The New York Times - 12.09.2019

THE NEW YORK TIMES SPORTSTHURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 0 N B9

of those games are against teams
with losing records.
“It feels like a nothing-to-lose
attitude,” first baseman Christian
Walker said. “There’s some sort
of underdog status that’s put on
us, and I feel like it’s easy to play
under those circumstances. We
kind of want people to overlook
us and think past us and not
worry about us. We’re right here
in the thick of it, and none of us
in here are surprised.”
Walker, who was claimed off
waivers in 2017, has 25 home
runs as Goldschmidt’s replace-
ment. Catcher Carson Kelly, who
was stuck behind Yadier Molina
in St. Louis before arriving in the
Goldschmidt trade, has 18
homers. Josh Rojas, who was
part of the Greinke trade, has
made 20 starts in the outfield
after hitting .514 in the minors
for Arizona.
“When I got here they made it
pretty clear that this team has a
good chance to win,” Rojas said.
“We had a lot of talent in the
clubhouse and we were going to
make a push for it. That was
really cool to hear.”
To that end, the Diamondbacks
added two starters at the same
time they were shedding
Greinke, trading for the veteran

Mike Leake from Seattle and the rookie Zac Gallen from Miami. The Yankees used a similar strategy in 2016, when they traded prominent relievers (Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller) but added veteran stabi- lizers (Tyler Clippard, Adam Warren) who helped the team play better down the stretch. “I think we’ve done the same thing here,” Diamondbacks Man- ager Torey Lovullo said. “We’ve gotten very healthy inside of our system with young prospects through the draft and several through the trades, but when you talk about the guys that were brought here to help us compete, I think our front office nailed it.” Lovullo and his staff have helped the team excel around the margins: The Diamondbacks have succeeded in 86.3 percent of their stolen-base attempts (best in the majors) and, led by shortstop Nick Ahmed, they rank as the N.L.’s best defensive team, according to Fangraphs. “We were struggling with the little things before this trip, and now we have really homed in on them and made those little things stand out,” center fielder Ketel Marte said through an interpret- er. “That’s the key.” Marte and third baseman Eduardo Escobar take care of the

big things. Marte, 25, leads the N.L. in hits to go with a .329 average, 32 home runs and 91 runs batted in. Escobar, 30, leads the team in homers (34) and R.B.I. (112). In Tuesday’s loss, Marte led off with a single, stole second and scored on a single by Escobar, who homered for Arizona’s other run. The duo has effectively replaced the offense Arizona

used to get from players like Goldschmidt and Pollock. “You can look at the big names that are gone, but you have to look at the production the other guys have put up — they kind of offset,” Bradley said. “We’ve found ways to supplement through other guys spreading out the production, and it’s worked.” Even better for Arizona: Marte and Escobar are signed to afford- able long-term deals. Marte is in

the second year of a five-year, $24 million contract (with club options through 2024) and Esco- bar signed last October for three years and $21 million. He took quickly to Arizona after a trade from Minnesota last July. “The chemistry is contagious,” Escobar said. “Last year when I came here, everybody was so nice. That’s why I told my wife, ‘If they make an offer to me quick, I’m going to sign it.’ I love it here — I love the city, I love my teammates. Hopefully I will retire here.” For the length of his contract, anyway, the Diamondbacks figure to be still grappling with the Dodgers, whose money, ingenuity and young talent could help them extend their division dynasty for years. The Diamond- backs understand the challenge. “We’ve got to find a way to unseat that,” Lovullo said. “For me, the best recipe is to build the foundation from within and cre- ate organizational continuity with the younger players to match what’s going on at the big league level. It becomes very powerful.” The Diamondbacks are not a power yet. But as they try to get there, they just might win another wild card in the process.

JOHN MINCHILLO/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Clockwise from top: Reliever Archie Bradley and Carson Kelly, second baseman Ketel Marte and first baseman Christian Walker.

NOAH K. MURRAY/USA TODAY SPORTS, VIA REUTERS

From Teardown to Turnaround for Arizona

SILAS WALKER/GETTY IMAGES

From First Sports Page

‘We kind of want

people to overlook us

and think past us.’

“You put in a lot of a time, a lot of work, you build up a special bond with these guys and the coaches. And then for it not to come to fruition at the end of it all, it’s a tough pill to swallow.” One locker-room observer suggested afterward that, in his time in the league, he had never seen such a despondent scene after a loss. Harris, unprompted, made multiple mentions of the “39 days” that this group spent together trying to establish suffi- cient continuity to get through eight games and make their summer more of a non-story. Falling short of the medal round completely, of course, means Gregg Popovich’s debut as national team head coach didn’t go any better than his stints as an assistant in 2002 and 2004, when the United States finished sixth at the world cham- pionship in Indianapolis and third in the Olympics. In six major competitions in between those lows, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski coached the United States to five golds — three in the Olympics and two in the World Cup. Krzyzewski, mind you, always had far stronger rosters than this one and only managed a three- point win over France at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil with a team headlined by Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Paul George. Popovich, who has been head coach of the San Antonio Spurs since 1996, will have to answer questions about why he brought three centers to China if Myles Turner, Brook Lopez and Mason Plumlee could only merit 16 minutes combined against Gob- ert. Or why he decided to cancel almost every practice on off days for a group that has been so slow to mesh. But there’s a reason Popovich has come across as wound tightly from the moment this potluck squad convened in Las Vegas on Aug 4. He knew this could happen. Even before an exhibition loss to Australia last month and a near-loss to Turkey in first-round pool play, Popovich knew that the unreliability of his power players, his lack of depth and a backcourt pairing of Kemba Walker and Donovan Mitchell, who clashed stylistically, could be problems. Mitchell rumbled for an au- thoritative 29 points through three quarters to help nudge the United States into the lead after it had fallen behind by double digits early in the second half.

