.

Posted by: DrewM. at June 03, 2010 06:14 PM (X/Lqh)

--Precisely because, in this case, it was important.  It may happen again where the call actually affects a score, for a pennant race game.

Two disputable goals last night happened in the Stanley Cup game.  It was fortunate that the NHL could examine them and get it right as it was as close as both the previous games in the series.

I think MLB fans have a purer than thou complex with regard to other sports and their replay systems.  I almost can't blame them, since MLB's games are mind-achingly boring and slow as it is, but those fans are so Ultramontane in their stubbornness that they want the game to stay slow and shitty too.

Posted by: seattle slough at June 03, 2010 05:42 PM

Gee, I didn't know that. /sarcasm 

 I've been around race horses and tracks since I could walk and personally the inside pole at a finish line would not be my first choice of a place to stand.  But in the early days of racing, before my time, they did just that.  They also sometimes stood on the track, even after the advent of the camera.  The point you missed is that deciding the finish of a horse race is alot more difficult, and yes was more dangerous, than an ump calling a play in baseball, for all the reasons I stated.  So your comparison is not really valid.  I could care less about replay in baseball, other than it would probably drag out the game even more.  Oh, and Slew was much more appropriate..he slew the competition.

Bud Selig is considering making it an official perfect game

Maybe Bud Selig should consider simply NAMING a World Series Champion.  It would save everyone a lot of suffering.

Yes, my first name is Joyce.   I have never heard it used in baseball before.  ha 

why have replay if you are not going to use it?

don't they use replay in horse racing? 

give the guy his perfect game.  the ump admitted he'd made a mistake.