The Arizona Diamondbacks have not displayed the raw emotion and energy needed to sustain a pennant race run.
For a team which they hope is on a collision course with post-season play, the Arizona Diamondbacks display a team short of visceral emotion but deep in quiet commitment.
Coming the stretch, the question is whether this business-like-approach, devoid of sensation and sentiment, represent the kind of passion and fire to ignite a clubhouse. Reliever Archie Bradley, perhaps for the first moment all season, displayed that raw emotion after Tuesday night’s come-from-behind victory of the NL West Division-leading Los Angeles Dodgers. Citing no team enters the desert without a competitive response from his team, Bradley bellowed into a ticket of microphones and notebooks that “this is our house and we defend our house.”
Animated and energetic, Bradley is an aberration to the quiet approach taken by most players in manager Torey Lovullo’s clubhouse. During the weekend of Aug. 25-27 when players will use nicknames on the back of uniforms, Bradley will go with “Hollywood.” That is a clean, ample representation of his character and feel for this team.
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In recent games, the Diamondbacks have displayed neither the fiery emotion nor a high energy needed to address the heighten environment of a pennant race. Then again, that’s not the Diamondbacks style or approach. Before Wednesday’s home game against the Dodgers, Lovullo told Call to the Pen that his approach is stay discreet and industrious.
“We are a humble, hard-working team,” he said. “We want that to be our personality. We have a vision how to get there. This story is not nearly complete, and we will fight right down to the end.”
The initial thought is to have Jake Lamb’s game-winning grand slam Tuesday night over the Dodgers provide the kind of kinetic energy needed to create a rocket booster launch. Instead, the Diamondbacks’ collective personality is not geared for such trajectory. That’s the feeling echoed by first baseman Paul Goldschmidt when he told Call to the Pen that the team’s approach remains on an even keel.
“If we lost (Tuesday’s game), we would have come in here with the same attitude,” he said. “All season, it’s been having good at-bats and finding ways to win. We’re not in a do-or-die situation, and just need to find ways to win.”
In the three games prior to Wednesday’s encounter with the Dodgers, the Diamondbacks has ample opportunity to deliver a knock-out punch to the starters they faced. Mission not accomplished, and their inability to take advantage here at the most crucial time of the season remains revealing.
Last Saturday in San Francisco, they had Chris Stratton on the ropes early but allowed the rookie right-hander to hang around for five innings and reach 95 pitches. On Sunday, the Diamondbacks stretched at-bats that caused Giants’ starter Jeff Samardzija to throw 24 pitches in the opening inning, but survive to gain the win in a 6-3 victory. On Tuesday night, the Diamondbacks had L.A. starter Kenta Maeda struggling through a 25-pitch first inning and left two runners on in that frame without scoring.
All of which broadens the argument, do the Diamondbacks have the ability and mental approach to attack opponents with purpose and ferocity. Lovullo told Call to the Pen that his team continues to do things well physically, and that seems to be the bottom line.
“What is happening is not from a lack of effort,” he said. “Pitchers retired our batters from that point.”
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Following a 3-2 defeat before 22,670 in Chase Field Wednesday against the Dodgers, this series, the first of three critical sets for the Diamondbacks on their current home stand, stands at one game each. How the Diamondbacks attack L. A. starter Yu Darvish Thursday, whether they display that mental discipline along with raw emotion, should provide a strong barometer regarding their approach in this important stretch of games.