Kuzul

Today is the final day of balloting for the 2010 MLB All-Star Game. If it had ended yesterday, Justin Morneau would be AL’s starting first baseman in Anaheim.

He’s garnered 2,118,654 votes, ahead of Mark Teixeira with 1,863,235 and Miguel Cabrera with 1,832,782.

I understand why Morneau is leading the vote. The Twin leads Major League first basemen with a .349 batting average, a 1.063 OPS, 16 homers, and 52 runs driven in. He’s committed only one error in 676 total chances.

I also understand why Cabrera is in the running. He’s second to Morneau in average and OPS (.337 and 1.040) and is tied for first among all American Leaguers in HR (20) and RBI (68).

Now compare those stats to Teixeira. One of the big signings that led New York to a World Series Championship last year, the two-time All-Star has struggled so far this season. His fielding has been Gold Glove caliber, but overall, he’s fallen far short of his 2009 performance.

His line is .231/.343/.411, which is far from the stellar production one expects. He has 13 home runs and 48 RBIs, both sixth at the position in the AL. We’re now in July. This is not just a slow start. This is a disappointing season. And I’m not cherry-picking the statistics that illustrate my point. Take any stat you like.

Doubles? Cabrera and Morneau both have 23. Teixeira has 15. Hits? Cabrera 96, Morneau 95, Teixeira 70.

The Yankee has worse numbers than Cabrera, Morneau, Kevin Youkilis, and Paul Konerko in total bases, OBP, slugging, strikeouts, hits, extra-base hits, home runs and runs batted in, yet has more at bats than all of them.

I accept that it is basically a popularity contest and the Yankees have a lot of fans to help their players’ causes in ASG voting (see: Jeter, D.) However, there’s no reason why Teixeira should be second in All-Star voting. He shouldn’t be within sight of the leaders.

Don’t go to Anaheim, Mark. Take a three-day break. You need it.

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Two outs. Ninth inning. Armando Galarraga pitching. Eight and two-thirds innings, no hits, no walks, no errors, no HBP. Jason Donald at the plate.

Grounder to first. Flip to Galarraga covering. Donald beat to base. Out. Perfect game. History.

Well, no. It actually went: Donald beat to base. Safe. Blown call. Epic fail costs Galarraga perfection.

First base umpire Jim Joyce saw the game end right before his eyes, Donald out by a country mile, and made the worst call of his career. Galarraga handled the situation in the most professional and mature way. He said nothing to Joyce. He just smiled and got the next out.

After the game, he said: “I got a perfect game. Maybe it’s not in the book, but I’m going to show my son the CD.”

While he dealt with everything in a manner as perfect as last night should have been, the world is left to discuss what happened. And it inevitably leads to one conclusion. I know Bud Selig doesn’t want to hear this. But it’s true.

We need instant replay.

He doesn’t want it. He wants to keep the “human element” in the game and do things the way they always have been . But how is the sport in any way bettered by what happened in Comerica Park last night? It was an embarrassment. A debacle. A screw-up for the ages.

Above all, it was a clear-cut sign that we need instant replay. Not want it. Not long for it. Need it. Now, I understand Selig’s reluctance to introduce it. Already people complain about the length of games. And that’s not just fans. Umpire Joe West—he of the ridiculous Mark Buehrle balk-a-thon—called the Red Sox and Yankees “a disgrace to baseball” for taking so long to play their games against one another.

But I’m not talking about prolonging the games by much. We can’t have replay for balls and strikes. We’d be at the game till 6 am. We also can’t have every play be reviewable. How about the football method though? Keep the home run review the way it is—every call can be challenged. Then give the managers one challenge a game. Just one.

They won’t burn it on a questionable fair/foul call in the first, they’ll keep it for the Big Moment at the end, if and when it comes.

Even if every manager used it in every game, only about 10 minutes would be added. Is that not a worthwhile sacrifice to make sure no one is in the position Jim Joyce was? To get the Big Call in the Big Moment right?

