Gardenhire’s surgery called successful
SAN DIEGO – Ron Gardenhire had successful surgery on Tuesday to remove his prostate, manager Torey Lovullo said, and the Diamondbacks are hoping they’ll have their bench coach back in action sometime in the next fourto-six weeks.
Gardenhire was diagnosed with prostate cancer just before the start of spring training, and surgery was scheduled for this week.
“He was packing up his bags and getting ready to leave the hospital today and head home for some much-needed rest,” Lovullo said Wednesday. “He wanted to make sure that I said thank you to everybody for all the texts, phone calls and support and that definitely helped for some of those moments yesterday and this morning when he was really grinding away.”
Gardenhire was with the team for the first seven games of the season but stayed home when the club left on its current road trip, with Triple-A Reno manager Jerry Narron taking his place as bench coach. Lovullo said he’ll let Gardenhire dictate when he returns.
“It’s when he’s ready and he’s comfortable to step back in this environment, that’s when it will happen,” Lovullo said.
“I have a funny feeling that he’s going to be here behind the scenes until he feels comfortable getting back into the dugout.”
Matching ‘em up
For the fourth time out of four Zack Greinke starts, catcher Jeff Mathis was behind the plate. Lovullo has said since the start of spring training he doesn’t believe in personal catchers, but he suggested on Wednesday the tandem might remain a couple more often than not.
“I think that if I’m seeing a certain comfort level or results that are very positive, if it lines up, I will continue to do that,” Lovullo said.
“I’m not going to have guys bend over backward or changing routines or their patterns just to have the matchups. If it works and it lines up, we’re far enough out in front of putting lineups together that we’re going to stay with that. I think Zack knows and understands that it’s not going to be like that all year long.”
Lovullo said the first thing he looks at is how the pitcher and catcher are working together. He’ll consider how the catcher matches up with the opposing pitcher after that.
Smart play
Lovullo is generally not a fan of the sacrifice bunt, but he has no issues with his players bunting for hits, and he liked what he saw from Chris Owings in the fourth inning on Tuesday night.
Owings dropped down a bases-loaded bunt against Padres reliever Craig Stammen, who fielded the ball, doubleclutched and threw wildly to first base, allowing two runs to score.
“He recognized there was a gap in the defense at that moment and it was a central play,” Lovullo said. “It was really the difference in the game. I think that was the catalyst for the big inning.”
Lovullo said Owings bunted on his own, and he appreciated the timing of it, given that Stammen had just entered the game following an injury to starting pitcher Jarred Cosart and, he said, likely wasn’t anticipating a bunt.