If instant replay is good enough for Little League ...

So I was watching the Little League World Series today, a game between a team from Hamilton, Ohio, and a team from Toms River, New Jersey. (The Ohioans just completed a 16-6 victory, after scoring eight runs in the top of the first. Go Ohio!)

There was a close play at first base, and the New Jersey runner was called safe. Replays clearly showed that the throw beat him, and while the Ohio first baseman stretched almost to the point of taking his foot off the base, he clearly kept contact with it. The call was incorrect. If this happened in a major league game, that would be the end of it; the incorrect call would stand, and the runner would stay on first base, with no out recorded. This would happen in spite of the fact that every observer but the umpire would know it was wrong, because they can watch the replay that he is forbidden to see.

But in the Little League World Series, starting this year, coaches can challenge close calls, and if it is shown to be clearly incorrect, the call can be overturned -- as was the case here. The call was overturned, and the error was corrected. What a concept! Why didn't anybody ever think of this before? I'm sure that Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig was watching, and saw how successful instant replay was. And I'm assuming he will push for an expansion to instant replay in the majors, beyond its current use, limited to possible home run calls. ... OK, that was sarcasm. Bud idiotically clings to the belief that allowing an umpire's incorrect call to stand is better than pausing the game for a minute or two to get it correct.

We all remember how, earlier this year, the Indians were the victim of a perfect game that wasn't, pitched by the Tigers' Armando Galarraga, when first base umpire Jim Joyce made almost the exact same incorrect call that was made in this Little League World Series game. With no recourse, the game umpires had no alternative but to let the incorrect call stand, costing Galarraga getting his name in the baseball history books. In part because of the travesty that occurred in that game, ESPN recently did a study of close calls over a two-week period, and determined that in fully one such play out of five, the umpire clearly missed the call. I haven't done the math, but that's got to add up to hundreds of missed calls over the course of the season. How Bud Selig and the rest of Major League Baseball can live with this, I cannot understand.

In the Little League World Series, steps have been taken to ensure that all calls are correct. Somehow, they can't do the same in the regular World Series. It boggles the mind.

Thirty years ago today: Jorge Orta

There's not much news in the Cleveland sports world today, so I thought I'd revisit something that happened 30 years ago today. On June 15, 1980, the memorable Jorge Orta went six-for-six in a 14-5 win over the Twins, becoming one of just 35 players in American League history to get six hits in a nine-inning game.

Orta, batting second and playing right field, hit five singles and a double in that game. But that might not even have been the most notable performance of the game, even if it was the rarest. Teammate Toby Harrah went four-for-five, including a triple and a home run, and knocked in seven runs.

Dan Spillner, in his last full season as a starter, went 6 2/3 innings for the win, even though he didn't pitch particularly well. He gave up five runs (four earned) on seven hits and four walks, striking out four. Sid Monge went the last 2 1/3. Spillner would spend 1981 in the bullpen, then become the team's closer in 1982.

Orta, a native of Mazatlan, Mexico, had a pretty decent year in 1980, hitting .291/.379/.403, in a low-offense era, and making his second (and last) All-Star appearance. He was spending his first of just two seasons in Cleveland, before being traded for Rick Sutcliffe. Orta's 16-year career that would end in 1987 with Kansas City, where he was a member of the World Series champions in 1985.

In fact, Orta would be a key player in one of the most controversial plays in major league history in that World Series, as first base umpire Don Denkinger made what might have been the most famous blown call in baseball history until Jim Joyce's recent gaffe. Orta led off the bottom of the ninth of game six with the Royals trailing the Cardinals three games to two, and 1-0 in the game. He hit a ground ball to St. Louis first baseman Jack Clark, who flipped to pitcher Todd Worrell at first, and the throw easily beat Orta to the bag. Denkinger was watching the bag and listening for the ball to hit Worrell's glove, but because it was so loud in the ballpark, he couldn't hear the ball hit the glove, and therefore had to guess. He guessed wrong, and called him safe. The Royals would go on to win that game 2-1, then beat the Cardinals 11-0 the next day to win a World Series that should have gone to the team on the other side of Missouri. And yet, 25 years later, we still don't have instant replay for anything but home run balls.

I cannot believe that just happened

Armando Galarraga was one out from the 21st perfect game in major league history tonight against the Indians. One out away. He got Jason Donald to hit a fairly routine ground ball between first and second. First baseman Miguel Cabrera fielded it, set his feet and delivered a strong throw to Galarraga, who was covering first. The ball got there, and it landed in the webbing of Galarraga's glove a full step before Donald reached the bag. First base umpire Jim Joyce called him safe.

He called him safe.

Armando Galarraga just pitched a perfect game, except it won't go into the record books as a perfect game because the first base umpire blew a call on the last out of the game. THE FIRST BASE UMPIRE BLEW A CALL ON THE LAST OUT OF WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A PERFECT GAME.

I know a lot of fans, even when their team is on the losing side of a no-hitter, will root for the pitcher to get it. I am not one of those fans — I would rather see my team break up the no-hitter. And according to how this game will be recorded in the books, I did see my team break up the no-hitter. But I would much, MUCH rather have seen this go into the books as a perfect game than see it broken up on a bad call at first base.

Ladies and gentlemen, baseball NEEDS instant replay. As it stands now, it's only allowed on home run calls. That's baloney. Commissioner Bud Selig is on record as saying he doesn't want it expanded, and as long as Bud doesn't want it expanded, it's not going to expand. But Bud is going to see what happened in this game. Armando Galarraga lost his perfect game because of a bad call. How can he allow that to happen?

I feel really sorry for Jim Joyce. I can't imagine what he was looking at, but I'm sure he made the call he thought was correct, unless he somehow bet a buttload of money that Armando Galarraga wouldn't pitch a perfect game. When he sees that replay, he's going to be sick. Come to think of it, he's probably seen it by now, and he's probably not going to get much sleep tonight, because that's a big damn call to get wrong. He drew the wrath of the entire Tigers organization and the home crowd, and understandably so.

The one guy who took it in stride was Galarraga, who simply smiled and went back to work, retiring the next hitter, Trevor Crowe, on another routine ground ball. You've got to hand it to him — he pitched the game of his life, and appears to be happy with the victory, perfect game or not.

Dawson rule?

As ESPN's John Clayton reports, Phil Dawson's nearly disallowed game-tying field goal against the Ravens last year has spurred a proposed rule change. Field goal kicks were previously not reviewable under instant replay rules, but that was because of kicks that sailed over the uprights, not kicks that may or may not have cleared the crossbar.

The officials initially got the Dawson call wrong. They wanted to review the tape, but the replay rules wouldn't let them. So all they could do was discuss it amongst themselves, and then they kind of had to take a guess. They got it right that time, but who's to say they won't get it wrong the next time? This is a no-brainer to me. Clayton feels some owners might vote it down. Frankly, any owner who votes against this is an idiot.