On a side note, can anyone else remember a spate of bad performances by umpires as prolonged and incessant as this? The Red Sox were screwed by the world’s most inconsistent strike zone. Joe West made the very impartial Yanks-Sox comments. West again, with the balks.

Bill Hohn ejected Roy Oswalt against Washington last week for being angry with himself. Tampa Bay were robbed of a run last night when it was ruled that Sean Rodriguez had missed third base on his way home. When he hadn’t.

The way umpires have been channelling their inner NBA ref is another discussion for another day. But it does highlight the fact that instant replay is essential for the sport.

Most sports that need it, have it. That’s because the technology is there already. Everyone at home, everyone working on every TV network and most of the fans at the game can see on TVs, computers and phones that the runner was out. Jim Joyce had no access to any of these things. He was the least qualified person, then, to make that call.

It was he who had to make it, however. And somehow he got it wrong. This was not a bang-bang play at first. Galarraga beat Donald by a step and a half. He knew it. Everyone in the stadium knew it.

Even Donald knew it, and his reaction—a despairing hands-on-the-head—when he was called safe, told you just how clear it was. The game was over and Galarraga had booked his place in history.

In a way, this game will be remembered in baseball history. Some have lost perfect games in the ninth. Mike Mussina did that twice. A few have had perfect games through nine innings, but the score was 0-0 and they had to go to extras.

What happened to Galarraga will be remembered as one of the greatest officiating blunders ever in the regular season. And maybe, just maybe, it’ll be the game that finally brings instant replay to the sport that needs it most.

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Last night against New York, Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched 4.2 innings, giving up seven runs on nine hits.

So far this season, he is 2-1 with a 7.89 ERA.

He has pitched in four games and three have been awful. His third outing, against Toronto, was perhaps the best of his Major League career, going seven, allowing one run on three hits. He fanned nine and walked none.

As for the bad starts, he has been let down in each one by one bad inning. Twice it was the first—as was the case last night, as the Yankees got to him for five runs—and once the sixth.

It is very much reminiscent of Jon Lester’s start last year. Lester went on to have a very good season, but in April and May, almost every outing was tarnished by one weak frame. Now Matsuzaka is going through the same thing.

He has pitched 21 and two thirds innings on the season. Take out the three bad innings, and his ERA drops from 7.89 to 1.98.

Obviously, I know that you cannot just erase three innings from the statistics, but the fact is, outside of those bad frames, Daisuke’s been very, very good. I wouldn’t panic just yet. He’s closer to being back than you think.

There is another issue here, though. And it relates to comments made after the crushing loss last night.

Catcher Victor Martinez said: “I’m just back to try and help [Matsuzaka] go through the game. At the end he’s the one who has the ball in his hand.”

“At the end, he’s the one who has the last word. He’s the one who has the ball in his hand. I’m just putting suggestions and he can say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’”

In other words, Martinez was saying Daisuke’s performance was Daisuke’s fault. This raises two points.

One, it is very unusual to hear a catcher come out after a game and throw his pitcher under the bus. I can’t remember a time when the likes of Jason Varitek, Jorge Posada, or Brian McCann said anything like this. While they never condone or make excuses for bad pitching, they don’t blatantly attempt to distance themselves from the game.

Two, what if it isn’t all Daisuke’s fault?

What I mean by that is, what if the pitchers are having trouble when Victor is behind the plate. There’s no doubt that the rotation can do better than they have done and Beckett now effectively has Varitek as his personal catcher.

Being a backup suits the ageing Varitek nicely. He won’t get worn down as quickly and will be more effective down the stretch. However, with this team fast running out of time to get started, perhaps giving the captain more starts is worth a shot.

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With the Red Sox and Yankees meeting again this week, here’s my rundown of the best moments of the past decade in baseball’s greatest rivalry.

There are any number of moments I could have picked. Just missing out were Jacoby Ellsbury’s steal of home, the 33 consecutive scoreless innings by Yankee pitching and Mark Teixeira signing with New York over Boston.

Note that, although I’m a Sox fan, I am aiming to be impartial, as evidenced by number 10 on the list.

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