Jim Joyce's controversial call on a legit perfect game

What up homies??? I just wanted to write a short blog on Jim Joyce's (the 1st base umpire) controversial out call on the 3rd out of Galarraga's perfect game last week. He obviously blew the call and admitted after the game he took a perfect game away from the kid. I thought it was great that he admitted that he messed up and apologized. What I wanted to write about is the question that is being debated right now, should the MLB institute instant replays??? 

I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand baseball has been a sport that doesn't aways exactly fit in with 'modern' sports, due tot he fact that there is no instant replay. It has an old time feel because every call is up to the umpires discretion. That is the human element in the game and I think it is great. It makes baseball a game and i think instant replays on all close plays would take the fun out of the sport. It would also drag out the games and make them longer, which is bad because some think baseball is too long already. The only solution I could think of is to institute instant replay for cases like this or in the World Series where a blown call could mean losing or winning the World Series.

The picture above is the play that Jim Joyce got wrong. As you can see he is obviously out and Galarraga would have had a perfect game. My question to all of you is what do you think about instant replays in the game of baseball? Please leave your comments below :)

 

Fall when it is Summer time

Hey everyone! Just wanted to point out that the weather here is the worst weather I have ever seen. All it does is rain an it is cold here! It is June but feels like October! Anyway now that that is out of the way here is the update for the last 4 games.

Tues and Wed of last week we had a series with the number 1 team in the league, the Hoboken Pioneers. They were undefeated coming into this series. The first game we faced their American import Josh Neitz who used to play in the NY Yankees organization. He is a very good pitcher and a nice guy. Kev Mac pitched for us (the Aussie import) and had a good game striking out 10 and keeping them to a 1-1 game going into the 6th. There you go Kev, your shout-out. They were winning 5-1 going into the later innings. We ended up taking the lead 8-5 at the end of the 8th inning and the game, finally, was called due to darkness. We handed the Pioneers their first loss of the season. I ended up going 1 for 5 with an RBI in that game. The second game was a different story. Our pitching staff walked 14 batters! Our defense made 4 errors! It was by far our worst performance of the season and the Pioneers won easily 9-3. I went 1-4 in that game. finished 2-9 for the series, not my best games.

The second series we played was this past weekend against the 3rd place Spartans. This team is compiled of Dominicans and Venezuelans, which are great ball players. We won the first game 12-5 in a pretty easy win. We played solid defense and Dennis gave us another chance to win a game with him pitching. I went 3-4 with a couple RBIs and some plays at shortstop. Game two was another cold rainy day. It seems that everyday is a cold rainy day here in Belgium but that is besides the point. We came out flat and unenergized. We made 3 errors and walked a lot more people than we should have. Our team as a whole just did not want to play. To make it worse, the umpires put on an awful display. The base umpire made 4 wrong calls at 1st base resulting in taking 4 hits away from us. One of them was with me and I almost got thrown out of the game when I told him he was an F-ing idiot and he made the wrong call. He did not seem to like that too much Haha We ended up losing 9-1 in 9 innings. It was a very bad game. I went 1-3 with the only RBI of the game coming in the 9th inning. 

Here is the link to the league's official statistics for the season.  

http://www.frbbs.be/statistique.php          

Click on 1st division baseball to view them. The picture above are my current stats up to date. :) Hope everyone is doing well!!

May 20th Weekend Games

Hello to all 3 people that probably read this blog haha This weekend we had the biggest series so far for our season. We swept both games. Game 1 we faced a Japanese import  who has gotten all this publicity about being a candidate for the Italy and Holland leagues (best baseball in Europe). We beat him 3-1. I went 1-4 with two RBIs and a few nice plays at SS.

Game two was a littttttle different. We won 19-2 in a long drawn out game. We played solid defense, good pitching, and obviously a ton of offense. I went 2-5 with a double and had an error at SS out of the 6 plays I got. Good team win and we needed to win two. That puts us at 10-2 overall and in sole possession of 2nd place behind the undefeated Pioneers!! We face the Pioneers this upcoming Tuesday and Wednesday. Hopefully we can take at least one from them and give them their first loss of the season.

