Bill Ferris wrote an excellent article on the near perfecto last night immediately following the game.  I thought I’d chime in with a few thoughts on some questions that were raised last night.

– Isn’t it awful that Armando Galarraga had the perfect game stolen from him by an umpire?

I have loads of respect for Galarraga who from about the seventh inning on exhibited a zen-like calm on the mound.  He knew he beat the runner to the bag.  He knew he pitched a perfect game.  His reaction?  A smile.  It was almost as if he processed the entire scene in an instant.  The play.  The call.  The ramifications.  He knew what happened.  And he smiled.  It was the exact same smile he had moments earlier when Austin Jackson ran down a long flyball in center field for the first out of the ninth.  The guy was in the moment.  It was just awesome to watch.

And the way he handled himself after the game… Pure class.  Here’s a guy who knows he’ll likely never be in that situation again and his reaction is thoughtful and insightful.  His reaction should go a long, long way to making people relax about Joyce’s call.  Besides, now these two can hit the banquet circuit in the winter, get a chicken dinner and pocket some spending money.

Yes, the umpire is the story here and that’s regrettable.  Yes, you’re probably thinking of Joe West right now and his grandstanding antics.  This wasn’t anything like that.  It seems that West is looking for fights.  Joyce wasn’t out to screw Galarraga or the Tigers.   He wasn’t looking to interject himself into the situation.  He simply made a bad call.  In fact, I think he probably choked.  Watching the game live, at first I thought Joyce was raising his right hand to make the out call.  Instead his arms went out in the safe sign.  He knew it was the biggest call of his life and he simply blew it.  It’s not really unlike Carlos Beltran failing to get the bat off his shoulder with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning of the seventh game of an NLCS.  He wanted to swing the bat.  He needed to swing the bat.  Yet, for some reason, he didn’t.

What happened last night wasn’t Joyce’s first bad call in his career.  It won’t be his last.  Unfortunately, it couldn’t have been any higher profile.  The guy is crushed.  I watched Thursday’s Tiger game when the lineup cards were presented and it’s safe to say the man is deeply disturbed by what happened.

(By the way, how great was it that Jim Leyland had Galarraga present the Tigers card?  Leyland is awesome.  And the simple gesture of Galarraga giving Joyce a pat on the back again speaks volumes of the man Galarraga is.  The way these two men have handled themselves in the last 24 hours is simply exceptional.  They are forever linked by this moment, and that may not be such a bad thing.)

– Should the official scorer change the hit to an error, giving Galarraga the consolation prize of a no-hitter?

Absolutely not.

Take the same situation and move it forward in the game.  Say it happened in the third inning.  How does the official scorer score the play?  Of course it’s a hit.  Miguel Cabrera fielded the ball cleanly, his throw hit the target and Galarraga caught the ball.  Correct or not, the runner was called safe.  Base hit.

There was no juggling of the ball and Galarraga definitely hit the bag.  The runner was ruled safe, therefore it’s a hit.

There’s just no way the scorer can change his initial ruling.  I hate to climb on my Integrity Of The Game horse, but if the official scorer is going to manipulate something like this, then the no-hitter in this instance is a fraud.

(What about Miguel Cabrera fielding that ball?  If he had just stayed at his bag and not tried to show his range, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.)

– Should Bud Selig get involved?

Sure.  Though probably not in the way you think.

I think it would be a great idea for Selig to issue a statement congratulating Galarraga on pitching an outstanding game.  Then he should say a few words about Joyce:  How he’s one of the top umpires working the game.  How he feels for him in this moment.  And how baseball stands behind him and supports him.

That’s it.

It’s difficult to think about this today, but time will heal.  It stinks that our generation now has our own version of Harvey Haddix.

