Jim Joyce has officially become an Icon.

And he is feeling terrible about it. Not that he doesn't deserve some sympathy because he owned up to making such an egregious cock-up. But still, how can you make that call in that situation? Okay, backstory for those who've stumbled upon this website off of an inadvertant search for Kim Kardashian's ass.

Armando Galarraga retired 26 batters. 26 up, 26 down. He was one out away from a perfect game. He got Jason Donald to ground out for the 27th out. Any cursory glance at a replay would tell you so.

Excepting for the fact Jim Joyce called Jason Donald safe.

There are so many reasons why this is should not have happened. I am the sort of fat out of shape guy who would be considered the target of the insults of a Ravishing Rick Rude and I would have made sure I had a decent look at the play if I was at second or working at home. It's the scenario that's tailor made for instant replay. And for crap sake? Any NBA referee would have protected a moment of history.

The scorekeeper can still at least give Armando something. All you have to do is make the call an error. It gives him a no-hitter. I dunno. I haven't been here in like a month.

I guess you have to be a cool name to become a pitching footnote.

Deadspin...

I know it's hip to try and punch upward at a blog that's bigger than yours. But I have to ask. Since when is emulating thedirty.com something that we should be proud of?

I'm not saying this to be all why isn't Will Leitch ever going to come back? Because I don't blame Daulerio for the sins of Gawker media. He isn't the gay Englishman who sets out to insult our intelligence on a daily basis. But when the news your site breaks is something along the lines of an "OH MY GOD JOSH HAMILTON GOT DRUNK NO WAY!"

That's lame. That's a news aggregator. That's a news aggregator with an occasional piece of interest by Margary. There used to be a real community at Deadspin. You could find stuff that was interesting among the smaller blogs along with some actual quality writing. But now? It's basically salacious and yellow. They have the power to be something great and they use it to grab photos of drunk athletes and other stupid crap.

Blogging was never going to be a meritocracy. Media groups started buying blog sites. Independent blogs need to be damned spectacular if they're going to gain any traction. In fact, if I was going to talk to 2007 me about starting a blog? I'd say don't bother. You're not going to get readers fast enough.

I'm not going to say that Deadspin is alone in this sin. But Nick Denton's blogs are the standard bearers. You and I are just shmucks trying to grab scraps. I know I like to win as much as the next guy, but I'm not going to try and play the Deadspin game to get there.

Underdogs, interesting stuff, analysis. That's my stride. Move along from this.

You know what?

I'm seriously confused. Honestly. It's a small thing in the grand scheme of things, but I have to work this out in my head. How in the blue hell did Matt Joyce spend the last two months in Triple-A?

Now if you remember my post on December 11th of last year, you know exactly why I'm a fan of Matt Joyce. He threatens 60 extra base hits with a .500 slugging percentage if he gets 500 at bats. Not better than B.J. Upton or Carl Crawford by any stretch of the imagination. And Gabe Kapler has value as a lefty masher.

And we imagine that Ben Zobrist's ability to play six positions and generate a modicum of power and a soupcan's worth of patience means he has a spot in the bigs for as long as he's effective. So that's four spots. And we understand it.

But unless you need to run a two-minute drill, in what world does Gabe Gross deserve a job over Matt Joyce? I mean this very seriously. If it's because you feel comfortable with a guy? It's a stupid reason.

Especially because Gabe Gross is the definition of replacement player. I mean it. Look at his per/162 totals.

.243/.342/.411. That's a .750 OPS for your corner outfielder. That's something you want. At least it's what Joe Maddon seems to have wanted. Why does that annoy me? Because look at this total. .251/.339/.502.

That's Matt Joyce's Per/162. Yeah, he's not going to average two bases for every hit from here on out? But the dude can rake. In fact? Let's take out the batting average and isolate on-base and slugging percentage.

Joyce: .339
Gross: .257

You had a starter-level right fielder and you kept him in Durham. This was a big mistake Joe Maddon made. He rectified it now, but it may have been worth several wins to get there.

I mean, if you're going to trade a potential closer option like Edwin Jackson to get
this piece of the puzzle, why are you going to let him languish in Durham.