2010 MLB

[Sir Stewart]

Maybe in a tired haze I dreamed seeing this, but the two times I watched the play on the local news last night, it looked like Joyce went for the OUT! gesture for a split second before calling the player safe. Anyone see that?

[u2roolz]

Maybe in a tired haze I dreamed seeing this, but the two times I watched the play on the local news last night, it looked like Joyce went for the OUT! gesture for a split second before calling the player safe. Anyone see that?

 

YES!

 

I was watching Sport Center late last night and I did notice that Joyce began to put his right arm forward in an "OUT" call but then moved his arm to the right while he moved his left arm out.

 

It's actually more obvious in slow motion.

[cryptique]

Yeah, but that seems to happen most of the time when there's an unexpected "safe" call at a base.

[Sir Stewart]

Even so, it says to me that he was flooded with conflicting emotions at that moment. "I just umped a perfect ga--no I didn't!"

[bobbob1313]

tim kurkjian made the exact point you did last night. If he is safe, he is safe. unfortunately, this was not even a close call.

 

It was an exceptionally close call. If it happens in the 4th inning, you go "Shit, he missed it, but it's a close play and he's human" and move on. Maybe Lou Pinella gets tossed, but that's about it.

 

 

 

Dan Le Batard's column on this was great:

 

Here it is, the decision of a lifetime. It is right in front of you. It will be, by the time you have made it, the most important choice of your entire career. You are very good at what you do. You have spent more than two decades at the top of your profession. But you have but a blink to choose now. See, process, decide -- in less time than it took you to read those three words.

 

And you choose wrong.

 

So very wrong.

 

And the world immediately falls on your head before you have had time to drop it.

 

So cruel, baseball. Everything you've ever done can be erased in a hiccup, as Bill Buckner can tell you.

 

A human game was marred by human error Wednesday night, the pursuit of historic perfection punctuated by historic imperfection. Umpire Jim Joyce blew a call at the worst possible time. In the history of sports rulings, you aren't going to find too many worse than this.

 

Detroit pitcher Armando Galarraga had faced 26 batters and retired each one. One more to go. One strike to go. Slow roller to the right side. Galarraga gets to first base in time to record the out -- clearly a step ahead of the runner. But Joyce chooses wrong.

 

And history is forever altered. One step changed the headlines from ``Perfect game!'' to ``Imperfect ump!,'' just like that the pendulum swinging from joyous to angry, one symbolic step the difference between the perfection humans aren't meant to achieve and the imperfection we've perfected.

 

The oddest thing happened then, though. Many years ago, a home run was taken from George Brett because of an umpire's silly decision about pine tar on his bat, and Brett famously raged out of the dugout, requiring all manner of restraint as he boiled near the umps. That's what happens sometimes when competition-aholics are robbed of what they have earned. It wasn't an important home run, never mind an immortal one. Just another regular-season game. And Brett lost all control. People understood the reaction. Whether it is Bernie Madoff or Scott Rothstein, Americans get very, very angry when what they have rightly earned is stolen.

 

And here was young Galarraga, a pitcher with a 20-18 career record, on immortality's front porch, literally a step from this divine place only 20 other pitchers in America's most historic game have ever reached. Fans would have understood if he had thrown his glove or filled the sky with expletives or maybe even bumped the ump in an injustice-soaked burst.

 

But you know what he did?

 

He laughed. It wasn't a mocking or sarcastic laugh, either. It looked like the sweet laugh of acceptance. Tranquility amid turbulence. Almost a spiritual state. The very opposite of wherever it was that Brett visited as he was being restrained.

 

Religions form in search of this kind of balance and serenity. Amazing grace.

 

You can't really fix this. Commissioner Bud Selig can overturn the ruling, as he may, but it doesn't bring back the joy. The moment has been forever stolen by human error.

 

You can't have teammates come back and pile on him, or fans file back into the stadium with a spontaneous noise. And Joyce, of course, was despondent. He had blown the biggest call of his career. He apologized to Galarraga. Hugged him, even. And Galarraga accepted.

 

Truth is, umpiring decisions impact outcomes all the time without this kind of notice. Heck, we just had the 20th perfect game right here in Miami last weekend, thrown by Philadelphia's Roy Halladay, and the ump's absurd strike zone in that game helped make that one as perfect as this one was flawed.