However, the idea of Selig stepping in and reversing the call is absolutely, unequivocally ludicrous.  While he’s changing history, is there anything else you’d like changed?  Would you like to replay the entire Marlins-Braves game five from 1997, or just the strikeouts on pitches a mile out of the strikezone?  I’m sure quite a few people in St. Louis would like to travel the 240 miles west to pick up a World Series trophy they mistakenly think belongs to them.  (They’ll have to get by me first, though.)  Why stop there?  We’ve been focusing on teams, but what about the players… Do you think we could find 13 times Sam Rice reached base on an error?  Some of those had to be close calls right?  Let’s reverse those to get him his 3,000 hits.  Speaking of round numbers, do you think Cap Anson was ever incorrectly called out on a play at the plate?   I’m sure it happened given that he played in over 2,500 games.  Let’s overturn one of those to get him 2,000 runs. (Although by all accounts Anson was such a jerk, if it had happened he probably would have been the anti-Galarraga.)

We could do this all day…

Are we going to go running to Grandpa Bud every time something happens that we don’t like, asking for a change?  The players play the game and the umpires are the arbiters.  The call is made on the field and should stand.

– What about the Pine Tar Game?  That call got overturned!

Completely different.  The Pine Tar Game was about an interpretation of a rule.  Following the game, the Royals filed a formal protest with the American League office who subsequently ruled the umpires incorrectly applied the rule in this particular case.  They ordered the game resumed from that point and played to it’s conclusion.

There was no interpretation in the case of Wednesday’s game.  There was a call.  Safe or out.  It just happens the call was wrong.

Again, do we really want to take baseball down this road?  Let’s return to our hypothetical where there’s a close play at first base in the third inning of a game.  Replays show the umpire made the wrong call.  The aggrieved team files a protest.  Now what?  A hearing has to be held and then we replay the game from that point?  That sounds efficient.

– Should MLB expand instant replay?

No.

If you’re going to allow replay to overturn outs on the bases, why have the other three umpires?  I’m assuming if they expand replay that far, they would keep going and use it for fair or foul calls as well.  Seriously, why would we need umpires on the bases?  Most of the time, it’s crystal clear whether the runner was safe or out.  So on the few instances a game where there’s a close play, let’s just roll a monitor out to the home plate umpire (who only has his job until we perfect Pitch f/x to call the balls and strikes) and then he can present the ruling after viewing multiple angles.

The human element of the game is part of what makes it so exciting.  Yes, sometimes umpires get the calls wrong.  It’s been happening for over 100 years.  It’s not perfect, but it’s close.  I realize that’s not good enough for some.  I realize I’m in the minority here and the drumbeat is growing and someday (soon) we will have expanded use of replay.  When it happens, I’ll be fine with it.  Baseball always finds a way to survive.  If replay is what it takes to make the majority happy, knock yourselves out.

The cliche says baseball is a game of inches.  Not a game of pixels.

– So what should come of this debacle?

Here’s what I’d like to see:  A comprehensive annual review of all umpires at all levels.  Use everything you can in a standardized way… Player feedback, manager feedback, a review of every single call that particular umpire made during the season.

They already do something like that, right?  Well my plan goes further.  Take the bottom five or 10 percent according to the evaluations, and demote them to Triple-A.  Replace those defrocked major league umps with the top five or 10 percent from the International or Pacific Coast Leagues.  If you follow European soccer, this system is similar to the relegation/promotion system in place that rotates teams in the top leagues.

This makes the umpires accountable.  There needs to be accountability.  This isn’t the Supreme Court where appointments are for life.  Of course, the umpires have a union and unions are in place to protect the employed.  No way would they ever agree to something like this.  Because it makes too much sense.

I wish Joyce had made the correct call and I wish Galarraga got his perfect game last night.  Unfortunately, once the call was made, there was no going back.

Craig writes about the Royals at Royals Authority and about fantasy baseball at Baseball Prospectus’ Fantasy Beat Blog.  You can read his stuff, email him or just follow him on Twitter.

Then on Wednesday night I settled in to watch Tim Lincecum’s start against the Washington Nationals.  In the fifth inning, the Nats started running wild which prompted the Giants broadcasters Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow (the best in the business in my opinion, but that’s another story for another day) to point out that Lincecum wasn’t even looking at runners.  And he hadn’t been for most of the season.  Sure enough, Lincecum has allowed an amazing 10 stolen bases in his last four starts.   Overall for the season, base runners are a perfect 12 for 12 when attempting to steal against the two time Cy Young Award winner.

