Officials taking responsibility

[CoachBo]

MLB is SO far behind the curve on the use of replay.

But this call, which as a lifetime fan is one of the most glaring blown calls in the last half century, should provide some impetus for replay.

I'm just struck by the notion that Stern would hold a presser and in his sarcastic style rip the media for daring to question the call if he were the commissioner of baseball.

[Bankshot]

I also dont get how he didnt give the kid the benefit of the doubt there. That was the most shocking part of today.

It's really kind of evil when you think about it. Jim Joyce must hate puppies, rainbows and popsicles.

Exactly what I was thinking.  Not sure I feel sorry for the official seeing as how he must have been aware of what was transpiring in that game and for him to make that call and rob the guy of a perfect game....?  In what the official believed was a bang bang play, don't you give the benefit of the doubt to the guy pitching the perfect game?  Sorry, but I don't feel sorry for the official.

[Bankshot]

I also dont get how he didnt give the kid the benefit of the doubt there. That was the most shocking part of today.

It's really kind of evil when you think about it. Jim Joyce must hate puppies, rainbows and popsicles.

Exactly what I was thinking.  Not sure I feel sorry for the official seeing as how he must have been aware of what was transpiring in that game and for him to make that call and rob the guy of a perfect game....?  In what the official believed was a bang bang play, don't you give the benefit of the doubt to the guy pitching the perfect game?  Sorry, but I don't feel sorry for the official... at least not yet.

[CelticsWhat35]

What makes it worse is that even though the rule is "tie goes to the runner", 99% of the time that you see bang-bang plays, the ump will call the runner out.  In this case, it wasn't even that close, and he called him safe???  That's just mind boggling.

[Roy Hobbs]

Allow me to be a contrarian regarding the "benefit of the doubt" thing.

I always complain in the NBA when the refs call the game differently in the minute of the game.  For instance, when Brent Barry was fouled on the last play of the game a couple years ago in the playoffs, and the official swallowed his whistle, many of us complained.

Isn't it the same situation here?  If the ump thought the guy was out, he has to call him out, even if it's the last out of a potential perfect game.  I commend him for making what he thought was the right call, because it takes guts to do that.  I also commend him for having the character to admit his mistake, and for genuinely feeling bad about it.

Of course the call was wrong, and that sucks.  However, it happens.  Even though he looks clearly safe on replay, that's still a bang-bang play to the naked eye. 

[connerhenry43]

"Officials taking responsibility"

You had me going there for a second. I thought something in the NBA changed and the officials decided they were going to own up for their terrible job in Game 5 of the Magic series.

Like the NBA will ever hold their officials accountable.

i agree with this about 99.9%.....i just wonder what david stern says about his refs behind closed doors. publicly, he has to support them, but if he does not think there is a big time problem with NBA refs, he is a bigger clown than i think he is.

as for last night, a travesty, but hopefully this will spur MLB to come into the 21 st century and further utilize replay (i know they use it on a limited basis already). most umps would have stayed silent and shuffled off to the next city and series.....i give joyce credit for being human, admitting mistake, and truly feeling bad about the situation. however, this is another reason replay needs to be utilized. it gives you a better chance to get the call right, and it gets the ump (or ref) off the hook. i do not know jim joyce's overall view on replay but for this one play, i guarantee you he wishes it could be utilized.

[Mike-Dub]

Allow me to be a contrarian regarding the "benefit of the doubt" thing.

I always complain in the NBA when the refs call the game differently in the minute of the game.  For instance, when Brent Barry was fouled on the last play of the game a couple years ago in the playoffs, and the official swallowed his whistle, many of us complained.

Isn't it the same situation here?  If the ump thought the guy was out, he has to call him out, even if it's the last out of a potential perfect game.  I commend him for making what he thought was the right call, because it takes guts to do that.  I also commend him for having the character to admit his mistake, and for genuinely feeling bad about it.

Of course the call was wrong, and that sucks.  However, it happens.  Even though he looks clearly safe on replay, that's still a bang-bang play to the naked eye. 

Completely agree Roy.

[Chris]

Allow me to be a contrarian regarding the "benefit of the doubt" thing.

I always complain in the NBA when the refs call the game differently in the minute of the game.  For instance, when Brent Barry was fouled on the last play of the game a couple years ago in the playoffs, and the official swallowed his whistle, many of us complained.

Isn't it the same situation here?  If the ump thought the guy was out, he has to call him out, even if it's the last out of a potential perfect game.  I commend him for making what he thought was the right call, because it takes guts to do that.  I also commend him for having the character to admit his mistake, and for genuinely feeling bad about it.

Of course the call was wrong, and that sucks.  However, it happens.  Even though he looks clearly safe on replay, that's still a bang-bang play to the naked eye. 

