EXTRA BAGGS: Casilla shows mettle, Scully recalls Koufax

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Programming note: Dodgers-Giants coverage starts at 12 noon today with Giants Pregame Live, then Kruk and Kuip are behind the mic at 12:30pm for Giants baseball on Comcast SportsaNet Bay Area!

SAN FRANCISCOSantiago Casilla might have recorded themost important save of his major league career Tuesday night.

Not because it was against the Dodgers. Not because it gotthe Giants within a game of first place in the NL West. Not because it helpedRyan Vogelsong become the first pitcher ever to hand Clayton Kershaw two lossesin the same season.

REWIND: Baggs' Instant Replay: Giants 2, Dodgers 0

It was important for Casilla to pitch around a one-out walkin the ninth inning because of what happened in his previous appearance, whichended with Derek Norris three-run, walk-off home run that shook the Coliseum.

That was a big blown save. It came against Casillas formerteam, and it was just his second in a total of 28 attempts while filling in forBrian Wilson this season and the latter stages of last year.

RELATED: Santiago Casilla 2012 game logs

Baseball is a game of failure. Players will experience it nomatter what position they play or when they pitch. But when a closerexperiences it, the results are both messy and spectacular.

Casilla, for the first, time, had to show his teammates andcoaches how he would respond. And with Sergio Romo warming up behind him in thebullpen, Casilla showed them something good.

Yeah, he did, Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. He reallydid. That was a tough loss (Sunday). You have to wash those off. He has to havea short memory because hell be back out there. So yeah, that probably was atest for him. Were watching to see how he reacts, and he got it done. That wasbig for him, and bigger for us, really.

You want to see how itll affect him and really, I didntthink it would. This is a tough guy and he got another outing and he got itdone.

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Bochy continues to take out Pablo Sandoval for a late-inningdefensive replacement, yet Sandoval continues to look better and more mobile atthird base.

When hes challenged by conditioning issues, the toughestplay for him to make is when hes got to come in on a ball. But he reacted withlightning speed on Kershaws sacrifice bunt, and showed both agility andconfidence by making an off-balance throw to second base to cut down the leadrunner in the fifth inning.

Sandoval also got his hit right-handed against Kershaw thatscored Angel Pagan (who ran through Tim Flannerys stop sign).

Sandoval is batting .378 from the right side, and has lookedgood even though the hand he fractured on May 1 is his left one, which bothershim more when he bats right-handed.

Sandoval agreed that its a little strange hes gettingbetter results right-handed, since he was limited to the left side during hisabbreviated minor league rehab assignment.

Its the opposite, but I feel great, he said. My shoulderdoesnt bother me. I got the Lasik (surgery in the offseason). So Im feelinggreat right-handed.

As I wrote yesterday, nobody can carry the Giants offensethe way Sandoval can. And clearly, hes motivated. If he can do damage fromboth sides, that portends very good things, indeed.

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Hard to believe the Giants were able to get eight hits offKershaw the way he was looking most of the night. He threw curveballs toVogelsong that were so nasty, they should be disallowed. At least Vogelsongdidnt try to duck out of the way of a called strike, the way Gregor Blancodid.

Oh, I buckled a little bit, Vogelsong said, sheepishly. Thatwas pretty nasty.

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Not only is Vogelsong the first pitcher to beat Kershaw twice in a season, but he's just the third pitcher to hand Kershaw two losses IN HIS CAREER. The others are John Lannan and Cole Hamels.

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As mentioned elsewhere in tonights coverage, the Giantsregistered their first consecutive home shutouts over the Dodgers since 1987,when Dave Dravecky tossed a CG to beat Fernando Valenzuela and Mike LaCossthrew a 10-inning complete game the following day.

As it turned out, both Dravecky and Fernando were in theballpark Tuesday night.

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Highlight of the day for me was wedging myself into aconversation in the hallway with Jon Miller and Vin Scully. The only way MattCains perfect game couldve been any better is if it came against theDodgers, and Scully got to call it.

Scully, dont forget, called the only other 14-strikeoutperfect game in history. He remembered well the details from Sandy Koufaxsmagical day in 1965.

He is famous for recording the date and time as part of aninth-inning description that reads like a lyric poem when put on paper. Scully blushedas he noted that he always included the date when he was calling the ninthinning of a no-hitter, for the benefit of the pitcher when hed listen to therecording later in life. It was a courtesy, no more. Part of recording it for history and posterity, hesaid. For some reason, he decided to add the time in the ninth inning of Koufaxsgame.

I dont know why, he said. Theres no time in baseball. Time doesnt matter.

Years later, people still tell him what a beautifully eloquent detailthat was. And he simply smiles, accepts the compliment, and then shrugs,recalling it as a total afterthought. Such humility from such greatness. How does he ever manage it?

If baseball is a treasure to us all, Vin Scully is the hopechest.

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