Bulletin-board material? In baseball? To paraphrase Tom Hanks, there’s no bulletin-board material in baseball!
At least there wasn’t any in the National League Championship Series until Arizona’s Eric Byrnes stepped to a podium Saturday at Coors Field. It seems Byrnes is trying to fire up his teammates after two lethargic performances in the series. Either that or he missed the memo that the Rockies won the first two games.
“I’m sure you guys are all probably writing us off,” Byrnes said. “I don’t blame you. We haven’t done a whole lot to make you guys think we’re going to win this series. I think we’re a good team. I also don’t think the Rockies have outplayed us because they haven’t.
“They’ve had a little luck go their way. Definitely the ball has bounced in their direction. They’ve been the beneficiary of some calls. So when we look at that as a group, we look back on those first two games, we haven’t been outplayed. If anything, it’s the other way around. … We’re not really fazed by what’s going on right now.”
Timing is off. The D-backs are struggling in the clutch, totaling two hits with runners in scoring position in the first two games. Nothing new there. They won the NL West despite having a .249 batting average with RISP. Then they beat the Cubs despite going 4-for-30 with RISP.
“We’ve got obviously enough hits in big situations to win 90 games over the season,” Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. “The only thing I can explain is we take it day to day, and 90 times out of 162 we were timely enough.”
Livan living large. The Diamondbacks will turn to Livan Hernandez tonight in hopes of interrupting the Rockies’ Refuse to Lose Tour. Not a bad choice, if history is any indication. Hernandez went into the postseason 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA in three division series appearances with Florida and San Francisco. He was even better in the NLCS – 2-0, 1.59 in two appearances.
Given his career in October, he’ll feel right at home, right? Wrong.
“I don’t like it,” the 32-year-old Hernandez said. “But it’s a situation you’ve got to go through and do your job, or try to.”
