Santiago Casilla blew his fifth save of the year on Saturday night in San Diego.
Should he still be the Giants' closer moving forward?
"Well, yeah," Mike Krukow answered on KNBR 680 on Monday morning. "I mean, who else are you gonna use?"
Sergio Romo?
[PAVLOVIC: Rewind: Casilla's balk-off gives Giants 18th blown save]
"Maybe. Not quite yet," Krukow said. "I don't think he's 100 percent. I think he's sneaking up on it. I think they're still gonna handle him with kid gloves given the elbow history he's had this year.
"I do think he's capable of it. But when you're gonna be the closer, there's gonna be some times you're gonna be asked to go out there four times a week and throw an inning. Right now, if Romo goes out there for four appearances a week, he may get 1 2/3 innings out of it.
"So it's a little bit different workload on your arm, and I think they're moving in a very slow way in that regard because of how important he is to that bullpen."
On the season, Casilla is 1-3 with a 3.38 ERA.
Prior to Saturday's hiccup, Casilla did not allow a run over his prior four appearances.
And before he allowed three runs against the A's on June 28, Casilla had a 0.00 ERA over his prior six appearances.
"I think physically, it really is the job of Casilla," Krukow explained. "And if he has a few bumps in the road, I mean that kind of goes with the territory ... there's no other position on the team that has expectation more than the closer. And when he fails, you lose. That's the dramatic part of that position.
"But I don't think there's anybody really, right now, better on that club than Casilla to take and assume the responsibilities of being the closer."
Is Krukow concerned about Casilla's state of mind?
"I don't worry about him mentally. I think he's always in a pretty good place when he goes out there," Krukow said. "And he's a veteran -- he's been through the emotions of failures and success ... he's no baby. I don't ever worry about him taking a good brain out there...
"I think he's bullet-proof mentally. The best part about Casilla is that he's so stubborn. And I think you have to have that if you're gonna be a good closer."
