For former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, Armando Galarraga's lost perfect game is just as heartbreaking — if not more – to umpire Jim Joyce as anyone else.
Writing for ESPN.com, Schilling said that Joyce will get a lot of unnecessary heat.
"Jim Joyce does not — and will not — deserve 99 percent of the stupid things people will say about him in the coming days," Schilling wrote. "Jim Joyce is, and always has been, an exceptional umpire and a fantastic guy. I had my run-ins with him; not often, but we did."
For Schilling, the fact that Joyce came right out and admitted he had missed the call, was a quality that the former pitcher thinks is missing in a lot of umpires today.
"He's a damn good umpire, incredibly consistent, which wins him votes with hitters and pitchers, but most of all, [he is] accountable," he said. "Too many umpires fail to realize the quickest way to shut a player up is to admit when you are wrong. What can I do when an umpire says 'Yep, missed it'?"
He went on to say that umpires have been making the news for all the wrong reasons this season.
"Too many are trying to be the game, instead of umpire the game," he said.
Though not the case for Joyce, Schilling acknowledged that his call will forever live in infamy.
"Trust me when I tell you no one feels worse than he does right now, not even Armando Galarraga, I give you my word on that," he said.
The question is: will he feel that for the rest of his career?
