Thursday, June 3, 2010

Mistakes happen

I woke up this morning and the sun was out. I say this not because I think you need to know everything that's going on with me, but rather to prove life goes on even after what is being described as the worst call in sports history.

Let me start off by saying Jim Joyce completely blew the call at first base which cost Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game. But as bad as that call, what was worse was the complete overreaction by the sports media or anybody who has a opinion.

The overreaction I'm talking about is the cry to expand the replay rule baseball has at the moment. Mistakes happen and I feel as badly for Galarraga as the next guy, but expanding replay is just not the answer.

Where does it end? What if the play at first wasn't as blatant as last night's play? What if the perfect game was lost on a called ball on a 3-2 count when replay would show the ball was clearly a strike? What if the blown call happened in the third inning and that was the only baserunner Galarraga allowed?

On the ball four, I know the no-hitter would still be intact and if the call happened in the third the response would be there were still six, seven innings to play as opposed to the final out of the game, but it doesn't make the calls any less egregious.

And I don't buy the argument that since the call didn't affect the outcome of the game, so it should be overturned. What if the next batter hit a two-run home run, more runs followed and that led to a Cleveland victory rather than a 3-0 Tigers' win? Those runs should never have scored, but there would be no outcry to change the call.

Look, Jim Joyce immediately took responsibility for blowing the call and he'll have to live with that call the rest of his life. But let's not take a bad situation and make it worse by overreacting.