Admit it, you expected this anti-Casilla rant

A night of loss. The Giants lost the game and they lost Hunter Pence. At this writing there's some mystery about the status of Pence, who left in the fourth inning of the 5-4, 11-inning loss in Atlanta with a strained hammy. There's no mystery surrounding the loss itself.

This guy is a gas can. (AP Photo)

Santiago Casilla blew yet another one. We'll get to the rundown in a moment but first, a pause for the purpose of venting.

Things we'd prefer to ever again seeing Casilla in a Giants uniform: plastic surgery to look like Steve Buscemi, waterboarding, viewing "The Angry Birds Movie", the Giants re-signing Jake Peavy, brussell sprouts, walking out of Dodger Stadium wearing a "kick me" sign", President Donald Trump.

You know it's bad when your seven-year-old, upon hearing you howl in disgust, calmly asks from another room, "Number 46 again?" The Giants have reached a point where Jose Mesa and Armando Benitez would inspire more confidence, and that's in their present conditions. 

But the tipping point for this blog came tonight. We used to get nervous when Casilla pitched. Recently just seeing his name on the roster induced arrhythmia. Now, we just want him gone.

Casilla's fourth blown save in just 16 chances was the final straw, and it's not about the performance. After all, it's pretty much a given that he's gonna suck. But Casilla's ire toward center fielder Gregor Blanco takes the taco and raises our distate for Casilla to a whole new level.

Blanco may have had a play at third on Adonis Garcia, who went first to third on a bloop single by Nick Markakis with one out in the ninth. May have. Blanco instead threw to second, keeping a double play in order with the Giants nursing a one-run lead.

Casilla had a fit, never mind that Blanco didn't hit Garcia with thepit ch to put him on base in the first place, and maybe  a little composure could have avoided the wild pitch that scored him with the tying run.

Is this guy hurt or did Casilla's pitching making him nauseous? (AP Photo)

Remember, this is the same (choke, gag) 'closer' who twice has surrendered leads in a pitchers' park on ninth-inning home runs but had the audacity to throw a hissy fit when Manager Bruce Bochy showed rare mercy on the faithful and yanked him May 15 at Arizona in the midst of another meltdown.

Sick of this, just sick sick sick. This mental midget needs to be on, or under, the next bus to Palookaville, and we don't give a flying fart in space who replaces him. Who's closing in Sacramento? In Richmond?  San Jose? Jeez, is there someone at Serra High they can borrow? Anything, and we do mean ANYTHING, is better than this. Elite closers do not blow every fourth save. Mediocre closers are expected to hold more than 75 percent of leads.

What's worse, it not only cost the Giants a win but it totally screwed Albert Suarez, who got his first Major League start (and hit, and RBI) and was in line for the win before Casilla hacked up his latest fur ball.

A two-run homer by Brandon Belt in the fourth, Joe Panik's sac fly in the fifth and Suarez's own RBI single in the top of the sixth had the Giants looking good.

Casilla, your bus is leaving. Be under it. 

Suarez went five-plus innings (4K, 2BB) giving up three runs on three hits and some buzzard's luck. Warning bells could be heard when Suarez gave up a double triple and walk to star the Atlanta sixth, but let's ponder that triple.

Jarett Parker has potential but he's no Hunter Pence. But unfortunately it was Parker, not Pence, in right field for Mallex Smith's deep drive. It would have been a heck of a catch, but Parker had the ball go off the heel of his glove, carom off the wall, then elude him again as he tried to scoop it up. It was the most memorable play in a two-run frame that cut the Giants' lead to one run. The second run scored with Suarez on the bench as George Kontos minimized the damage.

Wanna talk luck? Parker had also figured into the Braves' first run. He'd barely setting into the game when Ender Inciarte lofted a ball on which Parker and Denard Span crossed signals. Parker pulled up, Span dropped the ball after a long run, and Inciarte had a triple. He later scored the Braves' first run.

It stayed 4-3 until the ninth, when Casilla soiled the sheets....again. He did manage to avoid taking the loss, that went to Derek Law (1-1) on Freddie Freeman's walk-off shot to open the Atlanta 11th, but a competent closer never lets it get that far.

In addition to Suarez's night the outcome also spoiled yet another good night at the plate for Belt, who had three of the Giants' eight hits. Blanco contributed a two-hit night.

The silver lining was Los Angeles' 2-1 loss in Chicago, which helped the 33-22 Giants maintain their 4 1/2-game lead in the NL West.

It's not reasonable to expect the Giants to continue the pace that won 15 of 17 games, but Wednesday's embarrassment drops them to 3-3 on the road trip and leaves it up to ace Madison Bumgarner (6-2, 2.12 ERA) to avoid a series loss to, by record (16-36), the worst team in the National League. Aaron Blair (0-3, 6.67) goes for Atlanta.

Hopefully by then they'll have made a change at closer. Anyone got Gary Lavelle's number?

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UPDATE: Giants flagship radio station KNBR reports Pence is headed for the disabled list. Pence leads the Giants with seven homeers and 36 RBIs despite injuries -- most recently losing six games to the same cranky hamstring. 

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