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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–In the voluminous history of Major League Baseball, you don’t wander upon the story of Sergio Romo, Santiago Casilla, Jeremy Affeldt, and Javier Lopez first.

Or second. Or third.

But fourth? Ok, you’re warming up. The Core Four relievers that were readily available to manager Bruce Bochy in the 2014 playoffs and leading to a third World Series title in five years that season have history… together. Real history.

How much history, and how profound is that history?

This from President and CEO of the Giants, Larry Baer, during Saturday’s pre-game ceremony that honored the Core Four:

In the 2010, 2012, and 2014 postseasons, Romo, Casilla, Affeldt, and Lopez combined to allow nine runs in 79 innings pitched for a collective ERA of 1.10.

“We were a band of misfits, and I was just doing my part,” Lopez recalled during the ceremony.

“We’re getting old,” Affeldt said. “But in my mind, we’re always going to be putting on the orange and black.”

For 30 minutes, with Ryan Vogelsong narrating, and Buster Posey providing critical testimony, a ceremony as unlikely as those it honored was all the rage. Why? Because Romo, Affeldt and Lopez are exceptional talkers, all part of NBC Sports Bay Area this season in one capacity or another.

“He came in silky smooth like the night train,” Romo said of Lopez.

Affeldt was asked how he was somehow ready and confident when Bochy summoned him in Game 7 against the Royals… in the second inning with starter Tim Hudson running on empty before his baseball water could even develop a boil.

“‘Tim Hudson is old. He’s going to run out of steam.'” Affeldt said in recalling what Bochy told him prior to that decisive game. Bochy’s words worked; Affeldt recorded seven outs while allowing one hit and one hit batter, and was immediately locked in the second inning. In a decision left to that night’s official scorer, Affeldt was awarded the win in the biggest game of his career. Some dude named Madison Bumgarner would follow Affeldt with a pretty good, five inning stint as well, but Affeldt’s run was the one that caught the attention of the history books.

Posey, armed with numbers he said he culled just minutes before taking the podium, provided the timeline for the Core Four.

Romo arrived first in 2008 and had the longest tenure. His 722 innings pitched for the Giants, included a win in each of the three magical postseasons and microscopic ERA’s in 2012 and 2014. On Saturday, he was in full character, wearing his leather jacket and one of his many t-shirts adorned with his signature phrase, “I just look illegal.”

Casilla, the only one of the four with a profile as a closer, pitched 645 innings for the Giants. He was well-known for his stop-and-go pitch delivery and his meticulous nature on the mound. Posey recalled the occasion on which Casilla shook his catcher seven times before settling for the pitch Posey offered first in the sequence.

Affeldt was the lefty specialist summoned by Boch to get one lefty hitter on numerous occasions. Posey recalled that Affeldt was particularly locked in during an appearance in which his first pitch hit the dirt and then bounced off Posey’s throat.

“He inevitably gets out of the inning, but I had a ruptured Adams Apple,” Posey said, not wanting to be entranced like Affeldt.

Lopez had 451 regular season appearances in his seven seasons with the Giants after he was acquired via trade with the Pirates in 2010. He racked up 533 innings pitched, many of those with Posey catching. Posey said Lopez was always easy and smart with his intellect and wit, a product of his education at the University of Virginia, where he gained a degree in psychology.

“We all competed with each other, we battled with each other, and we also picked each other up. And I think those are the moments that made us great teammates,” Lopez said.

THE TWINS TURN TO VAZQUEZ AND LEE IN AN EMERGENCY INFIELD MAKEOVER

Manager Rocco Baldelli is always pushing. And his team, the Twins, doesn’t mind being pushed.

They finished the first half with a grueling stretch, 16 road contests in a 22-game span. The last two stops–at the White Sox, with four games in three days, then at the Giants for three, after an off-day, but a three-hour plus flight away.

Accordingly, the scheduling gods granted the Twins the longest All-Star break imaginable with five full days off, and a Saturday night resumption to play at home in Minneapolis.

And Baldelli blurted, “We don’t want five days off.”

And Baldelli didn’t want his makeshift infield with catcher Christian Vazquez playing third base for the first time ever, and Brooks Lee in his 10th Major League game at second base, feeling like they were anything less than comfortable.

The manager raved about both saying Vazquez was “not lacking in self-belief to play this game,” and that Brooks was “mesmerzing.” Baldelli didn’t stop there, pointing out that both guys played all nine innings defensively, and Vazquez fielded a bunt.

GM Thad Levine and crew are unlikely to leave the Twins without some options for Sunday’s first half finale, so Vazquez doesn’t have to create magic in back-to-back games. Baldelli hinted at a move, and that turned out to be 26-year old Diego Castillo, who went nine innings in the 3-2 Twins series-defining loss. Castillo played in 96 games for the Pirates in 2022, but only one game for the Diamondbacks in 2023.

Carlos Santana really made Minnesota’s lineup work on Saturday. The 33-year old veteran slugger hit his 314th home run, and completed a nice, tidy set of home runs in all 30 current ballparks. But he wasn’t excited; he’s been doing this stuff for way too long.

“Up and down,” he said. “It’s a long season.”

Carlos Correia–Giants’ fans hyper-focused on high-profile free agent acquisitions remember him–couldn’t go due to a heel contusion. Correia could have signed with the Giants, seemed like he was going to sign, but instead stayed with the Twins, who crafted a massive deal.

Correia wasn’t quite worth the money last season. He hit 18 home runs in 135 games, but struck out 131 times and hit just .230. This season he has been worth the money with a .308 batting average, 13 home runs and just 53 strikeouts in 75 of the Twins 95 games.

NOTES

On April 15, the Giants were 7-10. On May 1, they were 14-17. On May 21, they 23-26, and on June 15, they were 34-37.

And now, with the first half concluded, the Giants are 47-50, and they need a break, and so does everyone else watching this. This team is 40-40 in its last 80 games, and 22-21 in day games after they won on Sunday afternoon.

It’s a lot, and it’s not a lot at all. But the Giants have to figure out what it’s going to be in a really short period of time after the All-Star break. They open with a trip to Colorado for three, to the Los Angeles Dodgers for four, followed by four home games against the Rockies.