Finally some good news

Led by Marco Scutaro's grand slam, the Sox defeated the Angels yesterday, 7-3.

The Red Sox completed a sweep of the Angels yesterday afternoon in Anaheim, their first sweep since June 18-20 when when they swept the Dodgers at Fenway Park. The Sox have not swept a series on the road since they victimized the Rays at the Trop, May 24-26.

An encouraging sign, to be sure, especially since they managed to do it on the West coast, at the tail end of an absolutely brutal roadtrip. The local nine managed to salvage a 6-4 record in the last 10 games, and will head home to the friendly confines of Fenway Park to face the likes of the Tigers and Indians before taking to the road once again.

After a well-deserved offday today, the Sox take the field at a normal hour tomorrow, when Jon Lester takes on Mr. [Not] Perfect Game himself, Armando Galarraga. Galarraga has a 4.50 ERA, and has been pretty unimpressive of late, notching just one win since his near-perfect game on June second.

The way Lester has been pitching, I'm not too worried, and the bats seem to have hit their stride, too. Here's hoping the Yanks and Rays can lose some games so we can gain some ground.

An addendum on Jim Joyce

Last night I wrote a post fueled by emotions (chiefly indignation), that lumped umpire Jim Joyce in with the likes of Angel Hernandez and Joe West. This was a mistake. Joyce made an honest mistake, and he has since apologized to Armando Galarraga:

"It was the biggest call of my career, and I kicked the [shit] out of it," said a tearful Joyce, "I just cost that kid a perfect game. And there's nobody that feels worse than I do."

Well, perhaps Galarraga does, but it's clear that Joyce is truly remorseful, that he understands the implications of the call he blew last night. Galarraga showed maturity way beyond his 28 years last night when he accepted Joyce's apology.


"Nobody's perfect," opined the young pitcher, without a trace of sarcasm or even a seeming awareness of the ironic nature of his statement.

As I type this, Bud Selig and Major League Baseball are discussing this situation. Technically, Selig has the power to rewrite history and reverse that call, awarding Galarraga the the perfect game he deserves. In this situation, I would support a decision to correct the past, but baseball is aware that such an action might start a tumble down a slippery slope. If this call can be overturned after the fact, what's next? Does Pedro Martinez get his perfect game for 27 consecutive outs, even though he gave up a hit in extra frames?

Hopefully this will jumpstart the discussion of expanded use of replay - with specific and stringent guidelines - so that future Armando Galarragas won't lose out on their place in history, and previously good umpires like Jim Joyce won't be vilified based on an honest mistake.

Attack of the Evil Umpires!

What is with the umpires lately?!? Joe West has recently been fined an undisclosed amount by Major League Baseball for a variety of bad behaviors, including publicizing his schedule, making some inappropriate remarks, and being a bit laissez faire with his ejections (just ask Mark Buehrle and Ozzie Guillen). Angel Hernandez just today made an absolutely terrible call today in a Tampa Bay/Toronto game, and has been ejecting players left and right.

Ozzie gets into it with Joe West.

But the most egregious blown call was made just minutes ago in Detroit, when Jim Joyce incorrectly called Indians' shortstop Jason Donald safe at first base. Donald was the 27th batter in the perfect game bid of Armando Galarraga. Even Donald was shocked, because it looked as if Joyce was about to signal "out," and abruptly changed his mind and called the rookie safe. To Galarraga's credit, he allowed himself just one fleeting look of disbelief, then promptly retired the following batter and ended the game.

Galarraga is the epitome of a class act.

Personally, I'm at once shocked, angry, indignant, and sad. I hope Johnny Damon and Jim Leyland are waiting for Jim Joyce in the parking lot after that blown call. Leyland looked angry enough as he shouted at Joyce after that last out, and as for Damon? I just want to believe that old "idiot" has a shred of empathy left - plus, he's totally the type to fight an umpire.

One of the unique things about baseball is the umpires: the lack of widely-used instant replay and timers give it a distinct human element that the other major professional sports lack. Baseball needs this element. However, one of the other great things about America's pastime is its history, and Jim Joyce single-handedly kept Armando Galaragga out of the history books this evening.

Now, until tonight, I had never heard of Jim Joyce, which means that he's probably a generally good umpire, as the most well-known are generally the worst of them all (ahem, CB Bucknor).

Baseball is not about the umpires. Far too many umps have thrust themselves into the spotlight lately, and MLB needs to do something about it. Bud Selig, for the love of god, DO SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR UMPIRES! I understand that they have a powerful union, but this is getting ridiculous.

Now I know that Major League Baseball won't say it; so I will. Defiantly, rebelliously, and, in the eyes of MLB, erroneously, Off the Monster is making a statement: there are twenty-one perfect games in modern Major League history, capped off by the most recent, Armando Galarraga, June 2, 2010.