Always Be Closing! Always be Closing!

Santiago Casilla Reaches the Century Mark

By Tony “The Tiger” Hayes

USA Today photo: San Francisco Giants pitcher Santiago Casilla is congratulated by Giants catch Buster Posey

SAN FRANCISCO–In the film version of David Mamet’s “Glen Gary, Glen Ross”   a hopped-up on caffine Alec Baldwin voraciously bellows  to his cowering real estate underlings “Always Be Closing! Alwayyys Be Closing!!!!!”

Easy for him to say. Just ask Robb Nen, Tim Worrell, Brian Wilson, Sergio Romo and current San Francisco “closer” Santiago Casilla how easy the  “ABC” theory is.

And those are the the successful closers of the Third and King era. Better text former Giants gas can Armando Benitez on the topic.

Less  than a week after Casilla watched with horror as what looked like his 100th career save keepsake fly unabated into seagull airspace, he finally reached the century mark vs. the Padres.

Casilla  now ranks sixth on
San Francisco’s all-time savelist, 27 behind 1980s icon Greg Minton.

Nen is no. 1 with 206.

Closing takes more than good stuff, but of course having a shutdown fastball and beguiling second pitch is a must. Having a good scowl, a gigantic beard or  fastidious  gardened facial foliage (hello Dustin Hermanson) or a weird back story doesn’t hurt.

The clean-cut Casilla makes up with his sleek looks with a fantastic biographical quirk. He borrowed the identity of another person to break into pro ball at a younger age and played them first five seasons of his pro career including a handful of games with the A’s as “Jairo Garcia.”

Classic closer material.

While news of Casilla’s 100 save accomplishment was generally pushed to the back to the notes section of most game stories it shouldn’t have been treated as an after thought.

One major league save or a 100 is not easy to achieve.  While it’s true most closers only work one inning and typically come in with a clean slate, most pitching experts will tell you the last outs of a game are the toughest to get.

While Casilla  hasn’t held the closer job in a locked-jawed Nen like strangle-hold in his seven Giants seasons, when he has been given the ball in crunch time he has generally been reliable.

His fastball is still a steady 94-95 with movement and his arm has been maintained its structural health though his 15 year career.

In addition Casilla has been nails on the big stage and has not allowed a run in post-season action dating back 19 games.

Casilla  – tied with Seattle’s Steve Cishek – now ranks 16th on baseball active save list and while that may not seem particularly high, keep in kmind that of the 14 pitchers ahead of him, five are currently pitching in other roles or are disabled.

Casilla  has had his share of hiccups along the way, and shared closer duties with Romo in 2013-14, but he has not had the career altering injuries and flameouts like so many other closers.

Casilla truly blossomed after joining the Giants as a minor league free agent in 2010, so the Giants coaching staff should receive some credit for Casilla’s blossoming – but in the end it’s Santiago how’s making the pitches and turning 9th inning uncertainty into big league wins.