My Fellow Phans,
For this post, I am going to veer on the Phillies Path ever so slightly and discuss something that occurred last night in Detroit.
Imagine this,
You are pitching in the Major Leagues in your home ballpark. As the game goes along, you realize that you are pitching a perfect game. 7th inning…. 8th inning…. 1 out in the 9th…..2 outs in the 9th….
So you sit one batter away from perfection; a landmark accomplishment that has only been achieved by 20 pitchers EVER! However these thoughts don’t cross your mind as your sole intent is to get that final hitter out. You pitch, the ball is hit between first and second base. Your pitcher instincts kick in and you head over to cover first base. You see the first baseman field the ball and he throws a strike to you. You catch the ball stepping on first base in the process. You beat him to the bag by a good step or so. You can feel it, the no-hitter is yours. That is when you hear the call: SAFE from the umpire. In that second, your moment in history is dashed by a blown call.
This is the exact thing that happened to Tigers’ starter Armando Galarraga yesterday. Galarraga had a perfect game two outs into the 9th inning when a blown call at first base shattered it.
There is so much that could be said about this one simple play. I could discuss how good Galarraga was last night, the reputation of umpire Jim Joyce who may the legendary call, the argument for instant replay that this presents, or the reasoning why Bud Selig should overturn the call and give Galarraga his spot in history. Of course, if you read the papers today, Selig said he will not overturn this call. Having said that, I promise to keep my negative comments towards him limited as I am not a fan of him already and today didn’t help him to win favor in my eyes.
Having to choose between all those possible topics, I will post a little blurb about each one of them in the list as this looks like it may become the longest blog post that I have ever written.
So just how good was Galarraga last night? To say he was amazing would be an understatement. He threw 88 pitches total while 67 of those went for strikes. Talk about an amazing percentage. Not only was he efficient, but he threw just a little more than 3 pitches on average per hitter he faced. There have been two other perfect games this season and both Roy Halladay and Dallas Braden threw well over 100 pitches in their history making performances. 88 pitches in 9 innings, that is quite impressive.
As much as it pains me to say it, I do feel for James Joyce. Clearly not as much as Galarraga, the guy who he stole the perfect game from. Joyce was allegedly shaken up about the whole situation afterwards and you have to give the guy credit for that. Some umpires are too young and cocky these days as refuse to admit their mistakes. Instead they take out their frustrations on the players by
ejecting players at the plate or in centerfield. Just ask Shane Victorino that one.
Those umps are the jackasses that need to lose their jobs. Joyce owns up to his mistake and acknowledges it. You have to give the guy some credit for that.
As for the aftermath: Bud Selig stepped into his office today with a chance to do the right thing and make a bad, frustrating and embarrassing situation go away. All he had to do was overrule the call that had been made; a chance to give a young pitcher, the fame and glory that he so richly deserved. The opportunity sat there and once again, Selig dropped the ball. This is not the first time that he has done this. He has really done nothing positive in his tenure except the addition of the Wild Card playoff spot. Other than that, I can say nothing positive about his ways.
One wonders Selig’s thinking behind this mistake. Maybe it is against the rule book or something, but with the current circumstances, I’m sure not a soul would blame him for changing this call; especially not in Detroit. The Tigers are not one of the more covered teams in the big leagues like the Skankees, Red Soxs, or Dodgers. I wonder if this occurred to a Skankee or Red Soxs pitcher if Selig decision would be different. I mean, com’on we all know he great affections for those teams. After all, he did call the 2009 playoffs “the best ever” and who won the World Series that year? No further arguments your honor.
What exactly would be so bad about overturning the call. Get a clue Selig. You’re “ideas” concerning the new formats surrounding All-Star game activities are totally pointless as is letting Fox drag you around by the jockstrap when it comes to playoff games.; it is about time that you make a good call for once. All I can say is, I cannot wait until after the 2012 season when baseball gets a new commissioner. Maybe he will have a more open mind and do what is right for the league so we can avoid instances like this in the future.
I know I didn’t cover the instant replay issue yet, but that will be in my next post.
Until we meet again Phillies Fans, Happy Readings and Go Phillies!!
No comments:
Post a Comment