Ding, dong, the 2016 season is dead

Someone has to answer for this, and if Bobby Evans, Santiago Casilla and half the bullpen have jobs on Thursday then there is no justice and probably no God. It was 2009 all over again, with a shaky bullpen setting any chance of a late-season surge on fire with a 6-5 come-from-ahead loss on a cursed Wednesday night in Colorado.

You could write this one in advance. The Giants took a 5-3 lead into the ninth, handed the ball to Santiago Casilla, and watched everything go up in a puff of smoke. Three Giants relievers allowed three runs, allowing four hits and plunking a batter against a team that had managed just one hit in innings four through eight. The only thing missing was Ryan Spilborghs.

The season is dead. You can look at the standings and see the Giants with playoff potential but you know in your heart that this team has the life expectancy of a horny teenager in a "Friday the 13th" installment. They've struggled mightily for offense, then still found a way to lose on a night they clubbed 13 hits. No need to flip the channel to AMC, these are The Walking Dead. 

The Giants still haven't posted consecutive road wins since June 1 and have now dropped 19 of their last 27 tries away from AT&T Park. Of course home games haven't exactly been a walk in the, well, park, either; they're 19-28 since the break and have fallen into an abyss with no bottom.

This was the lowest of lows. This was the night you knew their goose was truly cooked. This was the night for realization: there will be no even-year magic. This isn't bad luck, it's just bad baseball. And in a business where winning is all that matters, non-performers should get fired.

Another LA win over Arizona pushed the Giants a full five games out of the NL West race; this from a team that held a 6 1/2 game edge at the All-Star Break. It is a full system meltdown and both the designers and malfunctioning parts need to go; the sooner the better. We'd be thrilled if a few got the Lane Kiffin treatment on the tarmac before the flight to Arizona. The inability to address obvious weaknesses (no closer, no big bat, etc.) despite their obvious existence can only be described as professional malfeasance.

Think about this: the Giants have lost 13 games in the standings to freaking Los Angeles since Clayton Kershaw last pitched. Perspective? It blows.

Wildcard? Wildcard you say? Yeah, the Giants currently hold the first position but both St. Louis and New York sit half a game back and they're better. Besides, would you trust this team, and specifically this pen, in a winner-take-all game? Didn't think so.

No one will remember Suarez pitched well. (AP Photo)

And it all began so well. Starter Albert Suarez was staked to a quick lead when some classic baseball plated a San Francisco run in the top of the first. Eduardo Nunez led off with a walk, swiped second, and moved 90 feet on each of two fly balls with Buster Posey logging the ribbie. It didn't survive the inning. Suarez got two quick outs but what should have been a routine grounder to second converted from out to infield single for Carlos Gonzalez with 2B Kelby Tomlinson playing him in short left. Two hits followed and the score was tied 1-1.

Rockies hurler Jorge De La Rosa got tagged in the second as the Giants leaped back in front. Gorkys Hernandez legged a roller into a double, although the extra bag was moot when Brandon Belt cleared the center field wall to retake the lead at 3-1. Gorkys played long ball, too. His solo shot over the high barrier in right  center opened the fourth. It was 4-1 Giants and Coors Field was finally acting like Coors Field. 

Want proof? Suarez served up about 800 feet of back-to-back homer courtesy David Dahl and Tom Murphy to make it 4-3 after four. The teams had already combined for 13 hits, and four had left that rather expansive yard.

The Giants retaliated with a little two-out magic in their half of the fifth. Posey singled, then took second on a wild pitch. Hunter Pence worked an 0-2 count full, then lashed a double to score San Francisco's fifth run.

Suarez got through five (3R, 6H, 2K, 1BB) with a pickoff of Reimel Tapia thrown in just because last night's thorn deserved it. Suarez gave way to a parade of relievers; the Giants are carrying 14 of them so why not? Uh, we found out why.

The Giants had a chance to extend in the eighth against the Colorado bullpen but left the bases loaded. They actually got that elusive two-out RISP hit but Hunter Pence, breaking from second, could only advance 90 feet on Kelby Tomlinson's hard single to right. Pence didn't challenge the arm of Gonzalez and he'd have been out by 15 feet, but still it stings. It stings big time.

David Dahl swings, ball goes very far. (AP Photo)

Four relievers (Steven Okert, Hunter Strickland, Sergio Romo and Javy Lopez navigated the next three frames, leaving the ninth for Casilla. We lit candles, chanted, rubbed some crystals and and searched through two dozen fortune cookies hoping to find something positive (like a Joe Nathan appearance) but alas, it was Casilla. Nolan Arrenado took him deep because, well, because it's Casilla pitching to Arrenado. The momentary saving grace was that the blast led off the inning, only cutting the lead in half.

Bochy stuck with him, probably because the summer lacked  a "Saw" sequel and we needed another source of mindless terror. Casilla got Dahl looking but Murphy's one-out single ratcheted up the anxiety level and that was it for Mr. Instant Offense. Josh Osich got the call against pinch hitter Charlie Blackmon; and drilled him. Tying run at second, game winner at first. Osich in dugout. Joe Nathan on the bump. This wasn't how we envisioned it.

Nathan saw Nick Hundley drop a fly ball single in front of the too-deep outfield, loading the bases. Christian Adames made it hurt, driving one off the wall in right. Game over. Season over. Our kids may never get back to sleep after the wall of profanity hurled at the television. Baseball  games aren't generally rated TV-MA. Of course, if we really wanted to frighten them we'd just DVR the ninth inning.

By luck of the draw Osich took the loss but make no mistake, this entire group imploded and it was Casilla (again) holding the detonator. Continually handing him the ball with a game on the line is nothing shortof baseball malpractice. Bochy is headed to the Hall of Fame but his insistence on sticking with this gas can despite overwhelming evidence of its folly is a major contributor to the collapse. He's great, but watching him work the bullpen right now is like watching Willie Mays stumble around the Mets outfield. It doesn't play anymore. Like players, managers and GMs have a shelf life. It may be time to start looking at this "sell by" dates.

The Giants got hits, including three from Pence and a pair each from Posey, Hernandez, Tomlison and Brandon Belt. It wasn't enough. Maybe one of them can pitch.

It's an off day on Thursday, much needed to allow the blood pressure to go down (ours, screw theirs). The Orange and Black begin playing out the string on Friday with Madison Bumgarner (14-8, 2,51 ERA) squaring off against Braden Shipley (3-3, 4.94 ERA). Tune in to see what creative way they find to mess this one up. 

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