 

But Wednesday's reaction, so loud at first, was somehow softened by the humanity exhibited by both pitcher and ump in interviews afterward. A broken umpire's obvious despondence mixed with a betrayed pitcher's gentle forgiveness put feelings and context and empathy where there had been only wrath and mockery.

 

The Indians and Tigers played a baseball game Wednesday night, and it was not quite perfect.

 

But it was about as close as sports can get.

[MattZ]

Maybe in a tired haze I dreamed seeing this, but the two times I watched the play on the local news last night, it looked like Joyce went for the OUT! gesture for a split second before calling the player safe. Anyone see that?

 

I havent read anything about what the ump said after the game, but sometimes umps do that when the ball beats the runner, but whoever is covering the bag gets pulled off? Since the pitcher was running to cover first, is it possible that he thought the pitcher didn't get the bag? So he started the OUT call because the ball was there in time, but then went to safe?

[cryptique]

In this case, I believe the ump was quoted as saying that he thought the runner beat the throw.

[Sir Stewart]

It's an incredibly unfortunate situation for all involved.

[MattZ]

In this case, I believe the ump was quoted as saying that he thought the runner beat the throw.

 

Just padding my post count.

[bobbob1313]

The only thing I could have thought was that he kind of sno-coned the ball and then popped it into the glove. Maybe he thought it was bobbled.

[Sir Stewart]

This all reminds me of this interview from Fresh Air: http://www.npr.org/t...oryId=102887815

Great listen if you haven't heard it.

Particularly:

DAVIES: Is it stressful? I mean - you know, I think a lot of people feel that umpires make the call and then they don't worry about it. Is that true?

 

Mr. WEBER: It's actually an interesting question. One of the things that makes a good umpire is the ability to accept the responsibility for making decisions and then the ability to live with them. If you - if it was going to drive you nuts to make decisions and live with them you'd make a terrible, terrible umpire. So that's a quality that I think umpires actually share - is a, you know, is that ability and that willingness to make decisions. At the same time, their mistakes do eat at them.

 

They talk about them years later. I mean, when I was doing interviews, these guys, I - you know, I would ask about mistakes that they'd made. They could all recall - oh yeah, there was that play at Montreal and Tim Foley was the base runner and I just got too far behind, you know, I didn't move quickly enough and I didn't get - I didn't have the right angle and the guy slid his, you know, he slid his hand under the tag and I didn't see it. They can recall in huge detail the mistakes that they've made and they go over them in their minds quite a lot.

 

DAVIES: And the mistakes tend to come, I think, from being out of position, right? But you simply can't anticipate how every play is going to unfold, right?

 

Mr. WEBER: That's right. I mean one of the things that umpires will always tell you is that - it's when the player screw up that they are most - that the umpires are most in danger of screwing up, because the umpire knows what a player is trying to see ahead of the play, to figure out what the players are going to do, where a throw is going to go so that he can get there in time to make the call. But if the player drops the ball or throws to a base that you - and throws to the wrong base or makes a bad throw. All of the things that you can't anticipate, you still have to make a call but you're not in - you're not necessarily in the right place to do it anymore.

 

DAVIES: What happens when an umpire has to make a call like on the basis - on a base and they just can't see it, and they're just out of position and they just don't know?

 

Mr. WEBER: Well, it happens frequently - well maybe, I don't want to say it happens frequently. It happens from time to time. You just make the call, you've got a 50 percent chance of getting it right. You make the call and you sell it as if you had seen it. There is - there really is no alternative, you know, it's - and if you blow it, you blow it. But admitting that you have - admitting that you can't see it is not an alternative because once you do that you've completely lost your authority in the game.

 

DAVIES: Right.

 

Mr. WEBER: And every decision from then on is open for question.

 

DAVIES: Nobody's happy then.

 

Mr. WEBER: Right.

 

DAVIES: But can you look for help, can you look at another ump and say did you get it? I mean…

 

Mr. WEBER: In certain situations you can. In certain situations, even if you didn't see it, even if you could you wouldn't. I mean if it's just, say, a call at first base say on a pick off throw and, you know, you just didn't see it and everybody's yelling, get some help, get some help, get some help. You won't do it because if - what you're saying is I didn't do my job. I can't do my job. I need some help. There are certain situations in which you - there's a legitimate reason for your not being able to see the, you know, see - to have the proper angle, say, on a spectator interference on a foul popup, or something in which another umpire might have a better angle, in which case you can ask for help, or another umpire might say, you know what, I had a better angle. I saw it this way. That does happen from time to time.

