Armando Galarraga--2 questions

[roche]

Question 1: Should Bud Selig have changed the ruling to allow the perfect game? Most of the talking heads on TV tend to agree with Bud that the imperfect game should be left imperfect. My opinion is that Galarraga should be awarded the perfect game because in life, there are so few chances to go back and make things right that we should all make the effort when possible. The world is full of bad things. Baseball is an escape, a sanctuary, an ideal. This is a once-in-a-lifetime event and it is a simple matter to change the ruling since it does not affect the outcome of the game. There are no what-ifs associated with this situation.

Question 2: This brings it back to the fantasy angle. Does a one-off performance in a middling pitcher like Galarraga (or Braden) be given any weight in our evaluation of their talent? Crappy pitchers never throw no-hitters. There is definitely something "special" about Galarraga. The question is "how special is he?"

[Todd Zola]

1. Put me with the talking heads that say leave it alone.

2. Crappy pitchers do throw no-hitters. I am actually sitting on a blog piece I wanted to write. Maybe this is motivation to put my thoughts to bandwidth so I will let others comment here and reserve my thoughts for a blog I will finally compose later.

[Skin Blues]

I agree, crappy pitchers throw no-hitters. And one-hitters, and two-hitters. He had three strikeouts and a lot of luck. It happens from time to time. It's not like he was all of a sudden amazing for one day and then back to mediocre. He's been mediocre the whole time. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut. Although squirrels that have excellent vision, like Roy Halladay, are more likely to find a nut.

[Trav The Ump]

At first I thought change it, I've umpired for 14 years and I'm thinking just make the call right. But than I started to listen to some of the arguments and re-assessed. How many balls and strikes are missed in a game? What if it was in the 4th inning and not the 27th out? What if Jason Donald all the sudden went on a tear and that one at bat gave him a .400 season? What about the Mariners who that same night got jobbed on a call and lost the game because of it?

Being Canadian and a hockey nut I hearken back to the Disney classic "The Mighty Ducks". Estevez hits the post as a kid and tells his star player, one inch to the right and I score. Kid says one inch to the left and you miss the net completely.

As I only umpire Little League locally I've never been involved in anything near this dramatic and the highest I've ever done is what you guys down south would consider a tri-state championship. We laugh in the room Joyce should have called a do-over. So no leave it alone, both guys are going to go down in infamy far more than the "3rd perfect game of 2010".

As for the fantasy angle, I had Braden on my roster during the perfect game. Still do, bum hasn't won a game since! So yes there is luck involved but what I think you take from it is the guy is clearly a major league pitcher. Getting outs is hard, 27 in a row is amazing but it does happen. Ziegler did it a while back spread out there. It can happen but I think you just take the good luck run and chalk it up as just that. A great run that'll help your numbers for the week. Is Halladay worth anymore now than before? Nope, neither should Braden or Gallarga.

[roche]

I'm thinking just make the call right.

For me, this is the overriding consideration and trumps all of the other arguments. It's really a unique scenario. It's a simple matter to make a scoring change on paper. It doesn't affect the outcome of the game. It doesn't require replaying the game. There is no can of worms that is being opened here.

What if Jason Donald all the sudden went on a tear and that one at bat gave him a .400 season?

If he misses by that one hit, he doesn't deserve it because he was OUT.

How many balls and strikes are missed in a game? ..........What about the Mariners who that same night got jobbed on a call and lost the game because of it?

So are you saying that because there are other injustice in the world, we should never make any effort to make things right? That's a bad argument for doing nothing. Baseball does not benefit from bad umpiring. Just because bad calls happen does not mean that baseball shouldn't try to get every call to be correct. Every journey begins with a first step.

[lawr]

thing is, it's a slippery slope, changing calls.

and, if you think crappy pitchers don't throw no-no's, does the name mike warren mean anything to you?

[Captain Hook]

thing is, it's a slippery slope, changing calls.

and, if you think crappy pitchers don't throw no-no's, does the name mike warren mean anything to you?

UCLA basketball player whose son married Jessica Alba

[roche]

List of perfect games:

1. Cy Young (I’ve heard his name somewhere before)
2. Lee Richmond (played 6 years, 1979-1886, 75w-100L, 3.06era)
3. John Ward (7 years, 1978-1884, 164w-102L, 2.10)
4. Addie Joss (Hall of Fame)
5. Charlie Robertson (8 years, 1919-1928, 49w-80L, 4.44)
6. Don Larsen (14 years, 1953-1967, 81-91, 3.78)
7. Jim Bunning (Hall of Fame)
8. Sandy Koufax (Hall of Fame)
9. Catfish Hunter (Hall of Fame)
10. Len Barker (11 years, 1976-1987, 74-76, 4.34)
11. Mike Witt (12 years, 1981-1993, 117-116, 3.83)
12. Tom Browning (12 years, 1984-1995, 123-90, 3.94)
13. Dennis Martinez (23 years, 1976-1998, 245w-193, 3.70)
14. Kenny Rogers (20 years, 1989-2008, 219-156, 4.27)
15. David Wells (21 years, 1987-2007, 239-157, 4.13)
16. David Cone (17 years, 1986-2003, 194-126, 3.46)
17. Randy Johnson (Hall of Fame 1st ballot when eligible)
18. Mark Buehrle (10 years and counting, 2000-, 135-97, 3.80)
19. Dallas Braden (3 years and counting, 2007-, 14-21, 4.68)
20. Roy Halladay (Hall of Fame with good health)
21. Armando Galarraga (???????)


The list has 6 Hall of Famers, a bunch of aces, some solid pitchers and one crappy pitcher (Charlie Robertson, too early to judge on Braden). That's pretty good company. I like my chances with a rotation of these pitchers.

[Todd Zola]

To be fair, your original post did reference crappy pitchers and no-hitters, not perfect games.

Galarraga's upside is Mark Buehrle.