click either link below to view the play

http://www.comcast.net/video/perfect_game_not/1511979337

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=8616789

Before we drag Jim Joyce to the lynching tree, let’s get a better look at the “blown” call at first base on a semi-routine infield grounder that cost Armando Galarraga a place in perfect-game history.

Did the throw beat the runner?  Certainly.  Did the ball hit the glove before the runner’s foot hit the base?  Oh, yes.  Did Galarraga cleanly catch the ball and secure the out?  Not quite.

It’ll take some work to find the right angle, which is from the center field camera, but that’s where the evidence lies.  You’ll see upon further review that Galarraga did not cleanly secure that ball.  He gloved it, but then he did the fielder’s version of a double clutch, where he released and re-caught the ball a split second later.  That just might be enough to allow the runner to be safe.  Even if those conditions are fact, I still think that Joyce would have been more than justified to give the out call.

I’m not saying he was safe.  I’m not saying it wasn’t a perfect game or that Joyce made the right call.  I’m just saying to give it another look.  I’m an advocate of using replay whenever possible, but this type of call happens so rarely, if not never, that I don’t know if it warrants replay just yet.