1. In today’s Post I wrote this column defending Bud Selig’s unpopular decision not to reward a perfect game to Armando Galarraga after Jim Joyce’s imperfect call on what should have been the 27th out.

As I continue to state in the column, I think Galarraga’s effort will be remembered along with Don Larsen’s flawless World Series game as the most famous “perfect” games ever. So Galarraga is not going to get lost to history in, say, the way Tom Browning has been. And Galarraga’s “perfect” game will be the one that has the greatest impact. Because Bud Selig has gone from a zealot against instant replay to re-opening the discussion on its further use. And Selig is cautious and always focusing on his legacy, so he would not be looking to consider expanded instant replay beyond home run calls if he were not going to A) champion it and b) knew he could gather the coalition to pass it.

The word around the commissioner has always been “limited” when it comes to instant replay. He has been particularly fearful of doing greater damage to the pace of the game. But the home run replay system has not caused widespread delays and so I think what you will see is Selig add one or two new areas for replay review such as fair or foul on balls down the lines (like the call Phil Cuzzi blew last year in Game 2 of the Twins-Yankee ALDS) and safe or out on force plays at the bases. In other words, non-tag plays. So that would be mainly bang-bang plays at first (like the one Joyce missed), but also pivot plays at second (like the one CB Bucknor missed by calling Robinson Cano off the bag, when he wasn’t, on Memorial Day).

I have some further thoughts on this, and I will be examining them in my column in Sunday’s Post.

2. I also wrote this column on Robinson Cano’s growth as a hitter. There has been a lot of hand-wringing if the Yanks have successfully replaced Johnny Damon as the No. 2 hitter, but none if they have successfully replaced Hideki Matsui as the No. 5 hitter. That is because Cano has been one of the best hitters in the majors for the first third of this season.

And this is more than about replacing an older player who no longer is here in Matsui. There has been a worry about how the Yankees’ core players are getting older; Jorge Posada has been reduced to more DH than catcher in his late 30s, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter remain brilliant producers, but they are in their mid-30s. The clock is ticking. Curtis Granderson and Nick Swisher are nice players still in their 20s, but they are more complementary pieces.

So for the Yanks to transition successfully away from their long-time stars, the onus is likely to fall on Mark Teixeira (who turned 30 in April), Cano (who is 27) and probably top prospect Jesus Montero (who is still just 20). Of course, the Yanks have the dollars to go out and pursue offense. But the best players likely to become available in the foreseeable future are first basemen such as Prince Fielder and Adrian Gonzalez, and the Yanks already have Teixeira; and the elite of the upcoming free-agent class are Carl Crawford and Jayson Werth, and both of them are also more complementary players.

So that Cano has broken out while Teixeira has mostly struggled in the majors this year and Montero at Triple-A has been not only a total blessing for the 2010 Yankees, but for the future, as well.

3. The gun readings on the board said “94” and “95,” and when I checked with someone with the Yankees they told me that Mariano Rivera’s last pitch of the game, which never went up on the board, was 96 mph on their gun.

That seemed impossible to me since Rivera had been pitching at mainly 89-91 since the beginning of last season, and has not seemed to have that good late life on his pitches recently. Even yesterday, to the naked eye, it did not look as if he was throwing as hard as was being registered on the scoreboard. So I checked the pitching fx results this morning (in other words, something not touched by the Yankees), and according to that Rivera threw eight four-seam fastballs that averaged 93.13 mph and topped out at 95.1, and he threw 18 of his patented cutters that averaged 92.48 and topped out at 94.6.

In the final at-bat to Adam Jones, which ended with a swinging strikeout, Rivera threw one pitch at 93 mph, two at 94 and two at 95, including his 26th and final pitch.

As one Yankee official said, “He is now well past his shoulder surgery (after the 2008 season).”

But even if the speeds were accurate, I do not think this was strictly a good day for Rivera. Because his pinpoint control was not there (he both walked and hit an Oriole batter to give life to a Baltimore team that was playing dead). And also because he was relying so much on his four-seam pitch because it seemed that his cutter did not have its familiar late break and precision. Just eight of his 18 cutters were strikes.

Now Rivera did get the save, his 12th of the season and 538th of his career, but now I am curious to see his next few outings because 1) Is he able to retain this velocity? 2) Is he able to regain his brilliant control and movement?

At 40, Rivera remains a marvel. I can’t believe he is throwing this hard again. But velocity has always been down the pecking order in assets for Rivera. He succeeded brilliantly last year at 89-91 mph because of the late movement and the precision. Rivera was faster yesterday, but not better.