D-BACKS SWEEP DODGERS
Diamondbacks kick off 2018 season looking like legitimate contenders despite team’s shaky past
Momentum is impossible to quantify. It can’t be bottled and shelved for the following season. It’s been an elusive commodity at Chase Field for 15 years, where the Diamondbacks have been incapable of parlaying playoff teams into a winning tradition.
Our condition is certainly improving.
The 2018 Diamondbacks completed a raucous opening homestand with a 3-0 victory over the Dodgers on Wednesday. They swept their rivals for a third consecutive regular-season series, earning a small measure of atonement for their postseason failures in the National League Division Series. They did so before a crowd that transcended the usual weekday gathering in April, games usually attended by diehards and crickets.
And when it was over, they showered and dressed up in their best suits to commemorate the first road trip of the season. They are a team that obviously means business.
“People might be surprised,” said former Diamondbacks infielder Willie Bloomquist, now a part of the team’s front office. “But the guys in that clubhouse expected this good of a start, and so did the manager (Torey Lovullo). These guys really believe in themselves, and their clubhouse chemistry is really good. They’ve got something special here.”
It’s hard to argue. The Diamondbacks have won five of their first six games without Steven Souza Jr., who was injured during Cactus League play, a player signed to mitigate the loss of J.D. Martinez. They placed Jake Lamb on the disabled list with a sprained shoulder. They sent Yasmany Tomas to the minor leagues. They watched Paul Goldschmidt struggle through the first six games with just four hits in 27 at-bats, accruing one of his two RBIs on a weak groundout in the first inning of Wednesday’s game.
And it doesn’t matter one bit in the standings. Bloomquist was an inspirational leader on the 2011 team that made the playoffs in Kirk Gibson’s
first year as manager. That team was full of overachievers and fan favorites, striking a chord with Valley fans for their grit and resiliency, for nearly overcoming a 2-0 playoff series deficit to the Brewers. But that group turned out to be fool’s gold, and the organization couldn’t post a winning season in the five seasons that ensued.
Bloomquist feels differently about this group, and he should. The confidence begins with a general manager (Mike Hazen) who has modernized the team’s approach to analytics, consistently finding undervalued players that fit the team’s budget and their competitive culture. It flows through Lovullo, a manager who is rarely underprepared for anything that crosses his desk.
During spring training, there were old-world concerns about why the team would elevate Patrick Corbin to Opening Day starter when Robbie Ray was clearly the team’s second-best pitcher. When Souza went down, they refused to open a window of opportunity for Tomas out of desperation. And after committing to the deployment of a humidor in 2018, they made sure their roster was built to win games the hard way, with speed, run prevention and small-ball tactics, defying the new trend of offenses that are overly dependent on home runs.
Corbin has been tremendous in two outings, and his Opening Day assignment might elevate his confidence to another level. Ray’s first start ended in victory, but his shaky performance strongly validated the club’s decision. Zack Godley gutted through a seven-inning performance after the team played 15 innings the night before, depleting their bullpen. And while the team has been out-homered 9-5 in six games at home, they’ve outscored the opposition 32-20.
“They’re just bringing the right type of guys in here, guys who know how to play, guys who do it the right way, and guys who know how to keep it loose,” Bloomquist said.
In other words, this new regime isn’t just a beacon of hope and a reason for long-term optimism. They might be even smarter than we thought.
“They say that hope springs eternal, and that’s certainly the case with this squad.” said Greg White, head of orthopedic surgery at Phoenix Children’s Hospital and a season-ticket holder since the team’s inaugural season in 1998. “They are fun to watch. They don’t quit. They do all the little things and they genuinely seem like they enjoy each other as teammates. They don’t care who the hero is from game to game, and their pitching has been lights out.”
Before their Opening Day victory over the Rockies, Derrick Hall reiterated his desire to open future seasons on the road. The team’s president and CEO felt it was a competitive disadvantage to field a team that simply moved shop from Scottsdale to Phoenix, prone to loitering in practice mode once the real games begin.
The 2018 Diamondbacks are mocking that mindset. They just completed a near-perfect beginning to a new season. Their only loss featured a great outing from Zack Greinke, their bullpen looks fantastic and their offense is once again jumping on opponents, like it did in the back half of 2017. Their strongest testimonial might’ve come from the healthy Chase Field crowd on Wednesday, and a city that obviously believes in its baseball team.
So far, it’s obvious those in uniform feel the same way, rejecting the organization’s history of one-hit wonders.
Reach Bickley at dan.bickley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8253. Follow him on twitter.com/dan.bickley. Listen to “Bickley and Marotta” weekdays from 12-2 p.m. on 98.7 Arizona’s Sports Station.