Can anyone imagine themselves acting as graciously as Armando Galarraga did after umpire Jim Joyce, to quote the guilty party himself, “kicked the shit” out of the 28-year-old pitcher’s perfect game? A blown call wipes one of the rarest feats in sports off the record books — seriously, only 20 in history, even though two of them, stunningly, came in the last month — and the kid quietly gets out No. 28 and calls it a night. He even accepts a hug from Joyce after the game, goes on ESPN and says, “I mean, nobody’s perfect.” (Well, except you almost were, Armando. Almost.)

No tantrum. No bitching to the media. Nothing. You’ve got to wonder how fellow Venezuelan Ozzie Guillen reacts to that one. Me? I would have been an apoplectic mess.

Amidst the hailstorm of criticism that’s sure to follow Joyce, and all the incessant calls for instant replay to come, lets hope sports fans don’t lose sight of the fact that while the Twins have a left fielder who once did this, Armando Galarraga watched his dream go up in the flash of a mystifyingly horrible call and then reacted like someone who recognizes the beautiful game of baseball for what it is: a game.