I'm your waiter, Santiago. I reccommend the meatballs

It was a game that would have been perfectly normal for April or May: a quality start, clutch hitting, then a white-knuckle effort from the bullpen that ended with Santiago Casilla spoiling the sheets.

The Giants did everything except close the deal on Sunday, racing out to a 7-1 lead over Baltimore only to see their beleaguered closer surrender yet another ninth-inning homer as the Orioles rallied for an 8-7 win.

Yeah, this.

Jonathan Schoop’s three-run shot came with San Francisco needing just one strike, one god-forsaken strike, to win back-to-back-series for the first time since the discovery of fire. Instead another chance to widen ground on the Dodgers (who got thumped by Pittsburgh on Sunday) got frittered away like so many others this frustrating season. The lead remains just one game despite LA’s desperate attempts to give the G-Men some cushion.

Baltimore came into the series leading the majors in home runs while the Giants were the unquestioned king of blown saves. That volatile mixture was almost, almost, kept at bay throughout the weekend – and then the bullpen got involved.

The vaunted one-two punch of Madison Bumgarner and Johnny Cueto carried the Giants though the first half but hadn’t scored back-to-back wins since the first of July. MadBum pitched seven strong on Saturday and Cueto, despite faltering a bit in the seventh, had the Giants poised for victory on Sunday. Then, it happened. Hunter Strickland and Casilla both served up meatballs like it was an audition for the wait staff at Buca di Beppo.

In Casilla’s case, we think he should take the job. Casilla’s six blown saves is tied for the most in the NL. The stats say he‘s not that bad (which isn’t exactly what you want on a resume) and he had converted 15 of his last 16 chances. But those games had been punctuated by moments of terror, and it was inevitable that he was eventually gonna make us scream.

The loss was emblematic of the Giants in recent years and particularly over the past month. Sometimes they hit, sometimes they get good starting pitching, sometimes they play solid if not spectacular defense, and sometimes the bullpen holds up. They rarely do all at once. When they do, they’re nearly unbeatable. When they don’t they’re basically unwatchable.

The last few innings on Sunday were worthy of a blindfold.

For six innings it seemed the crowd at AT&T Park was poised for a celebration. The Giants enjoyed plenty of those elusive two-out hits, including a couple of them from Cueto himself en route to six-plus runs for the second day in succession.

He wasn’t alone. Hunter Pence’s solo homer off Wade Miley in the fourth inning was his first since mid-May and broke a 4-for-44 that included 21 Ks. Even the bench got into the act with backup catcher Trevor Brown contributing a pair of two-out RBIs while spelling Buster Posey’s stiff back.

Meanwhile Cueto gave up three runs in 6 2/3 innings (8H, 4K, 1BB) and exited with a four-run lead. The beer was cold and the party was set to begin. The Giants were going to win a second straight series and the slump would be broken. Oh, man.

Cueto gave up two in the seventh but Strickland struck out Manny Machado to end the threat. The breather proved temporary when Strickland served up Mark Trumbo’s AL-leading 34th home run in the eighth, one of three hits he’d surrender while getting just one out in the frame. Derek Law allowed an inherited runner to score when his streak of 19 straight batters retired ended on J.J. Hardy’s single but the Giants escaped the inning holding a 7-5 lead and needing Casilla to get just three outs.

Cueto's quality start got a lousy follow-up. (AP Photo)

Number one was loud, with Brandon Crawford climbing the ladder to snag a line drive. Machado followed with a single that Angel Pagan tried to play with a boxing glove, letting Machado take second. Casilla struck out Chris Davis but walked Trumbo, who represented the tying run.  The winning run stood as the plate in the form of Johnathan Schoop, who was down to his last strike when his towering shot to left slew the Giants.

Some breakables in our house didn’t survive.

In our humble opinion, the game highlighted to fundamental flaws in the Giants construction. The bullpen is obvious, and the Giants didn’t really address it at the trade deadline either. Casilla is still the closer and the addition who was supposed to make a difference, Will Smith, hasn’t performed and was sitting in the dugout as the roof caved in.

But the lack of power is killing the Giants. Baltimore entered the series with the most home runs in the major leagues (172) while the Giants ranked second to last (95). Schoop, who bats sixth for the O’s, has more homered (17) than anyone on the Giants roster. The argument is that the Giants don’t play in a park that lends itself to the long ball, but the opposition certainly doesn’t seem to have trouble finding the seats. Either the ballpark effect is overrated, or the Giants pitchers are.  We think it's both. You decide.

The Giants got the winning run on base in the ninth against Orioles closer Zach Britton when Brown singled and pinch-hitting Posey drew an intentional walk with two outs and first base open, but Denard Span’s force out silenced the crowd. It was appropriate, a closer who loses a game a year and a closer who seems to blow one a week both did exactly that.

Now fans and players alike get to ponder (a) why the obvious weakness at closer remains unaddressed, and (b) how the hell a team can get 14 hits and four walks but still lose. Brown had three hits in the contest while Pence, Pagan and Cueto each had a pair. Span, the free-agent lead-off man now hitting a robust .259, was the only member of the starting nine not to hit safely.

San Francisco tries to rebound Monday against Pittsburgh and old friend Ryan Vogelsong (1-2, 2.67 ERA), who makes his return to AT&T Park. Matt Moore (7-8, 3.99 ERA), who has given the Giants two solid starts with nothing to show for it since coming over from Tampa Bay, gets the chance to right the ship.

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