NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS PHILLIES

October 24, 2023

Torey Lovullo

Citizens Bank Park

Arizona Diamondbacks

Pregame 7 Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're going to get started with Torey.

Q. How are you? How did you sleep? How are you feeling?

TOREY LOVULLO: I feel great, slept great. Got up, had a big breakfast, team breakfast, with the group and the people that are here supporting the D-backs, front office. It was a very typical night. Very typical morning.

I went to bed and enjoyed the win last night, as I told the guys I wanted them to do. Absorb what happened, enjoy it, make sure you're ready to turn the page. And that's where I'm at today.

Q. This morning, this afternoon, does it feel any different the day of the Game 7?

TOREY LOVULLO: I mean, I could lie to you and say it's another day, and we all know it, and blah, blah, blah, that stuff. It is a little bit different. The stakes are high. They were just as high for us yesterday. So walking into the stadium today is very similar for me as it was yesterday.

Then you just kind of break it down into it being potentially the last game for us, right? One of these teams is going to go home. It's what you dream about as a kid.

I've been justifying it that way. Everything that we've done in the past, everything that we will do in the future, it doesn't matter. What matters right now is the next nine innings, and then you can break that down into the next inning nine times, and then X amount of at-bats and pitches per inning.

So that's kind of the way my mind works, and I think that group in the clubhouse does the same thing.

Q. I just want to do follow up on that and just ask that question. How is the team? Do you sense any difference with them, the guys? How are they approaching this one?

TOREY LOVULLO: I just got a chance to walk by them. I watched them all shuttle into the clubhouse. It looks the exact same to me. They're on their phones checking what they want to check. There's different conversations, groups of two or three. They're in the food room eating their Philly cheesesteaks. A couple guys are playing games. So it's very typical.

We've been playing really meaningful games for a long time. The stakes are a little bit higher right now, and we know it. Like I said, I could lie and say that we're not aware of it, but we are. But I think we know how to compartmentalize things and say where are we at and what do we have to do to function?

So everything seems like it's very normal and business as usual, but I know that there is a different aspect.

Q. Just quick follow-up, you've been talking about Game 7 for a while now. Just sort of, hey, it's down the road. But "anything can happen" has been your phrase, right?

TOREY LOVULLO: Correct.

Q. Could you talk more about that?

TOREY LOVULLO: It's one play. It's one pitch. It's an unexpected hero. It's everybody in an all-for-one state of mind.

The Phillies play that way. I know it. I watch them play every single night. I know that we have played that way the majority of our games this season. So it's not unfamiliar territory to us, but there is a certain competitive focus that you have got to maintain and just make sure that you're ready for anything that may or may not go your way.

How are you going to capitalize on it if it does, and how are you going to stop the wave of momentum if it does not?

One critical play can mean the difference between advancing to the World Series or not. Little things such as Zac Gallen will be in the bullpen today. That is a bit of news that we wouldn't be talking about if it wasn't a Game 7.

So little things like that change. Everybody will be ready to go.

Q. Is it fitting that Brandon is kind of in this moment? He's had an up-and-down year, but then in the postseason it seems like in the big moments he's stepped up and been that pitcher for you guys.

TOREY LOVULLO: Very fitting for me. Fitting in a way that we knew that he was very capable of this. You look back at the Reno season last year. He was going to pitch the play-in game. All the things that Reno needed to do to get to where they had to get to, Brandon Pfaadt was targeted as the guy. He knows when he is the center of the moment. I think he's used to that.

I don't think he's going to change his mindset. I don't think he's going to change his game plan or approach to how he can go out there and be as ready as possible. I think he simplifies things. That's one of his great gifts.

Now, if you are a player inside the Arizona Diamondbacks player development system or an up-and-coming potential starter that could be here, who might be at Salt River on our taxi squad, wherever you are inside of our system, this is a perfect example of what you can become if you work hard, accept coaching, and keep progressing every single day.

He got sent up and down three times this year, but he has caught up. He has caught a really nice wave and is riding is, and he's had a lot of success because he's in a good mindset and the hard work has paid off. He's had that success because of what he's been practicing to do.

Q. Do you feel an all Wild Card World Series would just show that the regular season has become a poor predictor of postseason success?