In a side note, at today's game a swarm of like 2,000 bees almost attacked us while in the field. I have never seen anything like that in my entire life! i was playing SS and heard this loud buzzing (I thought it was a plane flying overhead). I turned around and saw a dark cloud of a couple thousand bees flying in like attack formation right over my head heading towards home plate. I thought i was going to die haha I hit the deck and watched as they flew over me in unison and continued on to their unknown destination. I do not know what would cause a hive of bees to leave their nest and fly like that but I was scared to death. anyways check back for a rare mid-week update as we face the number 1 Pioneers! :) Cheers everyone!!

Middle of May

This weekend we had two games against the last place team again, The Cats. We won the first game 15-0 and won the second 10-2. This puts us in 2nd place at 8-2 respectively. The first place team are the Hoboken Pioneers and they are undefeated. I went 2-9 this weekend with a triple. Not my best effort but we got two wins which is important! :)

Next weekend we play the Namur Angels and this is the biggest series of the season so far. We need to sweep them. They have this Japanese import who is suppose to be a "big deal"  with his agent and everything but I saw him pitch and it is nothing special. We need to take it to them hard! I planned on going to amsterdam today but I am sick so that put a damper on my plans. I will try and get some more pictures or videos up on here soon! Cheers and hope everyone is doing well!! :)

Weekend series against the Stars

Hope everyone is doing well back in the states or Aussie! :) The picture above is the biggest cathedral here in Antwerp! It is beautiful and massive! Had another weekend series that we ended up splitting! Lost the first game by a substantial amount against the second to last place team. we didn't execute on the offensive side which really hurt us. The second game was a little better we ended up winning 8-3. We had solid defense and run production. Our pitchers did the job! It was a decent weekend but I feel we should have swept both games because we are the better team on paper...Went 3-10 this weekend with two singles a double and 1 RBI. We play the last place team again next weekend and should sweep them. right no we are 6-2 sitting in second place I believe.

The Belgium weather has not broken into spring or summer yet. It is a dismal 8-12 degrees celcius mostly with rain. Not a very fun climate to play or site see in. The city of Antwerp is beautiful though. Classic style buildings and cathedrals. Just the type of thing you expect to see in a European city! Tune in next week for another update :) 

Sunday Funday!

Ahello again everyone!! Yesterday was Sunday and we had our final series game with the Cats. We ended up sweeping the Cats with a 10-0 win in 7 innings. Kevin Macleod (my Aussie mate) threw 6 innings of great baseball allowing only one hit and a few walks. Recorded 7 strikeouts as well!! I came in to close in the 7th. Put them down 1,2,3 with a backwards K strikeout to end the game.

Sunday I went 2-3 with a triple, double, sac fly resulting in 3 RBIs. Also made an error today. Finished this series 4-7 with a couple doubles triple and 5 RBIs. Been a very rainy weekend but we got both games in which was a nice start. I like the team it's nice to win and they are a great group of guys! We are a very young team so it will be nice to work with the guys. I am very excited about this season and to see some of Europe! Got a coupe practices this week and then another weekend series coming up! Hopefully I will see some of Antwerp this week and get some pictures up :) Cheers everyone! 

First Game

Hello all! Today, May 1st 2010 I played my first game with the Royal Greys! It was a typical Belgium day sunny for 5 minutes then rainy for 20 then sunny again then rainy!! We did manage to get the game in even though the Belgium's don't start any inning if it is raining and postpone innings if there is rain. It is quite strange but it is the way they play.

We won 9-1 in 9 innings against the last place Cats. A game we should win and it was good we did that. I went 2-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored and also a walk. Had a solid day at SS with 3 routine plays. Haven't experienced the night life yet here but can't wait to. Heard it was a blast...