Despite the four straight losses by the Arizona Diamondbacks, there is no sense of panic in the clubhouse. It has been the way that manager Kirk Gibson likes to keep things. Losing stinks, but it is a long season and he has confidence in his team, so he doesn't get too high when times are good or too down when there are struggles.
In this particular instance, it is a case of bad timing.
Gibson gave credit to an Atlanta Braves team that is playing extremely well.
He said this after the game on Friday:
"Both the pitchers we faced threw the ball extremely well. We're banged up. We're not swinging the bats well, but they threw good games at us. Their offense is extremely hot. They're playing well. They're 9-1 in their last 10 and they had us pressed down for two nights."
In particular, first baseman Freddie Freeman has been on fire. In two games against Arizona, he has six hits and seven runs batted in.
"Freeman's hit everything we've thrown at him," said Gibson. "He's hit every pitch, and when we've made mistakes, he's hit them really hard."
That is combined with the loss of Chris Young and Justin Upton, which has stressed the Arizona lineup. "There's no question thing's aren't going our way," commented the manager.
But despite the struggles, he is not too concerned because he has seen what this team can do. He knows the team will play again and that there are more games. "They caught us at a tough time right now, but we've been through it before," is how he explained it. "We'll come back tomorrow and try to fight out of it."
That grinding mentality is what led the team to 94 wins a season ago.
"We're not playing so well, but we will be," he said confidently in the postgame press conference. "We'll come out of it."
There is no reason to believe otherwise, based on what we have seen before. However, unless players step up in the absence of Young and Upton, this could be a pretty tough stretch of baseball.
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