Yep, what we’ve got here is the Gulf Oil Spill of blown calls; a mess that’s going to take a mighty effort to clean up, where the ramifications are going to be felt for years to come. Like many, I don’t have confidence that Bud Selig is equal to the task. What he should do is reverse the call and give Armando Galarraga the perfect game he deserves. It wouldn’t bet the first time an umpire’s call was reversed, as Keith Olbermann points out in his MLB.com column this morning:
And if you say no safe or out call has ever been appealed, or overturned, that’s patently false. There were rules interpretations involved that do not apply here, but in both the 1908 Merkle Game and the 1983 Pine Tar Game, game-ending “out” calls by prominent, gifted umpires were reviewed in agonizing detail by League Presidents. And in the case of the Pine Tar Game, the “out” call that ended the game was reversed and the game replayed from the point of the umpire’s mistake.
But don’t hold your breath. Reversing this call would take fortitude and foresight that Selig & Associates just don’t possess. About the best we can expect here is to get some serious dialogue going on using instant replay.
And please, can we stop all this talk about what a “classy gesture” it was for Joyce to apologize and admit his mistake? What was he going to do, contradict what we all saw in the replay and say he was right? If Joyce wanted to do something classy, he would admit what no umpire EVER admits: That the play was too close, it happened too fast and he just took a guess. That would be the brave thing to say.
Look deep, Thursday. It’s there. It’s twelve moves away, but it’s there. You’ve got him.
ABOUT LAST NIGHT
What you missed while looking for a place to park …
* Erin Andrews is dating Dancing With the Stars partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Another classic case of Stockholm Syndrome?
* Internet petition to give Armando Galarraga his perfect game. At least I think that’s what I signed.
* Hitler finds out Jim Joyce blew the call. Sorry, but for me, these never get old.
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TODAY IN MARK TRAIL …
You can tell it’s a fake phone call by the way Mark is holding the receiver to his cheek, and not his ear.
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- BC - Jun 3, 2010 at 1:15 PM
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Olbermann is a chipwich. Both of those games were protested, which opened the door for a reversal if deemed necessary. This game was not protested (why, I don’t know). So the door should stay shut. Unless Bud Light decides to open it.
(Sorry Old Gator for stealing your Selig nickname)
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