“We’ve got to absorb these,” Bochy told reporters after Monday night’s excruciating 2-1 loss at Dodger Stadium. “I will say, we’ve absorbed a few.”

“A few” is letting his bullpen off easy. No team has a worse second-half record than the Giants, who entered the all-star break with a 6-1/2-game lead over the Dodgers in the National League West but lost their first six back from the break, the foundation of a 22-38 record since. They led the division as recently as Aug. 20, yet they now sit a season-high six games back of Los Angeles and are tied with St. Louis for the second wild-card spot, a game behind the Mets.

Rick Porcello and David Ortiz of the Red Sox? Jon Lester and Kris Bryant of the Cubs? Francisco Lindor and Corey Kluber of the Indians? All are having an enormous impact on division races both decided and not. But perhaps no group is shaping a race more than the Giants bullpen. Here, then, is a blow-by-blow of who is responsible and how this has happened.

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The lead characters

Santiago Casilla

September stats: 7 appearances, 8.44 ERA, .316 average and 1.119 OPS against

The 36-year-old right-hander was the closer on the 2014 World Series champion, and he had a rather normal first half of the season – 21 saves in 25 opportunities, a 2.86 ERA and a .240 average against. But in his first outing after the all-star break, he entered in the bottom of the 10th inning protecting a 6-5 lead in San Diego on July 16, allowed three singles to tie the score, then balked home the winning run. In a way, he hasn’t recovered. He leads all of baseball in blown saves with nine, and no longer has a job as the closer.

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Sergio Romo

September stats: 8 appearances, 4.91 ERA, .353 average and .977 OPS against

The 33-year-old right-hander was the closer on the 2012 World Series champion, but he has been reduced to something of an eighth-inning matchup guy after missing May and June with a flexor strain. In September, only one of his outings has lasted as much as an inning. He is relying almost solely on his slider, always his go-to pitch but one that has dropped in velocity from 78.6 mph in 2014 to 75.8 mph this year, according to Pitchf/x. Normally a candidate to replace a struggling closer, Bochy hasn’t moved Romo into that role.

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Hunter Strickland

September stats: 7 appearances, 11.57 ERA, .364 average against, recorded 14 outs and allowed 12 men to reach base

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The 27-year-old right-hander began the year as a candidate to be a lockdown setup man for Casilla, and he has had stretches of brilliance. In 17 appearances leading into September, he had held the opposition scoreless 16 times and allowed hitters just a .169 average. But two implosions this month – one against the Cubs, one against the Padres — have been pivotal for San Francisco.

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Sept. 1 at Chicago

The situation: 4-3 lead in the bottom of the seventh

Bochy handed the ball to Strickland to open the seventh, but he allowed two singles and a walk to load the bases without recording an out. Will Smith, the lefty the Giants acquired from Milwaukee at the trade deadline for just such situations, did his job, getting a pair of outs. But here came right-hander Cody Gearin to face Addison Russell, who laced a two-out, two-run single to put the Cubs ahead.

Result and standings: 5-4 loss, trailing in NL West by 2 games; lead for first wild-card spot by 1-1/2 games

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Sept. 4 at Chicago

The situation: 2-1 lead in the bottom of the ninth

Casilla entered to close it out, but Russell opened the inning with a double. Ahead of Jason Heyward 0-1, Casilla then uncorked a wild pitch that moved Russell to third, and Russell scored easily on Heyward’s single. Casilla managed to get out of the inning despite Dexter Fowler’s deep fly ball to end it, but Heyward singled home Anthony Rizzo in the 12th off Matt Reynolds.

Result and standings: 3-2 loss, trailing in NL West by 3 games; lead for first wild-card spot by 1-1/2 games

Sept. 7 at Colorado

The situation: 5-3 lead in the bottom of the ninth

The game in which this situation became a full-blown crisis. Casilla allowed a leadoff homer to Nolan Arenado, and after a strikeout, allowed a single to catcher Tom Murphy. Here Bochy decided to play matchups rather than sticking with his closer, going with lefty Josh Osich to face dangerous left-handed pinch hitter Charlie Blackmon. Osich, though, hit Blackmon with a pitch, and Bochy then turned to 41-year-old Joe Nathan, who had been released by the Cubs and signed by the Giants in August. In Nathan’s second appearance with San Francisco, he couldn’t get an out, allowing a single to load the bases before a pinch hitter named Cristhian Adames roped a game-winning, two-run double.