With thoughts of Rickey Henderson and Willie Wilson sprinting 90 feet at a time through my brain, it seemed worth the effort to examine who runners are stealing against.  Certainly some of the fault can lay on a noodle armed catcher when runners go wild, but the pitchers bear some brunt of responsibility.  It’s their job to make sure the base runners don’t exaggerate their leads and/or get quality jumps.

Here are the five pitchers who have allowed the most stolen base attempts as a percentage of stolen base opportunities:

(SBO is stolen base opportunities.  In other words, the number of times a runner was on first or second with the next base open.  SB Att% is the percentage of opportunities that turned into actual attempts.

– I’m not sure why runners are going crazy against Ben Sheets, but I’m not sure he minds.  After all, we’re talking about a 61% success rate.  If anything less than 75% hurts the team, these would be base stealers are doing their club no favors.  And I don’t think runners are trying to take the extra base on the A’s catchers.  There have been 41 attempts against Oakland this year and almost 44% have come with Sheets on the mound.  Sheets also has two pickoffs this year.

The A’s pitcher with the second most attempts against?  Gio Gonzalez with four.

– Meche has seen his stolen base attempt percentage go up every year he’s been in Kansas City.  Part of the problem is a leg kick that on occasion rises above his waist.  He can be very deliberate from the stretch.

– Bengie Molina and Eli Whiteside are not having a good year behind the plate, but a large part of that is probably due to the pitchers not doing their job of holding runners.  Between Linecum and Jonathan Sanchez, that’s 22 steals in 25 attempts.  Overall, 51 bags have been swiped against the Giants against only 12 caught stealings, which is an 81% success rate.  It’s kind of surprising Sanchez is on this list since he’s left-handed.  He doesn’t even have a pickoff this year.  Plus, three of his 10 steals against have been steals of third.  That’s tied for most in the majors along with Luke Hochevar and Tim Wakefield.

– As bad as the Giants are, the Red Sox are worse.  Would be thieves have swiped 52 bags against Boston, while they’ve been caught only 10 times – a 16% success rate.  Wakefield’s name on this list should come as no surprise.  You know, knuckleballers are kind of easy to steal against.

Five pitchers have at least 50 stolen base opportunities, but have yet to have a steal attempted against them.

– Dallas Braden and Oliver Perez are lefties which would explain the dearth of opportunities.  Braden has picked off three runners.

And why run against Perez?  Relax and let your hitters do the damage.

– Eight of Livan Hernandez’s 10 starts have come with Ivan Rodriguez behind the plate.  Rodriguez’s reputation is still intact (and maybe for good reason) as there have been only 11 attempted stolen bases against him this year.  He’s cut down four of them for a 36% success rate.  It will be interesting to see if runners start going against Hernandez now that I-Rod is on the DL.  With Wil Nieves behind the plate, runners have attempted 13 steals and were successful on 11 of them.

– Pineiro is a former resident of the House Of Duncan where they emphasize limiting the running game.  It must have worked.  Last year, only five steals were attempted against Pineiro, with just one success.

– I have to be honest and admit I’m stumped as to why no one has even attempted a single steal against Randy Wells this year.  Last year, he did a decent enough job controlling the running game as he had a 7.1% SB Att% in 253 opportunities.  But none this year?  I could understand if he had a slide step, but his leg kick isn’t that dissimilar to Meche’s.  He has a quick move to first, but it shouldn’t be enough to dissuade a professional base thief.  Maybe a Cub fan can chime in in the comments.

– Nationals reliever Tyler Clippard could make this list as no one has attempted to steal a base against him in 54 opportunities.  However, we have to hold relievers (particularly set-up men and closers) to a different standard due to the situations where they frequently appear.

This is by no means an exhaustive study, but it’s an interesting snapshot at which pitchers are controlling the running game and which pitchers are inviting runners to take the extra base.  As the season progresses, I’ll check back in and update the standings.