TOREY LOVULLO: Man, I don't want to downplay the teams that have had terrific years, right? I just know that the best teams get into the postseason, and it's a very well-deserved honor.

It's a marathon. It's a long, grinding, committed effort for an entire season. Once you get into the Big Dance, anything can happen.

I believe we are a perfect example of that. We won 84 games. And Mad Dog is talking about quitting his job if we lose twice in Philadelphia. I mean, people are crazy, right? But we don't care. We block all that out, and we feel like we deserve to be in the Big Dance. We got to this point because we're a good baseball team, and that's all that we're focused on.

We take a lot of pride in doing the little things right and embracing the challenges of playing in a very rugged NL West. And our record might indicate that we're in a different division than certain teams in certain divisions, which might lead to more victories. Throw it all out the window. The teams that get in deserve to be in, and anything can happen at that point in time.

Q. Along those lines, is there anything from your past that informs that viewpoint that you have? I think a lot of people do look at an 84-win team and say they don't deserve to even be here.

TOREY LOVULLO: Yeah. First of all, we play the game for one reason, and that's for one another. We play to represent the state of Arizona the best way we know how. And I think 84 wins or 83 wins or whatever the St. Louis Cardinals had or the Minnesota Twins had when they won World Championships, they're hanging banners in their stadiums. That's all that we think about. That's all that anybody plays for.

The Phillies are. The Rangers and us, that's all we care about right now. Whether we deserve to or not, I don't care. I block out that black noise. If I didn't know from a conversation I had with Dave McKay, who has shared that information with the players, that the St. Louis Cardinals, I think they won 83 games or -- is that what the number was --

Q. In '06.

TOREY LOVULLO: -- in '06? I would have never known that they won 83 games, but I did know that they won two World Championships while Tony La Russa was there. We don't care. We're going to block that out.

Q. You talked about the idea of keeping receipts. You just mentioned Dog offering to quit his job and Stubbs talking about the pool. I'm just curious, how are you taking this in? Are you looking for it? Are people coming to you? Because it does seem to happen almost every day someone slights your club. I'm just curious how you intake that information.

TOREY LOVULLO: Yeah, I laugh at it. I was telling the group of guys the things that make me mad, you would never even imagine. That type of stuff is kind of entertaining to me because I know that Mad Dog has a show, and he has to do his thing. But I would love to see him quit if we won today. You know what I mean?

There's nothing better than a wise guy New Yorker saying something and then having to chomp on those words. That's how I'm processing it. It will be great. He's a friend of mine. I love Mad Dog, and I know that he's going to end up hearing this, and I didn't want to really get into this, but I did.

We have a little thing going on about it. I think you just internally use it as motivation. You have a sense of pride when you play this game. You want to do your job to the best of your ability, and you want to help your team win a game.

I want to manage these players the best way to help us have the best outcome. I am extremely motivated at the end of the day on my own. But when you can prove some people wrong -- and we all walk around with chips on our on shoulder, and I guarantee everybody in this room has been told by somebody that they couldn't do something, and it led you down this road to be great.

So I just know that there's an underriding theme here that we, A, don't deserve to be here, B, that we're going to get our butts kicked, and, C, there's bullies all over the National League that can manhandle us.

It really excites me to know that we're playing in Game 7, and we're right on the verge of doing something that's unbelievable, and we love proving naysayers wrong.

Q. What can Gallen reasonably give you tonight? Is it inevitable that you'll use him, or is it more of a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency thing?

TOREY LOVULLO: Good question. We're talking about that right now. He came in last night, and he said you need me, I'm ready to go. I really appreciated that. That's what this team does. It's an all-for-one mentality.

I know that I have a couple of things scripted out in my mind that I've been thinking about over the course of the night. I'll talk to Strommy, and we'll figure that out.

Is he part of the game plan? I don't know that answer, but if we need him at some point, whether it's in the game plan or late innings, extra innings, he's going to be available to us. That really gets me excited.

Q. You were pretty honest about Kyle Schwarber yesterday. I just want to follow up on something like that. Have you arrived either organically or strategically at a point where you are not going to let Schwarber or Harper beat you, those two guys in particular. Just whatever it takes?

TOREY LOVULLO: First of all, I believe in full transparency. I don't want to sit up here and lie to you. You guys are super smart, and you can tell when I'm walking around the truth a little bit. But there are times where I'm not going to talk about our game plan.

