He was robbed...(more thoughts).

One of the things I dislike about also posting posts from here on Facebook is that sometimes a discussion breaks out there that is superior to or, as in this case, in place of comments here. That is just what happened after I posted this.

Only four people were involved, one of them me, but it did expand and expound on my argument that the Commissioner of Baseball should step in and rectify the horrendous umpire's call in Detroit the other night which robbed a young pitcher of an historic Perfect Game. I found it interesting enough that I wanted to add it here.

So I have:

KERRY BYRNE
The downside is opening the floodgates to redo every call that's not popular -- whether right or wrong.

Personally, I think it worked out great: The pitcher was a total class act, and now everybody thinks he's a friggin' hero. Really refreshing. And the guy who fucked up manned up, too.

All in all a pretty heartwarming story .. even though the ump did blow it harder than a circa 1976 toothless 42nd St. hooker trying to make rent that week.

ALEXANDER MITCHELL
Because if you call into question the supposed infallibility of umpires without any formal instant-review process, you open up the can of worms of every call being protested endlessly for 20 hours. I don't care for opening that can.

JACK CURTIN
Which is, Alexander, the same BS as the powers that be are spouting. Not only is this situation sui generis, the addition of expanded replay systems, which is inevitable now, renders the "cam of worms" argument irrelevant. There will be a system in place. Not to mention the argument that the Commissioner can act in the "best interest of the game" ... See Moreand not create any precedent in the first place, plus he gets to decide which protests are valid. Lawyers are always looking for their clients to do nothing so that there is nothing to be contested. It is, as I said, stupid.

Everybody behaved really well, Kerry, agreed. Why not take the simple action that will reward them and cost nobody nuttin'?

KERRY BYRNE
Let me take more of an existential tact here, the Right Honorable Mr. Curtin.

While I agree the ump fucked up, and while I agree the pitcher was jobbed, the fact of the matter is that overturning the call would be an injustice to the 19 other guys who did in fact pitch legit perfect games.

All those 19 guys played the same game with the same rules and same dysfunctional and maybe even drunken dick-bag umps. They all had to overcome imperfect officials to pitch a "perfect" game. The fact that umps are so fucked up is one reason why a perfect game is more rare than a virgin 16-year-old from Philly. They all had to deal with the same shit.

I mean, it sucks ... but let's not go changing history just becuase we all feel a little sad for the young millionaire who just won a Corvette and probably gets more tail than Davy Crockett's haberdasher.

JACK CURTIN
I just can't agree. We are talking the 27th out, not a pitch called a ball which should have been a strike. Nor does correcting an obvious and admitted error in any way affect the rules in any way in terms of the what happened in the game. Get it right, isn't that the mantra? Why in the world let it stay wrong?

Not fixing it, who suffers? The ... See Morepitcher, the fans, the umpire, the game itself. Who benefits? Nobody.

Fixing it, who suffers? Nobody. Who benefits? The pitcher, the fans, the umpire, the game itself.

No-brainer.

ALEXANDER MITCHELL
What suffers is the absolute authority of the umpires, human and fallible as they may be. My father was a pro umpire for a little while. I learned from him that even if you're wrong, you're still right as long as you're not operating with deliberate bias. If we're going to put any doubt into the umpires' ability to call 'em, then just dispense ... See Morewith them completely and program cameras and lasers to call the decisions instead. Otherwise we'll spend all game arguing every call. What we just saw was ugly, but, like the 2000 election in Florida, a necessary evil.


JOHN ALESSANDRO IV
How about taking a page from Baseball's past? The Pine Tar Incident. (That image of Brett running out of the dugout is burned in my brain.)

That game was replayed -- several weeks after the homerun was ruled invalid -- from the moment of the infraction forward.

While here, Galarraga -- who is well aware he DID pitch a perfect game * -- may never ... See Moreknow the true joy in celebrating the moment, but he could pitch to one more batter, possibly get him out (again), and, possibly, officially get a complete game. The precedent is there; if it's such a Big Deal, let it happen.

I love that in an interview, Galarraga essentially said about Joyce, "Nobody's perfect." Well said. Of course, I couldn't help but think, "Except you, last night.", but that's just me.

* There are too many asterisks in Baseball already. Sadly, this is another.

JACK CURTIN
You think there is no doubt about umpires' ability to call 'em now, Alexander? Seriously? Absolute authority? That disappeared forever with home run replays. It was always shaky because an ump who made his infallible call was often convinced to change it after conferring with his brethren. Human error may be part of the game, but it hardly needs to be sanctified and protected, especially in an instance where it is obvious and rectifying that mistake would do nothing but good and have no impact on the rules as they exist at all. The game is over; let's put it in the books as what it was rather than what will become infamous as "the Perfect Game that never happened,' which is, really, just dumb.