Oregon Connection To Baseball's Big Blown Call

For those of us who still pay attention to baseball (and for those of us in Portland, our options are few and getting fewer), last night's huge news from Major League Baseball about the "perfect game that wasn't" has a huge Oregon connection.

Jim Joyce, the umpire who blew the call that would have sealed a perfect game for Detroit's Armando Galarraga, lives in Beaverton. (For those who don't pay attention to baseball, there have been only 20 perfect games in major league history. Oddly enough, two of those games where no batter reaches base have been this season.)

Former Oregonian sportswriter Dwight Jaynes, who has migrated from editor of The Portland Tribune to co-hosting the morning show on 95.5 The Game, takes up for Joyce in this post on his blog. I think Jaynes gets it right: Joyce screwed up in a big spot, but was big enough to admit it and apologize to Galarraga.

My question is whether Commissioner Bud Selig will figure out a way to CYA for Joyce. My guess? He won't. Your opinion please on what Selig should do for this suddenly beleaguered Oregonian?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tse_-5tonsY[/youtube]