Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovello reflected on the past World Series.
Lovello held his end-of-season press conference at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, on Wednesday.
“When I woke up this morning, I couldn’t believe there were no more games left. It’s weird coming to the stadium in plain clothes and not having to change into a uniform. It went by so fast,” he said of the end of the season.
His team finished the regular season with 84 wins, narrowly missing the postseason as the third wild card, and then pulled off an upset to reach the World Series.굿모닝토토
In the World Series, they were unable to overcome a power disadvantage against the Texas Rangers, losing four games to one.
After apologizing to fans in a press conference after Game 5 of the World Series for “not doing my job,” he said, “I got a ton of encouraging texts after that. It made me feel a little better, but it’s still in the back of my mind,” he said, adding that he was grateful for the attention and apologized.
“I’m just proud of the whole club. We were the last team to finish the season. I’m really proud of that. We got a taste of fall baseball, and it was very good, and we should remember that taste, that feeling, and be motivated by it.”
When asked about his biggest regret during the World Series, Lovello mentioned the 0-3 deficit in the second inning of Game 4.
Lovello’s biggest regret was giving up a two-run homer to Seager in Game 4. Photo via AFPBBNews = News1
Lovello pulled right-hander Miguel Castro after a double by Marcus Simien with two outs and three runners on base, leaving left-hander Kyle Nelson to face Corey Seager, but Nelson gave up a two-run homer to Seager. The score was 0-5, and the momentum was completely lost.
“I should have walked Seager there and picked off Mitch Garber,” Lovello said. “In the postseason, it’s all about stopping your opponent’s momentum,” he said, adding that he regretted not being able to prevent the momentum from taking over.
“You can’t replicate the postseason experience,” he said, emphasizing that the team will benefit from the experience.
He also talked about facing off against Bruce Bochy. “When I was a coach, I watched him play and studied him. He’s a Hall of Fame coach, and I’ve been studying him since I was a coach, and I’ve been inspired by him a lot,” he said of facing off against the man he looks up to.