On Saturday, Giants closer Santiago blew his ninth game of the season. Now he’s no longer the Giants closer. That according to Bruce Bochy who said before yesterday’s loss to the Cardinals that Hunter Strickland and Derek Law will be getting closing chances going forward:
It didn’t come up in yesterday’s loss to the Cardinals -- the Giants never led -- but they begin a crucial series against the Dodgers today, and it’s clear that Bochy no longer has confidence in Casilla, who is tied for the major league lead in blown saves this year.
If history is any guide, this may not go over very well with Casilla. Back in May he fumed when Bochy took him out of a ninth inning jam, saying, “the reason I got upset was because he took me out of the game where I thought he had confidence in me. I think I could pitch to the lefty, but I guess it shows the manager didn’t have faith in me.”
Welp, faith is a complicated concept, but at least in baseball, faith is more like trust and trust is earned. Casilla has done nothing to make Bochy trust him recently, so this was pretty inevitable.
