Great Call Saves Indians From Perfect Game

DETROIT--The Cleveland Indians were one out away from being the victims of a perfect game thrown by Detroit’s Armando Galarraga when umpire Jim Joyce came to the rescue, calling runner Jason Donald safe even though he appeared to be out. It was a great call that will endear him to the city of Cleveland forever.

“That was a great call by Joyce,” said Donald. “And it came at the perfect time, too. We were this close to being no-hit, which would have been an

embarrassment considering how bad this season is already going for us. But then Jim, our fairy godmother, stepped in and bailed us out. He'll go down in history for that call. He should be very proud.”

Cleveland manager Manny Acta described the tension in the clubhouse as a perfect game seemed inevitable.

“It was bad,” Acta said. “Nobody wanted to think that this kid was going to throw a perfect game against us. When Jason hit that grounder to Cabrera, I thought ‘Here we go. How am I going to explain this one in the press conference?’ Then he called him safe. The dugout exploded. We started celebrating, although we didn’t really know how to do it. There were a lot of awkward high-fives going on. Many of them missed completely.”

Some Indians players are hoping the awesome call will signal a change in fortunes for the beleaguered franchise, which has been stuck in the cellar for the past few years.

“Maybe this piece of good fortune will turn things around for us,” said outfielder Austin Kearns. “Maybe we’ll go on a 15-game winning streak and race to the top of the division and Jim Joyce will be remembered as the guy who started it all. It's possible. That’s why I told him after the game, ‘Jim, you just made history. That one call is going to change your life forever. Congratulations!’ He was all modest about it. He was like, ‘I want to jump off a building.’”

When word came that commissioner Bud Selig was considering reversing the call, Indians players were infuriated. Fortunately, he decided against it and the “greatest call ever” will stand.

“I couldn’t believe they were going to try and change that,” said first baseman Russell Branyan. “That was, like, one of the great calls ever in the history of the game. I understand that some people were upset about losing the perfect game, but those people can basically eat shit. When we look back on our 2010 season, we'll look back with pride knowing that we should have gotten no-hit but were saved by an umpire’s call. It's the first thing we've done right all year.”