Craig writes about the Royals at Royals Authority and about fantasy baseball at Baseball Prospectus’ Fantasy Beat Blog.  You can read his stuff, email him or just follow him on Twitter.

Anyway, Wednesday’s game with the Mets visiting the Nationals featured one (or two) of those moments.    No doubt by now you’ve heard about Angel Pagan hitting an inside the park home run off Livan Hernandez and then two innings later making a charging catch in center that started a triple play.

The last game to feature a player who both started a triple play and hit an inside park home run was the final game of the 1955 season when the Phillies visited the New York Giants.  Both teams were in the middle of the pack in the NL – the Phillies finished in fourth place with a 77-77 record while the defending World Series champion Giants record was 80-74, good for third.

The final day featured a doubleheader between the clubs.  The Giants took the first game behind Willie Mays 51st home run of the year.  The starter for the Phils that afternoon was Robin Roberts, who was removed for a pinch hitter in the eighth inning by the name of Ted Kazanski.

Kazanski had debuted two years earlier as a 19 year old shortstop.  He played bits and pieces of the ’53 and ’54 seasons and had a career line of .198/.251/.280 in his first 502 plate appearances.  He spent most of the 1955 season at the Phillies Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse where he hit .307/.379/.432 – good enough to earn a September call-up.

By the time the final Sunday of the season rolled around, Kazanski appeared in seven games, starting one.  He was 0-7 with one strikeout and one walk.  In that first game of the doubleheader, he came to the plate with a runner on first and no one out in the top of the eighth and grounded into a force out.

In the second game, Kazanski started at shortstop and hit seventh.  Stepping to the plate in the top of the fifth with the game scoreless, Kazanski lofted a fly ball to left center off of Giants starter Jim Hearn. Mays and Dusty Rhodes chased the ball down and ultimately collided (the New York Times described the hit as a “gift.”) allowing the shortstop to circle the bases.  It would be Kazanski’s only hit of the season.  He finished with a line of .083/.154/.333.

As the game wound down, the Phillies found themselves with the lead in the ninth by the score of 2-1.  The Giants weren’t going quietly.  Joey Amalfitano led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on a Jack Meyer wild pitch.  Whitey Lockman walked, and the Giants had runners on first and second with nobody out, bringing up second baseman Bobby Hofman.

Hofman hit a sharp liner to our man Kazanski at short, who caught the ball for the first out, flipped it to Bobby Morgan at second, who threw to Marv Blaylock at first for the triple play.

Game over.  Season over.

The other notable event in that game?  It was the final time Leo Durocher would manage the Giants.  He wouldn’t return to the major leagues as a manager until 11 years later with the Cubs.

Kazanski would play three more seasons for the Phillies.  He appeared in 117 games in 1956 and hit .211/.251/.277, but did manage to hit four home runs – three of them came against the Giants, and all went over the wall.  He was a part-timer in his final two seasons, appearing in a total of 157 games and hitting .243/.305/.333.

He was traded to the Milwaukee Braves following the 1958 season and never again appeared in the majors.  Kazanski bounced around the next six seasons, playing for six different organizations: The Braves, Athletics, Indians, Angels, Senators and Yankees.  He ended his career at the age of 30 in 1964 at Triple-A for the Yankee organization.

Before turning the triple play and hitting the inside the park home run in the same game, Kazanski’s claim to fame was the fact he collected 4 RBI as a shortstop in his major league debut.   He went 3-6 with a pair of doubles while driving in four runs in a 13-2 Phillies win over the Cubs.  Since then, a number of players have matched his feat, including Bobby Bonds, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Brian Jordan, and this season, Jason Heyward.  The record for most RBI in a debut now belongs to the Cubs Starlin Castro, who drove in six earlier this month.  In fact, only Kazanski, Castro and Ian Desmond have driven in four or more runs while making their debut at shortstop.

It’s interesting how a player who appeared in over 400 games more than 55 years ago and was finished in the major leagues by the time he was 25 can still merit a mention – in a couple of different ways.  Is this a great game or what?