Wednesday, August 31, 2011

The Extraordinary Circumstances of Brian Tallet

The sight of Brian Tallet last night was more than a little surreal. It was a bit like running into an ex, where you're left just a bit slack-jawed, thinking "oh, heeeeyyy...it's...you."

We'd never figured we'd see him much of Tallet again. Certainly not in a Jays uniform. Even after the trade that brought him back to the fold, we thought it was a long shot that he'd get back into the playing shape. We figured he'd head off into the sunset, and work on whatever side projects he and his fellow members of Broken Social Scene have planned for the Winter.

(That's him, second from the left...right?)

But there he was, his lanky frame once again draped in the familiar number 56 uniform, taking the ball in a most unfamiliar situation - looking for his first career save in six tries. We likely don't need to enlighten you as to what ensued, but in case you're reading this twelve years from now in some internet archive, Tallet basically threw the ball anywhere but in the strike zone, giving up two walks, two hits and two runs while getting just one out.

It would be easy to bury Tallet - and people on Twitter and elsewhere were calling for him to be DFAed before his cleats even left the playing surface - but we'd be somewhat charitable towards him given the extraordinary circumstances. Tallet hadn't pitched a big league game in almost two months after dealing with serious kidney issues, but Jays interim manager Don Wakamatsu had few other options than to run him out after having his pen run ragged in the series against the Rays.

When Casey Janssen couldn't go back out after a clean ninth, Wakamatsu basically had a choice between lefty Rommie Lewis and Tallet to go out and face a lineup full of right-handed bats heading into extra innings. Given that it was Tallet's first game back, holding Lewis for any subsequent extra innings was probably the right choice, unpalatable though it may have seemed.

We're not saying that Tallet's is an arm that we want to many more times this season. But we'll cut him some slack before calling for his immediate release. It wasn't the ideal situation for anyone involved.

UPDATE, 3:52 PM: And now, he's gone again. If we hadn't watched last night's game, we'd barely believe that he was here at all. We probably would have told you that you were mistaken, and it was just someone who looked like him.

We feel terrible for Tallet.

11 comments:

Tony said...

Wow. Tallet's ERA may be 9.45, but his xFIP? Is 5.66. Dude's been unlucky as hell this year, it seems (.360 BABIP!).

Anonymous said...

Not as unlucky as BJ fans

Chill said...

My wife said it best when she saw Tallet on the mound..."What the fuck...?"

Hopefully 2Frank and Listch are good to go tonight.

KissMyPurpleButt said...

Only one more day and then rosters expand....

Voodoo_matt said...

I've thought about it at length, and have come up with the reason Tallet was used in a one-run game in extra innings: The Jays are going to sign a type A free agent next year and want to protect their first round draft pick.

Voodoo_matt said...

And one other thing: The most inexplicable part of the whole game came in the top of the ninth when players in both uniforms were running all over the field, every which way, and there's Kevin Gregg standing slack-jawed on the mound taking in all in. I do not miss that guy, and felt sorry for the Orioles for a brief moment.

Anonymous said...

"You don’t save pitchers for tomorrow. Tomorrow it may rain."

Peter DeMarco said...

I'm still in shock at the decision to use Tallet. Also, why can Janssen be used in back to back games but Litsch and Francisco couldn't? I think I may have preferred Jose Molina pitching in that situation.

Finally, I actually have no problem with Tallet and think he has his use as a left-handed specialist. But to face nothing buy right handed hitters after not pitching for 2 months?

voodoo_matt said...

DFF'nA, that's got to hurt. I wish I could say we had some good times this second time around Brian, but we both know that isn't true. So I guess I can say:

Best of luck Brian Tallet

Anonymous said...

last night I was praying that Tallet sneezed himself out of the game!

Mark said...

McCoy to pitcher, Wise to CF, Molina to C. Having seen McCoy pitch that game against Boston, I think he would have had a better chance against the O's.

I say that as a joke, but the scary thing is I think the Jays might have been better off doing that.