Nobody's Perfect

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We are now into the third month of the Major League Baseball season, and already two pitchers have thrown perfect games.  One was by Dallas Braden of the Oakland Athletics, the other by Roy Halliday of the Philadelphia Phillies.  They both succeeded in giving up no runs, no hits, no errors and no bases on balls through nine innings.

Armando Galarraga of the Detroit Tigers almost became the third Wednesday night, had it not been for Jason Donald of the Cleveland Indians.  With two out in the top of the ninth at Detroit's Comerica Park, Donald hit a ground ball to the Tigers' first baseman Miguel Cabrera, who then threw the ball to Galarraga for the apparent putout.  But first base umpire Jim Joyce ruled that Donald was safe.

Joyce later told reporters that, having seen the replay indicating Donald was actually out, he thought he blew the call and cost Galarraga his perfect game.  He just called it as he saw it.

Despite screaming from sports pundits and bloggers that Galarraga was robbed, MLB commissioner Bud Selig declined to reverse the call.  Which is as it should be, because why open up a can of worms of historical proportions?

Umpiring is a tough job.  For 162 games a year plus the playoffs, they are expected to make quick decisions not just on balls and strikes, but also whether a catch is a catch and a home run is fair or foul.  And they are expected to get it right 100% of the time.  Anything less than that brings the wrath of players, managers and fans.  Adding video replay (which MLB has done this season for home run calls) just makes the umpires' job tougher, as well as prolonging an already slow moving game.

In this case, the outcome wasn't affected.  The Tigers won the game 3-0 with Galarraga getting credit for a one-hitter.  But had this been a World Series game with millions of people watching on TV, and the same call was made, Joyce wouldn't be heard from again.

Right now, everyone needs to take a step back.  This is baseball.  It's just a game.  Tomorrow is another day and another game.  Let it go.