“The umpire in question acknowledged that he blew the call and felt terrible about it. Reading the article can be helpful...”
Thanks for the snide comment. My comment was meant to refer,in general, to most of the MLB umps who are consistently awful yet think they are above scrutiny and reprimand. Angel Hernandez, Joe West, CB Bucknor and many others have been awful and arrogant for years with no negative repercussions. Something needs to be done about it.
Joyce acknowledged that he blew the call because he had no choice. Evidence of his blatant mistake is available for all to see.
I made this argument above. Joyce’s admission that he blew the call is of no consequence - everybody can see that he blew the call. You’re exactly right - he has no choice. He could say he made the right call and it still wouldn’t change the fact that video replay shows he obviously made the wrong one.
I’m also in agreement that MLB umpires are generally arrogant and confrontational - look no further than Joe West’s recent phantom balk calls and subsequent inappropriate ejections. The Red Sox were the victim of some terrible calls last year. Joe Mauer hit a double that was obvious on two levels (first, it hit Cabrera’s glove in play, which makes it automatically fair even if it lands foul, and second, it landed clearly fair anyway). Robinson Cano was called “out of the basepath” in the 2005 postseason when he wasn’t. Umpires only admit their mistakes when they’re completely and totally obvious, and even then it’s like pulling teeth.