Umpire's Gaffe Costs Tigers' Pitcher Perfect Game

[tryfuhl]

Originally Posted by over the mountain

heard a story coming in to work today. apparently an ump admitted that during a world series game back in the day he widened the strike zone for henson (idk i forgot the pitcher) b/c he wanted to see henson pitch a perfect game in the WS. now thats some BS.

this, man, joyce must feel horrible.

reminds me of the WS last year where a player was called out at 2nd but the damn yankee player never had his foot on 2nd base. surprised that play didnt make mlb intoduce replay to plays outside of fair or foul. this play certainly should.

you can tell how stuff like this happens in extra inning and other marathon games.. strike zones get much larger as the umps get tired/bored

or the infamous NBA playoff extensions where calls go almost all one way depending who needs to win the game to extend the series, etc

I bet if they really got into it and some didn't mind baring all we'd hear a lot of disgusting stories like this

I think that I've mentioned it on here before but a guy I know who was an ACC football ref was told to "not make it easy" when VT entered the conference

[InsaneBoost]

Did I just hear that right on ESPN? That the commissioner agrees it was a bad call, has the power to change the call and isn't going to!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!

[GMScud]

Originally Posted by Mattyk

I like the way everyone has handled themselves in this. Nobody is crying foul, the ump owned up to his mistake, I think there's some valuable lessons to be learned in all of this. It's a game played by humans, umped by humans, etc. Mistakes are gonna happen. It's sucks that a mistake happened in such a crucial time no doubt, but that's life.

Totally agree. This is a really solid read from ESPN.com:

Jim Joyce returns to work as MLB decides whether to review blown call that costs Armando Galarraga of Detroit Tigers perfect game - ESPN

[MTK]

Originally Posted by GMScud

Totally agree. This is a really solid read from ESPN.com:

Jim Joyce returns to work as MLB decides whether to review blown call that costs Armando Galarraga of Detroit Tigers perfect game - ESPN

Joyce showed up to work Thursday looking as if he hadn't slept. He appreciated the outpouring of support from umpires, family and friends but lamented strangers lashing out at his wife and children.


"I wish my family was out of this," Joyce said, holding back tears as he spoke nearly two hours before the Indians-Tigers series finale. "I wish they would direct it all to me. It's a big problem. My wife is a rock. My kids are very strong. They don't deserve this."

This is where shit gets way out of hand to me. It's a f'ing baseball game. The losers that are lashing out at his wife and kids are absolutely pathetic and need a serious reality check.

[mooby]

@FRPLG - Yeah I was pretty disappointed it ended in a loss as well but as long as the season doesn't come down to a one loss and we're out of the playoff hunt kinda thing I won't be too upset. I was more pissed at how horrible the call was, Berkman had his bat a foot over the plate, I mean really? A bat that far over the plate is not a successful checked swing.

@OTM: I can agree with that. But if instant replay gets expanded I'd like to see it expanded so that pretty much any bad call can be reviewed. Go the NFL route and give the managers 2 challenges to a bad call a game, and a third if both are correct. It won't happen but I'd like to see it happen.

@Matty: Definitely agree about how the situation was handled. Everything was classy all around except for how Selig dismissed it like it shouldn't even be a question. Props to Joyce for admitting it like a man and props to Galarraga for staying classy about it. If it was a big ego'd pitcher that it had happened to I'm sure his comments would've been in bad taste. And I also agree that people that attack his wife and kids really need some serious help. I understand that it would've been huge if it had happened but at the end of the day the kid will have plenty more chances to have the stars align and have another perfect game but attacking a man's wife and kids really shows how pathetic some people really are.

[BDBohnzie]

Selig has completely over-welcomed his stay as MLB Commissioner. And while I don't agree how he dismissed it as trivial, I do agree that you do not overrule the call. That becomes a slippery slope if he overturns it, as more and more teams and fans call for more and more calls to be overturned.

While it sucks for Galarraga, like mooby said, this kid will have plenty of chances to shine. He may never pitch a perfect game, but he can take comfort in the fact that the umpire owned up to it and knows he made the wrong call. And while that's not much to hang your hat on at the end of the day, as Matty points out, it's a human game, played by humans and determined by humans. Error in judgment has always been part of the game, and will continue to be so.

[SmootSmack]

Guess some people don't seem to agree that there's some positive value in the way all parties handled it

[over the mountain]

watching it again and again. the play was closer than it appeared to me at first sight. while the pitcher def caught the ball as he was running over to cover first before the runner touched 1st base, the pitcher then had to get his foot on the bag.

so when the pitcher caught the ball wasnt the moment to compare to when the runner touched first, the moment to freeze frame and compare was when the pitchers foot touched 1st base vs the baserunner's.

in slow mo and freeze frame the guy was out but it was a closer bang-bang play than i (and probably others) thought initially.

moody - i could see baseball going the college football route with regard to instant replay. if theres a close play, a guy upstairs will review it and buzz down if he thinks it should be over turned. no delay. besides on close plays the opposing teams manager is going to come out and argue for next 5 mins anyway.