This Bud's For You

Repeat after me...Upon further review, the runner did not reach 1st base before the ball arrived. Simple, straightforward, and a phrase that would've saved umpire Jim Joyce a whole lot of grief. Unfortunately for Joyce and Major League Baseball, checking the replay, and then uttering those words wasn't an option Wednesday night. Instead, Tigers righty Armando Galarraga's perfect game went up in smoke with 2-outs in the 9th inning, when Joyce ruled that Indians shortstop Jason Donald beat the throw for an infield single.

There's no way to sugarcoat this...Joyce blew the call! You, me, my dead grandmother- we all know he blew the call. Joyce even admitted his error in judgement afterwards. He apologized to Galarraga, gave him a hug and stated, "I just cost that kid a perfect game." But no matter how many times he points the finger at himself and takes the blame, Joyce can't change the fact that Galarraga's perfecto officially went into the books as a 1-hitter. That's where MLB Commissioner Bud Selig was asked to step in.

The drumbeat began almost immediately for Selig to take action, and restore the perfect game. He had the power to reverse the call, and just like that, the sun would be shining, birds singing, and all would be right with the baseball world again. Give me a break! Sure, Selig could have taken the easy way out and come riding in on his white horse to save the day. I love a happy ending as much as the next guy. But it would have been more than just a little hypocritical to right the wrong in this case.

Since Selig has been against expanding instant replay, he couldn't go back now, a day later, and with a straight face rewrite history. You can't claim time and time again that you want to keep the so called "human element" in the game, and then erase an umpire's mistake. And to his credit, the commissioner actually got this one right. He made the correct call by refusing to change the incorrect call, and in the process actually showed some stones. Who knew he had any!