No, he actually is one of the better umpires around. He just blew a call, which happens. It sucks more because of the situation, but there wasn't anything malicious about it.
MLB umps have a union and it doesn't matter how inept they are or how many calls they screw up. It's very difficult to get any of them out.
True, but besides that this is not even close to something to fire, fine, suspend, or otherwise discipline him for. It was a missed call, which happens hundreds of times a week. It was just in a high profile situation.
This is the game that probably brings about major change in the way mlb handles replays. Fuck that bullshit. Jim Joyce is an assclown.
There were way more, way worse, and way more important blown calls in the playoffs last year. If THAT didn't change it, this shouldn't either.
Even if it's close why even screw with the game? Umps give the second basemen and short stops the out if they are in the area of second all the time so it wouldn't be a blemish on your integrity if you called the batter out at first on a bang bang play.
Exactly. Also, does anyone know how long a player must maintain complete control of the ball on these plays? To me, it looked like Galarraga had the ball securely in his glove and had his foot on the bag before the runner crossed. It looked like the ball moved in his glove after the runner had already ran through the bag.
Wow. Leyland said the explanation he got was "he thought the batter beat Gallaraga to the base" nothing about the bobble... ouch.
Wow I just noticed Joyce on this... He looked like he was going to punch him out! Then called him safe...Unreal.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs/2009/columns/story?columnist=caple_jim&id=4581598 There were a ton of blown calls in the playoffs last year. It was a huge topic of discussion this offseason. So what exactly is delusional? There were a lot of bad calls, and a playoff game is clearly far more important than a regular season game, perfect or not.
