I agree there are likely to have been many, many questionable calls in no-hitters and perfect games over the years. Guy gets punched out on a ball 6 inches outside, etc. In a no-no, a play’s ruled an error when …

For me, once Joyce said he thought the runner beat the ball, all space for Selig to do something disappeared. They would have had room to alter a scoring decision (hit to error) if Joyce’s call was a bobbled ball or missed bag. Not as we have it, though.

I agree with others here and elsewhere: there’s a measure of class being shown by pitcher and umpire (and even Leyland, actually). It helps that, as Mo noted, Joyce is a really well-respected ump.

I think he choked, actually. Happens.

see (26) ….. Damon’s bang-bang play call was blown, which a few batters later led to 2 more runs in the top of the 9th.

As for instant replay, it isn’t a cut and dry issue. Baseball action does not lend itself well to instant replay. So much action occurrs “away from the ball”, that using instant replay in all but the most limited form would lead to unwinding game events. I’d rather live with human error than chaos.

Bud Selig needs to allow the storm of criticism to pass without reacting rashly. What happened last night was unfortunate, but it doesn’t mean we need to leap into a fundamental change.

“I know it would be the first time that it’s ever happened, but you’re talking about a very unusual circumstance here.”

Like the Law, it would be a ‘Precedent’ that would then become the law going forward.

So if MLB is HAPPY to use technology to make a fortune, what is the problem with using technology to make the game fairer??

One problem is that when they FINALLY decided to use Instant Replay (IR) on HR calls, they did it in the worst possible way. By the time the umps walk off the field to ‘review’ the play, the entire country has already seen the play 10 times, in slow mo, and from multiple angles. We, the viewing public already know what the play was, long before the umps make the final call.

All sports embody the fundamental idea of fairness. Using technology to make the game more Fair, should be a no-brainer. However, they need to encorporate IR in a way that is more transparent and doesn’t delay the game. Each manager should have 3 challenges. The HP ump should have an earpiece that’s connected to a central ‘reviewing booth’, where a booth umpire has already seen the play in slow-mo, from many angles (just like the rest of us), and simply tells the HP ump the correct call.

This is NOT really a radical idea. It’s not near as big ‘a change’ as Interleague play, the DH, lowering the mound, or many other aspects of today’s game. The Umps would LOVE IR. If we had it, the kid would have his perfect game, and nobody would even know the name of the 1st base ump. I’ll bet my life that Joyce wishes his call had been reversed.

Again, sports IS about FAIR competition. It may take a while for some to get used to, but making the game more fair would ultimately be accepted and praised by the vast majority of the baseball world.

how in hell do you not give the kid that call?!!? Even if it’s a tie, you give the call to the pitcher in that situation. It’s not like Moose, where there’s a clean single, it’s basically the runner & ball arriving at the same time, give the call to the pitcher there.

I haven’t been a fan of instant replay, but this changes things. Maybe each manager gets one challenge a game.

And Bud has to use “best interests of the game” and over turn the call. Normally I don’t want a game’s ending changed (didn’t like the reversal of the pine tar game) but, come on, last play of a perfect game and a blown call?

The kid built a perfect house of cards, and just as he placed the last card, a split-second after it was in place, the ump sneezed and blew the house down. That doesn’t mean the house wasn’t built. Doesn’t mean Galarraga didn’t accomplish the rare feat.

Galarraga played the game perfectly, a performance that should be noted, and honored by anyone who cares about baseball. The ump made a mistake that could be forgiven and forgotten.

But again, I can also see why MLB shouldn’t, and won’t reverse the call. Mistakes, and bad calls are part of the game, always have been.. I get that… but when an ump ruins perfection, a split-second AFTER the game SHOULD have ended, I dunno, man, baseball’s gotta do something to make that right, no? Yeah, maybe not. Your call, Bud. This is why you get the big bucks.

Sucks to be an ump most days.

So very well said, man. Actually, that’s what this got me thinking about more than anything else–the nature of imperfection, of mistakes, of screwing up. I do it all the time. We all do. Though not nearly in such a public arena. Life isn’t just. But the kid and the ump both displayed some real character in how they handled it–as opposed to Dallas Braden, whose moment in the sun reinforced his character as a braggart and a blowhard.

That said, dudes, there wasn’t a perfect game thrown in the Seventies. That’s three this season alone. What gives?

i love griffey.

i love farah, too. but for different reasons… ; )

I do have sympathy for Joyce, as this will haunt him for the rest of his life. He’ll always wince when he thinks about it long after fans let it go.

I would like it however, if it leads to some sort of limited instant replay that could be used to overturn bad calls, especially when they have direct impact (or potentially direct impact) on a game’s outcome.

Jayson Stark has a proposal up at ESPN that I think wouldn’t be overly intrusive, but at the same time could have easily prevented this debacle.

For the record though, this wasn’t even the worst blown call I’ve seen in the last 72 hours, just the most costly on an individual and historical level. The horrible, horrible call that C.B. Bucknor made at 2nd two days ago was worse than this …

It’s also a relief that both Galarraga and Joyce are such good characters about it – it’s really admirable in both cases, and I hope it will endure a lot longer than all the rage especially if Selig just absorbs the punishment and doesn’t touch the game. Now that would be perfect.