MLB Network the place to be to see blown call

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So here we were, watching Versus and hockey and getting all goose-bumpy over Kate Smith pounding out ‘God Bless America,’ at the Flyers-Blackhawks pregame and deciding to not switch to the Angels just yet when, thanks to Twitter, there’s all sorts of hubbub about a perfect baseball game being thrown in Detroit and then being taken away by a bad umpire’s call.

Used to be, in the good old days about two, three years ago, we’d switch immediately to ESPN and hope for a highlight. Now we switch to the MLB Network and within seconds we see the play, an umpire named Jim Joyce missing terribly a call that takes away a perfect game from a young Detroit pitcher, Armando Galarraga.

We see almost immediately replays from several angles. No getting around it, the call was blown. We see lots of Detroit players want to pounce on Joyce a few moments later, when the game ends on the 28th straight out Galarraga got. We see Galarraga smile and deal with this historic blunder that cost him his perfect game with grace and good nature.

We’ve heard from Detroit Manager Jim Leyland already, heard him defend the umpire, heard him not demand electronic lines calling or instant replay. We’ve seen the replay of the entire ninth inning, heard the Detroit broadcasters say, ‘He’s out. No, he’s safe. He is safe. He is safe at first base.’ And, ‘He’s out. Why is he safe? Why is he safe?’

The plaintive cries of the announcers almost sounded as hopeless as the famous wail (also from Detroit oddly enough) of figure skater Nancy Kerrigan after she got her knee whacked, ‘Why me? Why? Why? Why?’

And we finally switch back to see that the Flyers are leading the Blackhawks 2-1 and the Wachovia Center still seems full of Kate Smith’s voice and, thanks to Twitter we’re alerted to the fact replay has helped get the Flyers their second goal, a potential injustice corrected.

Isn’t technology great? And it’s not even dark out here in California. What else can happen tonight?

-- Diane Pucin