This might be one of them. You can see how it was mapped out a little bit yesterday. I respect Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper immensely. Our clubhouse does too.

We have to be smart. If there is another target, we're going to be very wise about the decisions that we're making. How we get there and what we do and what the process is is fairly private, but they're great players for a reason, and we're very aware of them.

Q. In the clubhouse yesterday your players were saying that when you scored early and they didn't, they felt like it took the crowd out of the game, and that had a demonstrable effect. How important are those first three innings, and maybe even the first inning in particular, of getting through them without letting that damage be done?

TOREY LOVULLO: Well, the crowd thing here is real. They are engaged. They're smart. They cheer at the right times, and they cheer very loudly.

There was a point in the middle innings where I could hear conversations in back of me in the stands. So that to me said that we were doing everything we needed to do to stay engaged ourselves and then stay focused and do what we were supposed to do. And we just got the bonus that their crowd was not as engaged as they normally were.

I think scoring those early runs -- and it's really any part of the postseason -- you just take a collective exhale. If you start playing some downhill baseball, it helps you relax a little bit, but I don't think you take your foot off of the gas pedal.

I just think, yeah, we have a point here or two. Let's keep pressing on them. Their margin for error might be shrinking, and if we stay on the course and keep doing things we're doing, it's just a good feeling that continues to build a lot of confidence inside of the dugout.

But I definitely don't want to talk poorly about this crowd because it is a very, very vocal, loud crowd, and it's very impressive every single day.

Q. What are you seeing from Paul that's made him particularly effective this postseason?

TOREY LOVULLO: Paul, you said? I think he's well-rested. We were getting after him pretty hard. I know there were some moments where his command might have not been as great with both of his pitches. And the fact that we've been using him in the right place, giving him the right amount of rest, he's able to duplicate his delivery, land two pitches very effectively on both sides of the plate, and just collect quick, easy outs.

It's about command, isn't it? Always the same thing for pitchers. But I think he's fully rested and feeling very strong. When he's throwing a baseball in one spot, he's throwing into the tea cup right now.

Q. I'm wondering what your Game 7 memories are as a baseball person throughout your life, whether as a fan, coach, manager? How many have you been to, been involved in? Memories that are sticking with you now.

TOREY LOVULLO: I haven't been involved in a Game 7. The knockout game in '17 -- which was the original Wild Card format -- was an instant Game 7. You know, you win and continue going on.

I think we went back to the foundation of who we were and just said let's play our game. We had a really experienced team. They went out there and took care of business.

But this is every kid's dream, you know. I look around this ballpark as we're getting ready to gear up, and I feel the emotion of the day picking up. I started out on the field about half hour ago, and then it starts to come to life. All of a sudden you're sitting inside of the stadium with 40,000-plus people, and it's awesome.

I encourage the guys to sit back and take a deep breath and say, this is amazing. But turn the page and get ready to compete.

It's every kid's dream, and we can all go back to it. I was in the backyard and thought I was Bill Buckner throwing the ball against the wall and trying to make some unbelievable catches that bounced off of the tree in back of the garage and saying, I just won Game 7 because I made a great defensive play.

That's what's happening today, and this is everybody's dream, and we couldn't be in a better position or more appreciative of this moment.

Q. I know you've generally operated 18 batters plus or minus 4 with Brandon Pfaadt. Do you anticipate having a more aggressive hook potentially tonight given what's on the line?

TOREY LOVULLO: Yeah, I think anything is possible. I'll just read and react, pay close attention to it, and make a tough decision. I made a tough decision last night, right, and you saw me getting in a little disagreement on national TV with the starting pitcher that wanted to go back out there, right? Oh, my God. What just happened? I never knew.

Like I said last night, I have to make tough decisions as a manager of this baseball team, and I'll continue to do that in the best interest of what I feel is going to help us win a baseball game.

I'll read and react. We'll start at 18 plus or minus 4 and go from there.

Q. Speaking of that little disagreement, some of us in the room remember 2001 when Randy pitched on zero rest. Is Merrill available?

TOREY LOVULLO: I don't think he'll be available. That was a great moment, I remember, him coming in the game.

No, I haven't talked to Merrill yet, but I don't think he'll be available. I think we have a lot of coverage outside of Merrill.