Photo by Ruben

A perfect game is a once-in-a-blue moon occurrence. Sure, there seems to be an upward trend in frequency, but there is certainly no denying the special feeling of watching a perfect game. I’ve seen David Cone and David Wells throw perfect games. Outside of a world championship, the perfect game is the greatest achievement a pitcher can achieve (not counting career records, etc.).

So when Hiroki Kuroda of the Los Angeles Dodgers got called to start against the Atlanta Braves last night, no one had a clue that he’d come within three outs of a perfect game. Kuroda retired 21 straight hitters before giving up a liner to right-field, a double by Mark Teixeira, in the eighth inning. He proceeded to complete the game, allowing only one hit and not giving up a walk.

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Photo by morgan

The discovery that Tim Donaghy illegally bet on NBA games he refereed has been a sort of ‘coming out party’ for discouraged fans across the sporting world. While Donaghy awaits sentencing for his actions, there have been a number of recent events exposing a fatal flaw in officiating professional sports.

Earlier this week, in a New York Mets/New York Yankees game, Carlos Delgado hit a ball deep to left field. The hit was ruled a foul ball by the head umpire Bob Davidson and play resumed, ultimately with the Mets winning 11-2. However, replays showed that the ball hit the ‘foul pole’ and thusly should have been ruled a regulation home run. Davidson recently apologized for his gaffe, and in this case the ends can justify the means, but his incorrect call has been added to a long list of officiating nightmares.

It is high time that officiating in all professional sports is held accountable to its duty: fairness.

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Photo by Michael P. Whelan

It’s the middle of May, 30+ games into the baseball season, and teams have already begun the process of identifying needs and reevaluating their talent. Traditionally, teams make their most serious adjustments after Memorial Day, but it’s never too early for a team to make a change to their roster if it seems so obvious as to be necessary.

This makes it all the more interesting to see that three of the most decorated, dominant players of the past few decades – if not all time – are still sitting at home, unemployed. With each passing day, it seems increasingly likely that we’ve seen the last of Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Roger Clemens.

In 2007, Bonds hit 28 homeruns in 340 at bats, to go along with a league-leading .480 on base percentage, remaining a powerful offensive force in his age-42 season. Meanwhile, Clemens famously signed mid-season with the Yankees, and pitched 99 innings of 4.18 ERA ball – a far cry from his established level of performance, but more than respectable in this day and age. And Sosa shocked everyone by coming back from a one-year hiatus to hit 21 homeruns for the Rangers, including his 600^th career homer.

All three demonstrated last year that they can still put up solid to strong individual performances. And yet they all three share the ignominy of being ignored this season. Oh, and for being three of the names most associated with baseball’s steroid era – but who remembers that?

As it happens, team executives around the league remember, and for good reason. Fans, journalists and bloggers have regularly suggested that their teams pick up one of these three free agents, seeing them as an easy, guaranteed way to add performance to a team looking for one last piece. David Chalk of bugsandcranks.com has spent the past 6 months begging for his Tampa Bay Rays to sign Bonds to become a real contender, while Ken Rosenthal on foxsports.com suggested in a video story yesterday that the Tigers ought to look at signing Bonds to solve their early-season funk. The Rays and the Cardinals are known to have looked at Bonds, while a number of teams have been suggested as options for Sosa’s right-handed bat and Astros and Yankees fans have occasionally speculated about replacing their young, unproven, and nonperforming arms with Clemens.

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