Post by unnameddbacksfan on Jun 28, 2008 11:24:03 GMT -5
Sorry, been on vacation. Sadly, it would appear that the team has been on one too
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Melvin lashes out after latest loss
by Nick Piecoro - Jun. 27, 2008 10:09 PM
The Arizona Republic
MIAMI - The door to the visitors' clubhouse remained closed Friday night, members of the Diamondbacks' support staff lingering outside, apparently waiting for the end of a reaming that was almost six weeks in the making.
After his team's latest lackluster defeat - a 3-1 loss to the Florida Marlins that dropped the Diamondbacks to the .500 mark, at 40-40, for the first time since the season's first week - manager Bob Melvin vented his frustration, airing out a club that has lost 24 of the past 36 games.
Then, for the first time this season and only the second time in his four-year tenure in Arizona, he did not hold a postgame session with reporters.
No one could blame Melvin for being frustrated, least of all his players.
"I think we're taking the fact that we're in first place for granted," first baseman Conor Jackson said "We're playing terrible right now. Bad baseball. That's the bottom line."
"Sometimes," catcher Chris Snyder said, "when you can't take it upon yourself to give yourself a kick in the (butt), it's good. Guys haven't been taking it upon themselves. Obviously, you don't want it to get that far. We'll see how we respond, but it was needed."
Melvin's message seemed clear: The Diamondbacks need more urgency and less complacency and can't allow a weak National League West - a division that, despite all their losing, they still lead - to influence their approach.
"We can't be content playing the way we are and still being in first place," Snyder said.
Melvin has been standing behind his players in recent weeks, expressing confidence that they would revert to the form that enabled them to start 28-16.
That was their record on May 20, when they opened their first series here in Florida. The Diamondbacks were summarily swept by the Marlins, the offense scoring just three times in three games. The losing hasn't stopped since.
Since May 20, the club is hitting just .217 and averaging 3.3 runs per game. In the 44 previous games, it hit .267 and averaged 5.4 runs.
On Friday, they collected three hits and a run in the first inning, but had only three hits the rest of the game, including just one in the final six innings. An offense that was among baseball's best in April has scored just 13 times in the first seven games of this road trip.
At some point, third baseman Mark Reynolds said, the players have to stop saying they will play better and actually do so.
"We can keep saying it, keep saying it," he said. "Hell, we've been saying it for a month now, and we haven't done (expletive) about it. We've got to grind out at-bats. We've got to be a tough out and try to put the ball in play and see what happens. Right now we're not doing that at all."
The last time Melvin let out his frustration on his team was last year during a July series in Milwaukee. Shortly after, the club took off, going on a 21-5 run to build a five-game lead in the NL West.
But the players seem willing to go only so far with last year's example.
"It's a different year, different people, everything," Reynolds said. "Last year was last year. We see that we can turn it around like we did. There's no guarantees of that."
__________________________________________________________________
Melvin lashes out after latest loss
by Nick Piecoro - Jun. 27, 2008 10:09 PM
The Arizona Republic
MIAMI - The door to the visitors' clubhouse remained closed Friday night, members of the Diamondbacks' support staff lingering outside, apparently waiting for the end of a reaming that was almost six weeks in the making.
After his team's latest lackluster defeat - a 3-1 loss to the Florida Marlins that dropped the Diamondbacks to the .500 mark, at 40-40, for the first time since the season's first week - manager Bob Melvin vented his frustration, airing out a club that has lost 24 of the past 36 games.
Then, for the first time this season and only the second time in his four-year tenure in Arizona, he did not hold a postgame session with reporters.
No one could blame Melvin for being frustrated, least of all his players.
"I think we're taking the fact that we're in first place for granted," first baseman Conor Jackson said "We're playing terrible right now. Bad baseball. That's the bottom line."
"Sometimes," catcher Chris Snyder said, "when you can't take it upon yourself to give yourself a kick in the (butt), it's good. Guys haven't been taking it upon themselves. Obviously, you don't want it to get that far. We'll see how we respond, but it was needed."
Melvin's message seemed clear: The Diamondbacks need more urgency and less complacency and can't allow a weak National League West - a division that, despite all their losing, they still lead - to influence their approach.
"We can't be content playing the way we are and still being in first place," Snyder said.
Melvin has been standing behind his players in recent weeks, expressing confidence that they would revert to the form that enabled them to start 28-16.
That was their record on May 20, when they opened their first series here in Florida. The Diamondbacks were summarily swept by the Marlins, the offense scoring just three times in three games. The losing hasn't stopped since.
Since May 20, the club is hitting just .217 and averaging 3.3 runs per game. In the 44 previous games, it hit .267 and averaged 5.4 runs.
On Friday, they collected three hits and a run in the first inning, but had only three hits the rest of the game, including just one in the final six innings. An offense that was among baseball's best in April has scored just 13 times in the first seven games of this road trip.
At some point, third baseman Mark Reynolds said, the players have to stop saying they will play better and actually do so.
"We can keep saying it, keep saying it," he said. "Hell, we've been saying it for a month now, and we haven't done (expletive) about it. We've got to grind out at-bats. We've got to be a tough out and try to put the ball in play and see what happens. Right now we're not doing that at all."
The last time Melvin let out his frustration on his team was last year during a July series in Milwaukee. Shortly after, the club took off, going on a 21-5 run to build a five-game lead in the NL West.
But the players seem willing to go only so far with last year's example.
"It's a different year, different people, everything," Reynolds said. "Last year was last year. We see that we can turn it around like we did. There's no guarantees of that."