NL DIVISION SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS DODGERS

October 11, 2023

Torey Lovullo

Chase Field

Arizona Diamondbacks

Pregame 3 Press Conference

Q. You went through practice yesterday. You're back here in town. How are the guys today? Have you got a feel for where they're at either last night or today so far?

TOREY LOVULLO: Yesterday we had a great workday. I just wanted to get the guys in in one place at one time and just keep that momentum going. I don't want anybody to take a day off right now. I want guys to come in, still keep that rhythm and that flow and that feel. That's really important. I talked about that competitive focus yesterday. I think that's a real thing.

Today, just walking in, getting a chance to cross paths with guys, it's business as usual. Our guys are in a good state of mind. They seem to be themselves. I don't think anything's really changing based on my sight lines.

And that's who we are. I think this team, like I said, is very focused and they're hungry. I think they're excited.

Q. I know it's an important baseball game to be played tonight, but what do you think that moment's going to be like when Mike's kids throw out the first pitch today?

TOREY LOVULLO: Man, it's going to be pretty emotional, for sure. Those are some special kids. Those four children had to go through a lot. It's hard for me to talk about. But to see them the way I get a chance to see them, as often as I do and them coming out the other end the best that they can -- and Mike has been an unbelievable mother and father. It's going to be a really emotional moment for me, for sure.

Q. Sold out tonight, obviously. I think back to 2017, the Wild Card game. My question for you, when this plays fills up, like the enthusiasm in the 2017 Wild Card game, what is that going to be like for you in the dugout?

TOREY LOVULLO: This place can rock for sure. We want it that way every night. How it's going to be tonight, I'm sure there will be Dodger fans. It was my understanding that within 15 minutes of us clinching in Milwaukee that 8,000 seats were sold. We assume they were our fans, but we may have missed the boat on that one. And Dodger fans come in full support.

We know that when our fans are out there this place can get super loud. I did mention yesterday that in the first inning of that Wild Card game, I know Goldy hit a three-run home run. And when the ball left the ballpark the noise kind of startled me.

That's exciting. That's real exciting to know that our fans are going to come here. There's going to be a certain energy that they're going to have and we're going to pick up on it.

Now what I want us to be situationally aware of is there's going to be an incredible energy into the start of this game and the lead-up to this game. We've been talking about it for a couple days.

I don't want there to be an emotional drop-off from our players. They've got to manage that the best way they can. I might say that out loud. I know I'm saying it right now. They're probably going to pick up on it.

I've got to be careful that our guys get too high because with every high there's going to be a certain low. I want them to shoot straight the way they have, the way they've approached things every single day.

And what they've given me is an incredible effort with a ton of energy. I want them to maintain that for nine innings tonight.

Q. Is Evan Longoria okay? Is he going to be able to play today? Is he in the lineup?

TOREY LOVULLO: He's in the lineup and he's feeling fine. The X-rays that we took and everything that we got the other day fall through the same way yesterday. The follow-up gave us the same information yesterday. And he's fine.

I had a brief conversation with him. It pinched his skin more than anything. There's a little bit of bruising, there was a little bit of blood because of the pinching, but I don't think it got the bone.

In fact, he said he felt good enough and he was ready to go today. Unless something's changed in the past, I don't know whatever it is, 20 hours or so, he's in there.

Q. With the successes you've had in the last week as a manager, as a psychologist, how do you check the rising confidence and emotional level that may spiral out of control?

TOREY LOVULLO: That's a real thing, and I have preached humbleness all year long to these guys. I preached to respect every opponent that we play and to budget for days like this when there is a natural tendency to feel too good about yourselves.

I don't want this team to. I want this team to remain as they have been all year long. They're going to go out and play their finest game and go 1-0 today.

This is a closeout situation. The Dodgers are coming. They're going to show up here on their bus. They're going to take BP and they're going to be race ready, but we will, too.

Q. The Dodgers, they played two games in seven days. I know when you prepare, it has more impact maybe on them, but it may have an impact on how you approach to play them too. And does analytics take into account? Are there subtleties in that where you build in that kind of information as to how you approach planning for a game?

