Jays lose in 12 innings despite Tallet's performance

If you missed Monday night's Indians-Blue Jays contest, boy, you really missed out on a great game.

And unfortunately, there were only 15,295 at Rogers Centre to witness it.

First, Brian Tallet's six no-hit innings. Then, a heart-breaking rally by Cleveland to break up the no-no and put the Blue Jays behind, 3-2.

Vernon Wells' clutch, two-out, two-run single to give Tallet a shot for the win.

A couple of incredible ninth-inning rallies. The Indians were one strike away from defeat--and Tallet one strike away from the victory--but they came back with three big runs.

Down by two, the Jays also refused to go quietly. Toronto was one strike away from losing, but Jose Bautista saved the Jays with a two-run single off Kerry Wood to send the game into extra innings.

As manager Cito Gaston told the Canadian Press: "Baseball is always an interesting game because you never know how the ending is going to come out... You go from a guy pitching a no-hitter, to a one-hitter, to a tie ball game, to one out to win a game, they had one out to win the game, then you go extra innings and they end up coming out ahead."

Well said.

Just an entertaining game, to be sure.

The Tribe got three runs in the 12th to take a 9-6 lead, only to see the Blue Jays rally again. Toronto got a run to make it 9-7, and Aaron Hill--Saturday's extra-inning hero (he hit a home run and then delivered a game-winning single the next inning)--came up with two men on and two out.

Great stuff.

Of course, Hill struck out swinging to end it, but still, what an awesome game.

And how about Tallet's honest response following the game?

"Absolutely," Tallet said when asked by reporters if he knew he had the no-hitter going. "Everybody knows that. There's what, 15-16,000 people in the stands? I'm sure every single person knew I was throwing a no-hitter. You hate to lose it, you'd love to throw one, but that's not the goal. The goal is to win the ball game and we just didn't do it tonight" (Canadian Press, May 4, 2009).

Most of the time, you hear guys saying they didn't know they had a no-hitter going and didn't know what the crowd was buzzing about, and so on. (Didn't Carl Crawford of the Tampa Bay Rays say that on Sunday about not knowing he had six steals against Boston?)

So many things happened in the game--the two blown leads in the ninth innings. The two-out hits to deliver big runs. Brian Tallet.

I guess the only thing missing was someone swiping six bags.

Shame on all those who missed it.