If I was an MLB player I'd refuse to play if that guy was umping. That was disgusting. You can't just call that human error, it wasn't close. Disgusting. EDIT: You know what? Every time an ump has blown a call he's been a hardheaded dick about it, but not this time. Joyce is apparently distraught: At least he's being a man and admitting he blew it http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=300602106
We just saw baseball history in the making. That call has the potential to change the game forever. Astounding. Simply astounding.
I didn't think he was going to make it off the field. I was almost sure Leyland was going to put a cigarette out in his eye, if Cabrera didn't break him in half at first. For at least 60 seconds I was having flashbacks of the Pistons/Ron Artest brawl at the Palace. That was fucking ubelievable, watching it live on the guy wasn't even CLOSE to being safe. How could someone standing that close in person blow a call that important?
So where does Griffey fall in the pantheon of HOF players? Had the offense of Bonds without enhancement, gave everyone a reference for what Andruw Jones was achieving in CF, and save for 3 (I think) seasons he was healthy. Is he the best player of his generation? To me it seems that only Maddux and The Big Unit were on his level and they are pitching immortals. It was time to go, but players like Junior only come along 2-3 times in a lifetime and I look forward to comparing up-and-coming players to him in the future.
I also don't want to hear a damn thing about Don Denkinger. Fuck 'The Call'. Someone wins a World Series every year, and the Cardinals had Game 7 to make it right. There have been 20 perfect games in history. This was a worse call. In terms of sheer historical consequence, this was the worst call ever made in professional baseball. No doubt about it.
Well, a few things are going to come about from this call - which was among the worst in the history of the game - and that's a shame because the ump is generally a good one and Gallaraga is a class act... Number one, we may see one of the few (only?) times in MLB history where an out call is changed in a following day. The inevitable public outcry, public admission by the umpire, and fact that it was the final out of the game (thus meaning the game would be over at this point, so all it means is removing the following at bat from the books without altering the course of the game whatsoever) make this a real possibility. We're also going to instant replay spread to force-out calls, and possibly as far as tag outs and trapped balls in the outfield. How they decide to do it is up for speculation, but it will 100% be done. A challenge system is probably the easy solution as there's already a precedent for it in other sports and it wouldn't alter any other aspects of the game (1 challenge allotted per team, with one more allotted if the manager was correct seems like a basic/fair system). If they wanted to ensure that the games did not exceed far beyond the length that they already do, they could just allocate one "booth umpire" to this position every game and have the call available within 30 seconds. The NFL should have this process as well but they do not, so I wouldn't count on this. In other news; the Braves and Rays are looking amazing, a true legend retires (albeit a couple years too late - as do most legends), and Jason Heyward is a lock to be a perennial superstar at the tender age of 20. This has been the most entertaining baseball season in a long time.
The MLB is long overdue for some type of instant replay and challenge system. It's 2010 already. It's not like this is the first time it could have altered a significant game. This is just the most significant.
They are contacting the umpires union now. They are trying to institute a grading system for the playoffs as well as a maximum age limit. I think the age limit is great, I don't think I could call balls and strikes as good ten years from now as I could now, some of those guys are fossils. If you remember the umpires tried to strike and MLB rolled right on without them so they (the umpires) do not have much power. I see some changes in our future.
Not much else to say on the 28 out perfect game that hasn't been said already. At least Jim Joyce admitted he was wrong and apologized. Unlike Randy Marsh in game 163 who blew the HBP call on Inge. And maintained he didn't see it, even after seeing replays. What an ass.
Response to my Denkinger comment: The Cardinals didn't lose the World Series because of Don Denkinger. They lost because they played like choke artists in Game 7. That call will always have people talking about what might have happened. This actually happened. Galarraga actually pitched a perfect game. That is conclusive. He did absolutely everything he had to do, and the umpire alone stole baseball immortality out of his hands. It is also going to change the rules of baseball. Instant replays, new rules for umpires, the possibility that a judgment call will be overturned by the commissioner. This isn't just a part of the lore now. The game will be fundamentally altered. So, yes, it is more important than Game 6 of the '85 series.
