From Perfection to Imperfection in a blink of an eye..

Happy Thursday to all my ANGELS.  Hope you are having a good week.  Its been good for me.  Got to see my Kelsey graduate yesterday.  Not to get to emotional..but it was a good day for Kelsey, her mom and dad, siblings and the rest of the family that attended.  Very nice Kels..

One of my daily passions is the world of sports.  One of my faves is baseball.  Last night..in what was to be the 21st ever perfect game thrown by a pitcher..was taken away from him in a split second.  As the pitcher was running to cover first place on a ground ball to the first basement..the pitcher..his foot on the bag..and the ball all arrived before the runner.  The last and 27th straight out of the game appeared to have happen. 

Then again..

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It's hard to tell where umpire Jim Joyce's career goes after acknowledging he blew a call at first base that cost Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game. The longtime umpire will find work, but will he find anything but infamy as the man who robbed Galarraga of his place in baseball's record books?

Tasteful discretion, of course, is the name of the game.

Commissioner Bud Selig must strike the proper balance between getting calls right and slowing down a game that already has a reputation for being slow and boring.

But, hey, the National Football League made replay work with few hitches. And the NFL's process for reviews could help Major League Baseball make the transition.

Review all questionable home run calls, give each manager an additional challenge and leave it to a replay official to review all calls after the eighth inning. If a play is truly crucial to the outcome of a game, it's covered under the umbrella of replay.

On paper, reviews would make the average game longer. But, I would make the argument that replays could actually SAVE time.

Managers are currently free to, within reason, leave the dugout and argue any and all questionable calls. While I'm as big a fan of a good old-fashioned Lou Piniella blowup as the next guy, these are futile wastes of time designed to help a team earn favorable calls later in the game. They're fighting inaccuracy with more inaccuracy.

Imagine a game where inaccuracy was no longer an option. Useless, on-field arguments would no longer be part of the game, and neither would botched calls.

Instead of Leyland leaving the dugout and getting in Joyce's face, he could push a button to review the call from the comfort of his own dugout. Umpires would take a look, get the call right, and everyone involved would move on with their lives.

The history of baseball suggests that 'human error is part of the game,' but baseball's future is one of higher stakes and higher scrutiny. Baseball must adapt to the higher demands for accuracy and use Joyce's blown call to usher in a new era of instant replay.

That's about the instant replay thing..

Should Major League Baseball overturn Jim Joyce's call and award Armando Galarraga a perfect game? ABSOLUTELY.

Did Baseball step up today and do the right thing? ABSOLUTELY NOT!

Commissioner Bud Selig won't reverse an umpire's admitted blown call that cost Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game.

Here's some thoughts from a respected manager..

"I was thinking if the umpire says he made a mistake on replay, I'd call it a no-hitter, perfect game. Just scratch it," St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "If I was Mr. Selig, in the best interest of the game. The guy got it and I'd give him his perfect game. But here again, I should just shut my mouth."

Former Cub Milt Pappas, who lost a perfect game in 1972 when the home plate umpire called a ball on a full count on the 27th batter, ridiculed Selig for his refusal to reverse Joyce's decision.

"What an idiot. How the hell can [Selig] not do that? What is it, the integrity of the game? I can't believe that, after the umpire even admitted what he did," Pappas told ESPNChicago.com's Willie Weinbaum. "[Joyce] ruined the kid's perfect game and said so. Unbelievable. It's too bad."

Its even crossed over into politics..

Michigan lawmakers got into the act on Thursday, lobbying Selig to reverse the call and recognize Galarraga as having thrown a perfect game. Gov. Jennifer Granholm issued a proclamation declaring that Galarraga had indeed pitched a perfect game, while U.S. Rep. John D. Dingell said he'd introduce a congressional resolution asking Major League Baseball to overturn the blown call.

And U.S. Rep Thaddeus G. McCotter, in a letter to Selig obtained by ESPN.com's Amy K. Nelson, asked him to recognize it as a perfect game, saying...

"only the truth will uphold and honor the integrity of the game; and the truth is that this game was perfect."

Later, McCotter told Nelson...

"When this happened, the feeling here in Detroit was this could only happen to us; this was just one more thing on top of everything else."

McCotter was upset with Selig's decision. McCotter's letter was written before Selig said he would not reverse Joyce's call.

"I'm a conservative. I like the tradition of the game, I like the human dimension of the game," McCotter told Nelson, "but [Selig] cannot divorce imself from the human dimension of the game. What are they, automatons up there? Is it a computer that you just plug into? "Bottom line, I just wish that some of the character and moral courage that the umpire showed in admitting his honest mistake had been replicated by Major League Baseball."

It doesn't sound this call is really over.  We shall see..


Peace out my HALEYUNNS!