BOX SCORE
OAKLANDBruce Bochy adjourned the committee long ago.
Santiago Casilla is the Giants' closer. He has the stuff to dominate both left-handersand right-handers. Hes more durable than Sergio Romo. Hed been 20 for 21 insave situations, and the Giants were 35-0 when leading after eight innings.
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So when Casilla alternated two singles with two strikeoutsin the ninth inning Sunday, it wouldve taken a soaring pitch count for Bochy to comeout and ask his closer for the baseball.
Bochy had Romo standing in the bullpen, warm and ready,when Derek Norris cranked the three-run home run that gave the As a walk-off,4-2 victory on Sunday, and prevented the Giants from completing their firstever three-game sweep at the Coliseum.
Game adjourned.
Casilla, he made a couple mistakes, Bochy said. He was alittle hyped up. Youre going to have a hiccup. Thats part of being a closer.
San Francisco Giants
Failure. Its the one part of the job that Casilla hasntpracticed. He was 6 for 6 in save chances last year. He entered this weekendlooking like a solid choice to make his first NL All-Star team. The Giantshadnt wasted any wistful thoughts about losing Brian Wilson for the season.
Bochy had every defense for leaving Casilla in the game toface Norris.
But maybe it wasnt the right move.
Casilla had held right-handers to a .190 average, but Romois simply the best right-handed specialist in the game.
Romo is holding right-handers to a .130 average with 26strikeouts in 54 at-bats. And he was fresher, having pitched just once over theprevious six games. (He threw 20 pitches on Saturday.)
Casilla had been used each of thetwo previous days, throwing 22 and 14 pitches while giving up a run each time.And yes, he already had been pulled from the ninth inning once in this series. (Bochy said after Sundays loss that Casilla definitely would be unavailableMonday against the Dodgers, by the way.)
Again, its hard to fault Bochyfor sticking with a closer who has been All-Star caliber all season. But giventhe circumstanceswith Romo available and ready in the ninth, and the gamereduced to retiring one right-handed hitter -- perhaps the committee shouldcall an emergency session every now and then.