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Result and standings: 6-5 loss, trailing in NL West by 5 games; lead for first wild-card spot by 1/2 game

Sept. 9 at Arizona

The situation: 6-5 lead in the bottom of the 10th

The seeds of unrest can even be sown in victories. In the seventh, George Kontos couldn’t hold a 5-4 lead, but Casilla got yet another chance after a wild pitch put the Giants ahead in extra innings. His response: issuing a one-out home run to Jake Lamb before stranding the would-be winning run at third base. The Giants took the lead in the 12th and Gearin then walked a tightrope, putting two on with one out before striking out Wellington Castillo and getting Yasmany Tomas to ground out.

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Result and standings: 7-6 victory, trailing in NL West by 4 games; lead for first wild-card spot by 1/2 game

Sept. 13 vs. San Diego

The situation: 4-1 lead in the top of the ninth

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A candidate for worst loss of the season by any team in any situation. Strickland got the ball to start the ninth in what was nominally a save situation. His outing: single, strikeout, single, single to load the bases, bases-loaded walk to Wil Myers, run-scoring groundout to make it 4-3, leaving runners on second and third. Bochy then went with 25-year-old lefty Steven Okert to try to end it by retiring Padres second baseman Ryan Schimpf. The problem: Schimpf drilled Okert’s fourth pitch for an absolutely jaw-dropping three-run homer, setting up an inexcusable three-game sweep at home against the Padres.

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Result and standings: 6-4 loss, trailing in NL West by 4 games; lead for first wild-card spot by 1/2 game

Sept. 17 vs. St. Louis

The situation: 2-1 lead in the top of the ninth

Bochy mixed and matched to nurse a lead provided by starter Jeff Samardzija, using Smith, veteran lefty Javier Lopez and Derek Law to record the four outs that carried the advantage to the ninth. There, he began with Romo, who allowed a one-out single to Jedd Gyorko. Here, Bochy turned to Casilla, who had pitched a clean inning in a blowout win over the Cardinals a day earlier. After pinch runner Tommy Pham stole second, Casilla missed with a 3-2 pitch to walk Yadier Molina, then coughed up Randall Grichuk’s groundball single that tied the game. Grasping at solutions now, Bochy turned to Reynolds, who got Kolten Wong to line out to center field – but that was enough to drive home the lead run.

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Result and standings: 3-2 loss, trailing in NL West by 5 games; tied for first wild-card spot with Mets, 2-game lead over St. Louis

Sept. 19 at Los Angeles

The situation: 1-0 lead in the bottom of the ninth

This game has as many questions about Bochy’s hook of ace Madison Bumgarner – who was one-hitting the Dodgers on 97 pitches through seven innings, when he had a dust-up with Los Angeles right fielder Yasiel Puig – as it does about the San Francisco’s bullpen. Smith and Law navigated the eighth allowing one base runner, and Bochy stuck with Law in the ninth of a must-win game – a clear indication that Casilla is done as the Giants’ closer. Pinch hitter Andrew Toles opened the ninth with a hard single off Law, and Lopez came on to face the left-handed-hitting Corey Seager. Here, then, is how it has gone for the Giants’ bullpen: Seager hit a hard grounder to the right side. A foot or two further right, and San Francisco second baseman Joe Panik may have started a double play. Instead, the ball snuck through, Toles went to third, Strickland replaced Lopez, Justin Turner tied it with a single, and Adrian Gonzalez buried the Giants with a double to right.

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Result and standings: 3-2 loss, trailing in NL West by 6 games; tied with St. Louis for second wild-card spot, one game behind the Mets

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It’s worth remembering that Bochy will almost certainly retire with the Giants and be swiftly voted into the Hall of Fame because he led San Francisco to World Series titles in 2010, 2012 and 2014 – at least. It’s worth remembering he did that with three different World Series closers: Brian Wilson the first time, Romo two years later, Casilla two years after that, and that his core relievers – including Lopez, the now-retired Jeremy Affeldt and Romo – constantly praised him for the consistency of their use.

But there are six losses above, in this month alone, that easily could have been wins. Take just three of them – say, the Dodgers game Monday night and two others – and the deficit in the NL West could be just two games, and their lead in the wild-card race comfortable.