I wouldn't mind seeing Selig overturning this call but if anything, adding replay would eliminate the possibility of having a call changed by the commissioner. Give each team one challenge per game to use whenever they want. If you have a close call in a huge moment late in the game but the manager decided to use his challenge on a meaningless play in the third inning, tough shit. Whether they set a hard limit of one per game or allow a team to get additional challenges after a correct one is a different debate. Personally I'm in favor of one per game, which adds a bit of the NFL's "challenge management" element to it, and would also keep Joe West from running his fucking mouth again (about game times, at least). It's a strange feeling switching between wanting to see Jim Joyce be strung up in the streets and genuinely feeling sorry for the guy, but hopefully something good will come out of it if this is what gets Selig to expand instant replay.
This whole thing makes me a sad panda for all parties involved. If it were Joe West or Angel Hernandez who made that call, I'd be at the front of the mob with a pitchfork. By all accounts, though, Jim Joyce is one of the best umpires in the game, and one who always had the humility to admit his mistakes. Listening to his explanation after the game, it was clear that he's incredibly remorseful. It's a damn shame it had to happen to him. I don't think he should be fired but, like you said, this proves the need for a replay system. Do the right thing, Selig, you putz.
If Bud Selig does not institute Instant Replay or something to help the league protect itself from awful, awful calls he will be one of the worst MLB commish's ever.
I am surprised nobody has mentioned all the blown calls in last year's playoffs. If I remember correctly there was a blown call in the Tigers/Twins tiebreaker game that might have resulted in the Tigers losing. I highly doubt that the Tigers would have gotten past the Yankees in the ALDS, but still.
I was wondering how long it would take for someone from Minnesota or Anaheim to mention the playoffs last year. I can't really complain considering how they helped the Yankees but an expanded replay system would have taken any of the controversy out of those games. I think the one you're talking about it from the tiebreaker was the umpire missing a HBP on one of the Tigers' batters. Even after looking at the replay, the ump refused to admit he'd blown the call. Interesting to see the contrast between that and Joyce last night. Of course if Detroit doesn't blow a 3 game lead with 4 to play (or whatever it was), they're never in that position in the first place.
Top 12, bases loaded. Inge is hit by the pitch. Home plate umpire Randy Marsh blows the call. Inge ends up hitting into a fielders choice, and Laird follows with a K. Twins go on to win it in the bottom half. Obviously, even if the call was made correctly, the Twins still would've batted, so there's no saying how the game would have panned out (unlike yesterday, you know exactly how the blown call affected the rest of the game, because there shouldn't have been a rest of the game). But the fact that Randy Marsh still insisted he got the call right after seeing the replay still pisses me off. I posted about it a few hours ago. "I did not have the ball hitting him," Marsh told a pool reporter. "We looked at replays, too. And the replays that we've looked at, to be honest with you, were inconclusive. I did not see a replay that showed that it hit him." <a class="postlink" href="http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091007&content_id=7376820" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd ... id=7376820</a> Oh man just finding that article and reading it again is making me very upset.
That's the difference between this call and every other blown call being discussed right now, including the '85 Series. Those bad calls were perhaps contributing factors to the problem. This call was THE factor. There was no more baseball to play. The mistake absolutely, positively determined the outcome, without question. No 'what if'. None. And Bud Selig, true to form, behaves like a stupid motherfucking asshole. Fuck you, Bud. Fuck you right in your stupid fucking face.
From the article: "Different dynamics, I realize. The St. Louis still had a chance to escape that ninth inning, and they had shot to render Denkinger’s call moot in Game 7. Galarraga will never have another chance to work a perfecto." This is about as bad an analogy as I've ever seen. Yeah they're different dynamics, but not because he'll never have an opportunity like this again. Like everyone's been saying there was no "what if he didn't get the next out anyways", because that was the last out; that's the different dynamic. And, obvious apples to oranges misanalogies aside, quite frankly Galarraga has a chance to work another perfecto every time he goes out there. So does every starting pitcher. I know every time I watch a game I always note when the pitcher loses his no hit/perfect game bid. Verlander said something along the lines of if you're not trying to throw a no-hitter what's the point in pitching? I can't say I disagree with Selig though. I've been thinking about it, and keep changing my mind. So, I'm going to go ahead and be okay with his decision.
I think Rob Neyer has a good point about the "easy" blown call It's easy to make claims after seeing countless replays, from all sorts of angles ... But these guys have less than a split-second to make decisions, from angles that don't always provide the best of views.
Except that Joyce himself stated after the game that he had a perfect angle on the call, didn't have his view obstructed, and said clearly that he just plain blew it. So he just made some shit up instead. He's being a contrarian to get published. By Major League umpiring standards, it was an easy call. The umpire who blew the call agrees. Everyone who was on the field agrees. Neyer is an idiot.