(It was never my intention for this to become a sports blog, but…)

The furor over Jim Joyce’s blown call in last night’s Tigers-Indians game is symbolic of why baseball continues to be a great game. In no other sport would we see such an uproar over a decision that had no impact on the outcome of a contest.

Bud Selig will not “overturn” the call and he shouldn’t. One of the enduring tenets of baseball is that we live with the calls. We will see a renewed discussion over replays for situations like this, and eventually some kind of expanded review will exist for close calls in baseball – but never for balls and strikes. (There’s already a review option on some home run calls.)

The reaction of Armando Galarraga has been dignified/classy, and kudos to Jim Joyce for taking complete responsibility for missing the call.

• ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian has a spot-on take on what happened and what will happen next.
• Watch Galarraga’s expressions on the close-up replay, as he goes from 1. joy to 2. surprise to 3. “that’s baseball, we’ll get the next out” to 4. “Oh crap, I just lost a perfect game.”
• Did anyone else think Ulysses was the last we’d hear of Jim Joyce?