Well said.  I would have had a problem if he didn't admit his mistake afterwards (like what happens in the NBA), but since he did, I have no problem.  He made the call that he thought was right.  He messed up.  That is part of the game.

[Amonkey]

This is why MLB and NFL refs have credibility while NBA refs have none.  You have seen them both making mistakes, but you don't see any conspiracy because of how they acted afterwards.  Notice how we are talking about how we feel sorry for the ref, or how we blame him.  Regardless, there is nothing shady about the play then simply human error.  However, since refs in the NBA are considered the almighty ones, the fans are always standing in the dark and the consiparcy comes (which to me are becoming increasingly more believable).  If after game 5 the refs had said they made a mistake giving both those Ts to Perk, or the league had said something, then we would still be mad, but at least our anger would swerved toward something else and we wouldnt attack their credibility.

After this incident the MLB umpires gains credibility while the NFL remains with no credibility.

PS. Sportscenter just showed some bad calls by the NFL and they mentioned something about hockey... but no NBA?  Yeah, they never make any mistakes.

[papa shuttlesworth]

I agree.  I (mostly) have no problems with blown calls in the NBA, since over the course of a season or even a game, they tend to even out.  But I would just like a little accountability from the refs or the league.  Not in a way that a ref is fined for blown calls (for run of the mill blown calls, not the big ones), but just someone saying "Yes, after seeing it on replay, it looks like I got the call wrong, but it looked good to me at the time" or something.  Or maybe even explaining why it was actually the correct call due to obscure rules that fans don't fully understand.

But I am sick of the "We are the NBA refs, the best in the world.  We have made zero mistakes in 60 years" routine.

Rant aside, it's too bad that the perfect game ended that way.  

[housecall]

I hate this happened to a player of any sport,but why couldn't it been Joe West at the wrong end of the call.

[Finkelskyhook]

Absolute class from Leyland, Joyce, and Gallaraga.  I see Francona responding a similar way.  I don't know if too many players could have responded like Gallaraga.

This would never happen in the NBA.  There are so many definitions of a bad call in the NBA because the officials have to follow so many rulebooks and apply different calls based on the player. 

[Donoghus]

Major League Baseball needs to come into the 21st century and instill some sort of instant replay.  It's kinda ridiculous in this day & age, that MLB is so far behind the 8 ball on this. 

Instant replay hasn't destroyed the NBA, NHL, or NFL.  Get with the program, MLB.

Can't wait until Selig is out of there. The guy is a joke.  I understand the urge to keep with 125+ years of tradition but sometimes common sense needs to be heeded. 

[Finkelskyhook]

An NFL-style instant replay option where a very limited per manager would have solved this.

How about 1 challenge per game per manager?

[Fan from VT]

Allow me to be a contrarian regarding the "benefit of the doubt" thing.

I always complain in the NBA when the refs call the game differently in the minute of the game.  For instance, when Brent Barry was fouled on the last play of the game a couple years ago in the playoffs, and the official swallowed his whistle, many of us complained.

Isn't it the same situation here?  If the ump thought the guy was out, he has to call him out, even if it's the last out of a potential perfect game.  I commend him for making what he thought was the right call, because it takes guts to do that.  I also commend him for having the character to admit his mistake, and for genuinely feeling bad about it.

Of course the call was wrong, and that sucks.  However, it happens.  Even though he looks clearly safe on replay, that's still a bang-bang play to the naked eye. 

I agree, and was thinking of a way to articulate this earlier. It's not a bad call because of the context or what could have been. That's why it's news worthy, but not why it was a bad call. It's a bad call because he was out and was called safe. It would have been the same degree of bad call in the 5th inning of a 9-5 game.

Additionally, it was a failure of this ump, but was not his fault; he's a human hired to perform a job at the best of his ability. The Failure is with the league that has the technology, money, and power to change how calls like this are made and reviewed. It indicates an institutional failure.

If we are that worried about inevitable bad calls ruining historic moments, MLB could easily say we will have booth review (honestly, it takes about 30 seconds, or half the time a typical pitch takes, to see 4 quick replays in HD and make the right call) for: foul or fair balls; home runs; and safe/out calls in the last three innings of a. games closer than 3 runs, b. no-hitters, c. perfect games.

Simple. Low impact. Done.


As a basketball aside, I HATE the idea of "let them play" in the last minutes of a game. What??? It's completely illogical: different, malleable and changing rules within the same game?!?! How is that a sport? The whole point of a sport is that there are standard rules of fair competition throughout the entire length of the contest, to the most accurate degree possible. A rule is a rule, and it doesn't matter when you break it; a bad no-call is just as "wrong" as a bad made-call.