TOREY LOVULLO: No. That's a really good question. We actually talked about some of that type of stuff. But the only thing we changed was the park adjustment. That's what changes some of the information I get.

But I know there's a lot that's been said about the layoff for all the teams that won their division. And I don't know if it's real. I have just one thing on my mind and that's our team being as ready as they can to play the team that's going to walk into that opposing dugout.

I know the Dodgers did everything they could to make sure they were ready. I know that they probably had simulated games and simulated at-bats. They're too good of an organization to just walk out and play a baseball game after four, five days without having that high intensity type of training.

I think that's what's happened. We don't take anything for granted. We make no adjustments. It's the Dodgers. They're good. We know it. And we're going to continue to carry on as if they're a really spectacular team.

Q. Not only the layoff but you also had the vagaries of this particular schedule where you've been playing every other day. They really haven't had much game action for a while.

TOREY LOVULLO: It might be a real thing. So it's a game off, game off, and another game.

Q. After a five-day lay off.

TOREY LOVULLO: After a five-day layoff. I don't know what's going on in their dugout. I'm just grateful that we played meaningful games for the past 30 days and there's a lot of anxiety inside of our clubhouse. I think we've already been nerve tested, and I think we're in a good spot.

Q. This postseason you've had a lot of games where you've had a lot of stolen a lot of bases, and games where -- obviously Game 1 of this series would have been kind of an improprietous to try to steal a lot of bases at some point. But how have you approached that aspect of the game in the postseason when the cost of making an out is really high? And how have you found that teams have been kind of preparing for that, knowing that you guys have the capability of stealing a lot of bags?

TOREY LOVULLO: There's two answers to that. One, we're not going to change our game plan. We're going to continue to run. I play clean for five innings, the score could be 19-0 in either direction. For the first five innings you just go, just play the game the right way.

Sixth inning on, you change your strategy a little bit. And we work really hard at understanding when, how and where to steal bases. We have targets. We have keys. We have different situations. And it sounds like it's a very sophisticated science, but it's not. We try to simple it down into what will ultimately lead our success.

But outs are precious. You get 27 of them. We ran into a couple of them. You could see what it did the other day when Perdomo ran when he wasn't supposed to. It was a huge out. It changed the tide of the inning and pushed a little more momentum on their side.

We have targets. We want to do it successfully. We're not going to back down. There are times where we'll be smart and we feel like it leads to a lot of our success.

Q. How about how teams are trying to game plan.

TOREY LOVULLO: That's part two. My bad. Yeah, we started to get some intel. We have advanced scouts sitting in opposing stands for teams we potentially could play and they started to notice a little bit of a tendency or habit as to what they were doing in a situation to try and control the running game in preparation of what might happen had they played a team like us.

So when I hear that information, it kind of makes me smile that you're asking a player to get outside of their comfort zone. We talk about it as black noise. When a pitcher hears black noise -- and our pitchers are not exempt from this -- when they hear black noise because of the base-running situation, they tend to make mistakes and mistakes wind up off left-center field walls.

So we want to be as ready as possible knowing that there might be an extra gear of their game planning, which takes away from some of their planning here, and we've got to be ready to capitalize offensively.

Q. How important is it for you personally, not only to eliminate the Dodgers, but to sweep the series?

TOREY LOVULLO: I think winning is winning. I love winning because I hate losing. I think everybody has heard that before. It's very addicting. And that's what motivates me every single day. Whether it's the Dodgers or any other team, I should say, in the big leagues now, it's the same euphoric feeling when you get that 27th out and you win the baseball game. Everything now is amplified.

The stage is bigger. The stakes are higher, and winning a baseball game today, whether it's three games and out or we end up going the distance, we just want to play another day, keep advancing until we can potentially win the last baseball game of the 2023 season. That's our goal.

And there is no goal line for us, but if we get to that point, it will be a great feeling.

