The classiest guy in baseball has to be Detroit pitcher Armando Galarraga, the guy who appeared to have pitched a perfect game last night only to have it taken away by a blown call by veteran umpire Jim Joyce. Galarraga has comported himself with tremendous class following this terrible disappointment, and in every interview I've seen with him he's been smiling, not the least big angry or vindictive...a perfect gentlemen. He's a class act and a credit to the sport.
You also have to give a shout out to umpire Jim Joyce. He thought he had the call right, but after reviewing the tape, admitted he blew it and went into the Detroit locker room to apologize in person to Galarraga. Reports are they hugged each other and departed friends. That's the way it ought to be.
No umpire wants to blow a call, and certainly not in a high profile spot like that. And no umpire wants to admit he got it wrong. It's a tough situation for both the player and the ump.
Major League Baseball will be reviewing the play, but frankly I think it would be a mistake to reverse the ruling on the field. There is no replay currently allowed in baseball, and until the rules are changed I think they need to leave the game as is. Had that blown call occurred in the first inning instead of the ninth there wouldn't be nearly as much controversy today and people wouldn't be calling for a change of ruling. Unfortunately, human error is as much a part of baseball as hit and runs. After all, they do have a scoring column for errors.
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
1 comment:
Perhaps a scoring column for umpire errors would be in order also! This was for base running...imagine the balls and strikes issues. Perhaps balls and strikes should be called electronically in real time!
Post a Comment