 

[Smokestack Joe]

no i didnt think it was close at all. i heard some comments that it was a bang-bang play hard to see with naked eye in Real Time, not after a replay, but even still, when i saw it live, he was clearly out.

[bobbob1313]

I saw it live too, and I had no idea whether he was safe or not. If I hadn't seen a replay, I would have been fine with whatever call the ump had made, based on my initial reponse. I don't see anyway you could say for certain in live action from a wide angle. I would say at normal speed, the difference between foot hitting bag and all was less than 1/10 of a second. His foot wasn't squarely on the bag until the runner's foot was in the air and about 2 feet from the bag maybe less.

 

It's super obvious in slow motion, but that was kind of the definition of a bang bang play.

[Winston Legthigh]

Selig speaks:

 

 

Major League Baseball released the following statement Thursday afternoon from commissioner Bud Selig:

 

"First, on behalf of Major League Baseball, I congratulate Armando Galarraga on a remarkable pitching performance. All of us who love the game appreciate the historic nature of his effort last night.

 

"The dignity and class of the entire Detroit Tigers organization under such circumstances were truly admirable and embodied good sportsmanship of the highest order. Armando and Detroit manager Jim Leyland are to be commended for their handling of a very difficult situation. I also applaud the courage of umpire Jim Joyce to address this unfortunate situation honestly and directly. Jim's candor illustrates why he has earned the respect of on-field personnel throughout his accomplished career in the Major Leagues since 1989.

 

"As Jim Joyce said in his postgame comments, there is no dispute that last night's game should have ended differently. While the human element has always been an integral part of baseball, it is vital that mistakes on the field be addressed. Given last night's call and other recent events, I will examine our umpiring system, the expanded use of instant replay and all other related features. Before I announce any decisions, I will consult with all appropriate parties, including our two unions and the Special Committee for On-Field Matters, which consists of field managers, general managers, club owners and presidents."

[cryptique]

...but he didn't reverse the call.

[calvino]

Here is an article from the New York Times regarding today's Tiger game.

 

At least Galarraga got a car

 

and

 

“As governor, I’m issuing a proclamation declaring Galarraga pitched a perfect game,” Michigan’s outgoing governor, Jennifer M. Granholm, tweeted after the game — and followed up Thursday.

 

Gotta love politicians.

[bobbob1313]

Can somebody say that Ken Griffey Jr was a better player than Barry Bonds in the 90's so I can rant?

[mpolak21]

Can somebody say that Ken Griffey Jr was a better player than Barry Bonds in the 90's so I can rant?

 

Sure go ahead. Though my go to argument would be "Griffey played better competition in the American League so Bond's stats would be better" and I'm not sure how true that actually is.

[Sir Stewart]

Can somebody say that Ken Griffey Jr was a better player than Barry Bonds in the 90's so I can rant?

 

He would've been a better president.

[bobbob1313]

Sure go ahead. Though my go to argument would be "Griffey played better competition in the American League so Bond's stats would be better" and I'm not sure how true that actually is.

Didn't bonds win 3 MVPs and get robbed of a 4th while in the same division as Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz?

[austrya]

I bet Griffey would be more fun to hang out with than Bonds.

[tongue-tied lightning]

i'd reverse the call, life's way to short .

[mpolak21]

Didn't bonds win 3 MVPs and get robbed of a 4th while in the same division as Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz?

 

He won two with the Pirates in the early nineties when the Braves were in the NL West and the Pirates were in the East. In 1993, he signed with the Giants and played one year in the same division with Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz and did win the MVP that year. Then they re-aligned.

 

When I think of the mid-late nineties, I remember the teams in the AL: Yankees, Orioles, Indians, and Griffey's Mariners being a little better than the best of the NL.

 

--Mike.

[The High Heat]

It appears O's manager Dave Trembley may get axed real soon. I'm putting in a vote for Trey Hillman to replace him (At least after an interim sits on for awhile, of course.).

[bjorn_skurj]

I'm putting in a vote for Trey Hillman to replace him (At least after an interim sits on for awhile, of course.).

Why? Did he screw you over somehow? Managing a team in a franchise as far down in the shitter as the O's are is kind of a suicide mission, but a well-paying one, I suppose.