Great article John!

I’ll give props to Joyce for standing up and doing the right thing. He’s catching hell right now in Detroit while trying to umpire the plate. But I’ll give him full marks anyways.

As for Tim Peel, and the rest of the NHL officials…they need to tighten up. I’ve always said that football and hockey refs have a much harder job than baseball umpires, but the NHL refs just stink up the joint.

The linesmen do a very good job IMO. The referees, not so much.

SAY IT AIN’T SO, JIM! – For a perfect game to be pitched, no batter-baserunner reaches first base safely, whether by hit, walk, hit battsman, defensive error, or now to be included, by “umpire miscall.” Jim Joyce is human and susceptible to making mistakes; we all know that today. He didn’t compound his blown call by ejecting irate players, coaches, and manager, or by resorting later to mincing words, reframing the play, hiding, etc. Having umpired for over thirty years, I believe that Joyce, on the play, tried to keep the base, pitcher’s foot and incoming ball all in view simultaneously, that he was ever-so-slightly distracted by the ball snowconeing in Galarraga’s glove when he should have had his main focus on the base. If he had done this, it would have been an easy call, since Galarraga’s foot touched the base while the Indians’ batter-baserunner (Jason Donald) was a half step behind. Jim Joyce hasn’t talked about his focus throughout the play, only saying that he was in position and thought the runner beat the throw. I believe his focus momentarily shifted to Galarraga’s glove at the exact time when pitcher’s foot and batter-baserunner’s foot were converging on the bag. Joyce did quickly face up to his monumental mistake upon seeing a replay after the game, and then he personally apologized to Armando Galarraga with, according to Galarraga, “body language, tears in his eyes…” Initially, I was so upset when Joyce missed the call, I scared my wife while yelling into the phone to a friend, “That SOB, that SOB!” Later, I surmised, “If a tree falls in a forest and only Jim Joyce is there, does it make a sound?” Fortunately, I was calmed by Armando Galarraga’s humility and grace, by learning of Joyce’s immediate response to Galarraga, and by realizing that swearing out loud at home is not a good reaction to anything sports related. That being said, I don’t agree with some T.V. sports commentators (Baseball Channel, etc.) or Tiger manager Jim Leyland, who said that no one would be feeling as bad today as Jim Joyce would be feeling. I disagree; as bad as we all feel today – fans, commentators, officials, players, coaches, managers, families – no one feels worse than Armando Galarraga. Essentially, he retired 28 straight batters in a 9 inning game – that’s ‘perfect-plus’. As gracious as he was last night, Galarraga did mention his thoughts while running to first base to receive Cabrera’s throw: that he had the perfect game and that he could share it with his son.