Phoenix – With its Arizona diamondbacks mired in a funk at the beginning of the season, Manager Torey Lovullo knows where to go to get advice on how to change things.
His mother, Grace Lovullo, 92.
“She said she throws the analysis and trust your instinct,” Lovullo said, smiling. “I said ‘yes, I like that. I have been an intestinal manager all my life.'”
A season of very high expectations is a slow beginning for D-backs, who have lost seven out of eight in Friday night against Washington. The skate has dropped Arizona to 27-29 despite the highest payroll projected in the history of the team.
The Bad Baseball section has baffled Lovullo, the ninth year captain who is the leader of the franchise race and took the team to the World Series less than two years ago.
“I am looking for performance, I am looking for guys to take a step forward at the most critical moment and do the job,” Lovullo said. “I am looking for winning players to provide us with winning moments. We can do it, but we have to link.”
There is more than one reason why D-backs are fighting, but a problem, the bullpen, has caused the greatest stomach acidity. Arizona’s reliefs have blown multiple great clues and their combined effectiveness of 5.49 is one of the worst of the big leagues.
The last implosion came earlier this week, when the D-backs built a 6-0 advantage against Pittsburgh pirates before Resign seven races in the eighth entrance and lose 9-6.
Bullpen pillars in recent years, such as the right of hard launch Kevin Ginkel, have been degraded to triple-a while Lovullo tries to find a group that can close the games consistently. The veteran right Jeff Brigham was raised to take Ginkel’s place on the list on Friday.
Lovullo has also criticized his team’s defense. Arizona’s 29 errors are located in the middle of the MLB package, but things that do not necessarily appear in the box score, such as lost limits or bad readings in the flight balls, have been common, particularly late in the games. It is a reason why they have 8-11 in games of a race and 2-4 in additional entries.
“We are not doing defensively late work in the game,” Lovullo said. “For me, that has to improve.”
There are reasons to believe that things could change. Gardener Corbin Carroll, the second base Ketel Marte and the Campocorto Geraldo Perdomo lead an alignment that has been one of the most productive in the big leagues.
Perdomo has been one of the biggest surprises in the league, particularly on the plate. The 25 -year -old has already tied in a race with six home runs and is the second in the team with 39 ranked races. Lovullo moved the campocorto to the number 3 in the alignment for the first time this season on Friday.
Ace right-Hander Corbin Burnes- who signed a six -year agreement of $ 210 million In the low season, it has an effectiveness of 2.72, while Merrill Kelly, Brandon Pfaadt and Ryne Nelson have also been solid.
“This team is very, very capable of making this change in a hurry,” Lovullo said.
All the West NL is also in a funk After a torrid start of the seasonpreventing D-backs from staying too far behind. Arizona is fourth in the division, but only seven games behind the Dodgers, parents and giants.
With four months of baseball, players say there is no panic.
“When you have a 162 games season, you are not looking to have one of these stretching, but it seems that we have had one almost every year and we have been able to recover,” said the designated hitter Pavin Smith. “Looking in the years of the past, knowing that we have been able to get out of it, it gives us confidence.”
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