Q. Given the stability that Gabby's brought to this pitching staff and his bat, how well rounded of a player he is, could you speak how crucial he is to this team?

TOREY LOVULLO: I think the record would indicate that. And last I heard it was 18 or 19 games over .500. I don't know exactly what it is today.

But it's obvious to the common fan. It's obvious to the person sitting in their living room or in their basement pounding the keyboard and finding out about the Arizona Diamondbacks that Gabby Moreno is a huge piece of the puzzle for us.

You break it down inside of what I get to see every day, it's about preparation offensively, it's about game planning, counter punching the pitcher, about being ready and changing his compass and his approach every single pitch, and then not missing and having an impact bat.

It's about stepping in the dugout and separating it, putting on his gear and going out there and working every single day to be a game caller, better receiver and just a better catcher all around.

That type of stuff is taking place right now in the locker room. I walk in there and I know he's going through his routine to make sure that he's game-ready.

It's the hard work and preparation that I get a chance to watch. And he's been an unbelievable addition to this organization, and we would not be where we are without him, for sure.

Q. You talk about these days everything's kind of more amped up in a way. Are they able to feel normal? Do you find yourself getting up earlier, drinking more coffee? Are you able to have a normal routine in the playoffs at all?

TOREY LOVULLO: Yeah, personally it's the same routine for me. It's get up, make a little bit of breakfast. Go for a walk. Maybe swim a few minutes.

And then my mind starts to wander over to the ballpark around 10:15, 10:30. I start to think about what my day's going to look like, conversations I need to probably come in and have.

I think there's a little bit of nervous energy that I'm creating on my own. But when I get here and I get around the guys, and I'm talking about some of the things that Christian Walker just bought on Amazon that I want to try to duplicate. And I'm having these normal goofball conversations you guys would never imagine. We fall into that same routine and that's what pleases me the most.

Q. As a manager, how has the strategy of navigating a postseason series change compared to 2017, the last time you were in this position? It seems like across the game, everybody seems to manage, especially the pitching staff, a little more urgency each game.

TOREY LOVULLO: I think that's probably the first thing that I could talk about and actually acknowledge that I've made some adjustments through the course of the postseason. And maybe even towards the back end of the season, which to me was like the postseason for us.

We were in a win-now, have-to-do-it-now mentality. And I said this yesterday, I might be repeating myself, I apologize, but through watching games having conversations with other managers that have walked this walk, today and yesterday, I have found out that it's about stopping momentum. It's about gathering up everything you can to just draw a line in the sand and say, that's it, we're going to cap it at two runs and we're going to manage this the best way forward offensively and we're going to close the gap up and what are you going to do, the next level of guy to go out on the mound and make something happen.

Probably means a little shorter leash for certain guys at certain times. In July, I would have never taken out Zac Gallen after 84 pitches. I was the biggest fool ever, I'm sure, in everybody's mind. But my strategy was to turn over their lineup. And I believe it worked, but there's a little bit more urgency that you have to be razor sharp with some of your decision-making and you have to have a reason for it. Everything I do has a reason for it. There's a strategy to every decision I make.

Q. What do you think is the biggest shift within this team, when you look at the team from the end of the regular season to now, it feels like a different team, you guys are playing at such a high level, what do you think is the biggest shift you've noticed to find that success?

TOREY LOVULLO: I think what I'm seeing now -- and it might be a little more obvious to me today than it was at the end of the year when we were in it, I think our team was maybe forcing things and hoping -- and I talked about believing instead of hoping. We were playing that balancing game.

And instead of going out and winning games to get in the postseason, I think we were kind of staggering around a little bit. Maybe -- I wouldn't say nervous, just curious. This team is full throttle, pedal to the metal, let's let it rip, 1 through 9.

Pitching staff is equipped and ready and everybody has their role. So I think the big exhale happened on that Saturday night. We had a really good celebration and they knew what was in front of them.

And like I said, we've been playing meaningful games for 30-plus days. So I feel like they finally got to the point that they wanted and they collectively took a deep breath and said, new season, new start, let's go.