Rule that Play an Error on the Scorekeeper

A day after Placido Polanco's errorless streak ended, it was given new life thanks to a change in heart by the official scorekeeper.

Polanco had gone 147 games (since July of last year) without a gaffe, but the streak was apparently over when he made a poor throw Friday in a game against the Yankees. The throw pulled first baseman Marcus Thames' foot off the bag, allowing Melky Cabrera to reach safely.

The play was ruled E-4.

Realizing that he may have affected history -- the all-time record for errorless games by an infielder is 193 by Steve Garvey -- official scorekeeper Ron Kleinfelter met with first base umpire Hunter Wendelstedt and later changed the call.

Thames took the error, and the streak remains.

I get that you don't want to tamper with a potential record; nobody wants to be the guy that unfairly ends a streak. But just because you lost a little sleep over it doesn't mean you can go back and fix it. It also doesn't mean his initial decision was wrong.

As it turns out, Polanco's isn't the only streak that's been prolonged by the benevolence of an official scorekeeper.

In 1941, with his hitting streak at 31, Joe DiMaggio hit a routine ground ball to shortstop in his last at-bat of the game. The ball took a bad hop and was misplayed by the shortstop, allowing DiMaggio to reach. The official scorekeeper, who happened to be a friend of DiMaggio, recorded the play as a hit.

The next day, the same shortstop misplayed another ball off of DiMaggio's bat, and the same scorekeeper again gave DiMaggio the nod. The streak lived on.

So if the most unassailable record in the game is covered with the fingerprints of an official scorer, I guess we shouldn't expect Polanco's pursuit of history to continue without a little "help." Tough luck, Marcus.