My default setting is a cynicism so calcified that if you tried to cut it with a diamond-edged saw the saw would stick and you need to send down a pair of giant shears to retrieve it. But I have to say, watching the denouement of the Armando Galarraga/Jim Joyce episode (umpire Joyce's botched call robbed Galarraga of a perfect game) yesterday, seeing Joyce fail to choke back his tears, thinking about the remarkably classy way the characters in this drama have handled this situation… for a brief second I was able to remember a time when I wasn't suspicious of everyone and their motives. Thank God [...]

"I told him, 'Nobody's perfect.' What am I going to say?" -Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga discusses his conversation with umpire Jim Joyce, whose botched call on the final out of last night's game against the Cleveland Indians robbed Galarraga of what would have been the 21st perfect game in baseball history. Joyce apologized profusely, Galarraga and his teammates and manager reacted with a remarkable degree of equanimity; apart from the fact that there was a terrible call that deprived a man of the greatest achievement any pitcher can hope to attain, everyone involved reacted rather well. You can almost see the bright side of it for Galarraga: [...]