Not a perfect game...

This is a little over due, probably because I found my position wasn't as controversial as I had thought:

Russ Roberts at Cafe Hayek has a post about Detroit Tigers pitcher, Armando Galarraga, start on June 2nd where he pitched good enough to earn a perfect game. Unfortunately for him, he didn't because of, as umpire Jim Joyce has admitted, a blown call.  That, in and of itself, is why he didn't, and I'm glad to see that Bud Selig didn't cave to pressure to 'make it right'.

The way I've always heard it, a perfect game is facing the minimum - 27 up, 27 down.  No runs, no hits, no walks, no errors.  Not one batter reached base safely.  That didn't happen in that game and that's why it wasn't a perfect game.

I think the natural tendency to want to 'make this right' is because the belief is that Galarraga deserved a perfect game. He pitched a heck of a game, before and after the bad call by Joyce, but that doesn't guarantee anything, not even a win (see the rest of Dr. Roberts' post for the story of Harvey Haddix). In fact, it doesn't make sense that pitchers are credited with Wins and Losses anyway, since you can pitch terribly and give up 8 runs and still win, and pitch great and get a loss or even a no decision.

The good thing that came out of this was seeing Galarraga handle himself. He is a classy, stand-up guy, and should be a role model for good sportsmanship now and in the future.