The Armando Benitez game was just over nine years ago, and we didn’t miss it at all. After going ahead in extra innings on May 29, 2007, the Giants turned the ball over to their embattled closer, and he couldn’t hold the lead. The lead wriggled out of his hands and crawled up his nose, heading straight to his brain stem and chewing on it. There were balks involved.
I spent the night digging through my Peanuts books to find this and scan it in:
Benitez balked in the tying run, but he gave up a walk-off homer. So while I had that one scanned in, and this one right in front of me, there was no need to share the conclusion from the following strip.
Here is that strip:
It took nine years, but we found a need. The Giants clawed their way back into a game they shouldn’t have been in, using dingers they didn’t know they could hit, only to lose it all to a walk-off balk. Santiago Casilla is apparently the current Charlie Brown of closers. If his socks aren’t flying off, he’s balking in the winning run. He’s probably a nice guy, but we want to throw our hats and mitts at him right now. And probably tomorrow when we wake up.
There’s a difference, though: Benitez was the pitcher you think Casilla is. As in, he was the literal worst, mixing in the worst command with the dodgiest control with the sloppiest faux-closer stuff. And when he gave up that save, it was against Jose Reyes, Eric Chavez, Carlos Beltran, and Carlos Delgado. That was a nasty gauntlet to run. It was a bad, fading pitcher against a buzzsaw. What did you think was going to happen?
By contrast, Casilla has been, at least superficially, an okay pitcher this year. That is, if you sprinkle his hits and walks around properly, keeping the strikeout rate, you would expect him to give up about as many runs, but not blow quite as many saves. Again, it’s the timing. In the past, I’ve used that as a way to exonerate him. Baseball: what are ya gonna do? He nails the three-run lead without incident, but then he allows the seeing-eye singles with a one-run lead. That sort of thing.
I’m pretty convinced I had it backwards. Maybe the timing was lousy and fluky at first, but I’ll put a five down on Casilla gripping the ball too tight in a one-run game now. The blown saves built up and built up, and now he’s scared of the rosin bag. He didn’t have to face a buzzsaw. He had a non-Corey Dickerson up, and he fell behind before giving up a single. He had an eminently pitchable Derek Norris after that, and he fell behind before giving up a single. He let Norris — a catcher who might beat Jean Machi in a foot race -- steal second because he wasn’t paying attention. He got ahead of Adam Rosales 0-2, then allowed contact. And then he fell off the mound, slipping on a puddle of his own shame.
It was a Peanuts comic, but it wasn’t funny or poignant. And instead of talking about Buster Posey’s home run, we’re talking about another blown save. The Norris steal was the last straw for me, the proof that Casilla is his own worst critic, that no one screams "Here we go again!" louder than the angry little fellow in his own head. If it was poor timing at the beginning of the year, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy now. Miss with two pitches, allow a leadoff single, and here we go again. Casilla is somewhere right now, getting his kite eaten by a tree.
One of the lesser-mentioned points about the Benitez game was that it was his last in a Giants uniform. The last things he ever did as a Giant were to balk in the tying run and give up a walk-off home run. It’s not going to be that dramatic for Casilla. He’s not getting traded or released tomorrow, don’t be ridiculous. There is every indication that he can still pitch, still miss bats, still be a valuable arm for just about any bullpen in the league.
But if you had any doubts about the Giants labeling this prospect or that prospect untouchable, light them on fire. There are no untouchable prospects. The Giants are trading for a reliever, and it’s almost certainly going to be someone who can hold a one-run lead against First Name Dickerson, Derek Norris, Adam Rosales, and Alexei Ramirez.
I don’t know the mindset of Casilla, but I’m assuming he’s filled with pride and self-confidence most of the time. When the Giants make that trade, he won’t say, "Phew. Thank goodness. I’m off the hook." He’ll be upset, possibly in a newsworthy way. I wouldn’t want him to think anything different. He wants to turn the team bus around and get another save opportunity.
But we’ll say phew, thank goodness. Loudly and clearly. Even if a small part of us knows that Jeanmar Gomez will blow saves just as regularly, he won’t blow them quite as emphatically.
Long rant short: If the Giants weren’t going to pay post-apocalyptic prices for a new closer, they reconsidered after Santiago Casilla balked in the winning run. That is, the runner that was in scoring position because Casilla was too flustered to check on the winning run at first base.
What a mess. What an unambiguous problem that still has time to be fixed. Better now than in September, that’s what the kids are saying these days.
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Like Alexei Ramirez wasn’t going to hit one 400 feet. At least Casilla gave us style points!
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I wanted to talk about Mac Williamson’s home run more, but I’m not in the mood. It wasn’t the longest homer of the year, but it was the prettiest. Now go away.
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Apparently Jeff Samardzija is bad now. This is indeed a disturbing universe. The company line was that he was going to mix in the good starts with the bad, alternate starts with dominance and crapulence, and generally be okay, if a little mediocre. I was into it. A little mediocre is better than a lot lousy. But we haven’t seen the dominance in a while. The starts just keep on being dreadful, with pummeled baseball after pummeled baseball leaving orbit, and we just keep waiting for the pendulum to swing back.
It didn’t swing back last year. It never swung back.
For perspective, Jake Peavy’s FIP this year is 4.02. Samardzija’s FIP this year is 4.23. It’s possible, if not likely, that the two pitchers are indistinguishable in terms of true talent. It was fun having a big three while it lasted, but the Giants are back to a big two and three days of finger-crossing.
Maybe Mike Leake is available.
Mike Leake and Seung-hwan Oh for the entire Giants farm system and $70 million. Who says no?
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I haven't seen very many "lol that idiot just balked in the winning run" faces because this hasn't happened that often in baseball history. But I would imagine this is the best "lol that idiot just balked in the winning run" face that has ever been captured by a photographer:
Kudos, Jake Roth of USA Today Sports. Please collect your Pulitzer at the window.