But France reeled off 22 of the game’s final 29 points, capitaliz- ing on six missed free throws by the Americans in the fourth quarter and an off-key Walker (10 points on 2-of-9 shooting) dominating the ball in crunchtime instead of Mitchell. Popovich spent much of his postgame news conference trying to play defense, calling it a “disrespectful notion” when a reporter asked Mitchell a ques- tion about the impact of all the no-shows. “France beat us — doesn’t matter who is on the team,” Popovich said. Nor did the French see any reason to apologize for taking advantage of the United States’ rare vulnerability. When Walker committed a backcourt violation late, Orlando’s Fournier (22 points) and Charlotte’s Nicolas Batum, playing for France, celebrated with fist-pumping and arm-raising as if the Americans had their A-team on the floor. De Colo’s 18 points prompted Harris to call him “an N.B.A. player who happens to be playing in Europe.” Even the Knicks’ much-maligned Frank Ntilikina played a key role to boost the backcourt production in support of Gobert, who attacked the rim as relentlessly as he defended it in racking up 21 points and 16 rebounds. “I don’t think I realize it yet,” Gobert told me after his own news conference. “And I don’t want to realize it until the compe- tition is over.” You understood exactly what Gobert meant. As he said in multiple interviews afterward, France’s first victory over the United States in 10 tries won’t “mean the same” to him unless France can win the whole tour- nament. Yet you struggled to imagine how the ever-patriotic Popovich, on the other side, can get much of this disappointment out of his system in a mere three weeks before his Spurs open training camp. The Americans have to play two more games here in the fifth-through-eighth-place bracket, starting with Thursday night against Serbia — a duel that so many had pegged as a likely matchup for the champi- onship game. “Everyone knew what was at stake,” said the Sacramento Kings’ Harrison Barnes, the lone member of the gold-medal-win- ning team in Rio also in China. “You have to take ownership of it.”

In Defeat, U.S. Team

Becomes Memorable

From First Sports Page

Donovan Mitchell (5) reacting after scoring a basket for the

United States on Wednesday night against France.

YE AUNG THU/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

BASEBALL BASKETBALL

Todd Frazier and Jeff McNeil
each homered twice, and the Mets
chased Arizona’s ace in the first
inning en route to a 9-0 victory on
Wednesday night.
The
Mets (75-
70) have
won the
first three games of the four-game
series to move past the Diamond-
backs (75-71) in the race for the
second National League wild
card. They entered Wednesday
three games behind the Chicago
Cubs, who were playing a late
game in San Diego.
Arizona has lost four straight
since going 11-1 to rush back into
the crowded playoff picture.
The victory was only one aspect
of a memorable night at Citi Field.
For the 18th anniversary of the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Mets
first baseman Pete Alonso coordi-
nated the production of custom
cleats for Mets players. The shoes
were painted red, white and blue
and inscribed with “We will never
forget.” Earlier this season, the
power-hitting rookie donated
$50,000 of his $1 million prize from
the Home Run Derby to the Tun-
nels to Towers Foundation.

The clubs wore first-responder hats during batting practice, then lined up alongside firefighters, po- lice and emergency medical work- ers before the national anthem. Alonso gave baseballs to the two children at first base; Amed Rosa- rio went to one knee at shortstop to talk to the children. Children who lost parents or grandparents to 9/11-related ill- nesses ran to each position before being joined by the Mets’ starters. Alonso gave ba Steven Matz (10-8) tossed six scoreless innings for the Mets, who jumped on Robbie Ray (12-8) for five runs in two-thirds off an inning, the shortest outing of his career. Wilson Ramos (groundout)

and J.D. Davis (single) had drove in a run before Frazier and Bran- don Nimmo homered on consecu- tive pitches. McNeil hit a solo homer in the second, and Frazier hit his 20th homer of the season, a solo shot, in the third. McNeil then joined Fra- zier in the 20-homer club with a two-run drive in the sixth. The Mets have four players with 20 homers for the fourth time in franchise history. Pete Alonso leads the majors with 47, and Mi- chael Conforto has 29. Matz allowed four hits and three walks and struck out seven. Ray gave up five hits and struck out one. The Mets ended the game with nine runs on 11 hits.

Juan Lagares and Brandon Nimmo celebrated another victory.

KATHY WILLENS/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Mets Throttle,

And Surpass,

The D’backs

METS 9

DIAMONDBACKS 0

By The Associated Press

Major League Baseball hitters have punctuated a power-packed year by shattering the record for most home runs in a season. Jonathan Villar of the Baltimore Orioles did the official honors Wednesday night, connecting for the 6,106th homer that topped a 2- year-old mark. There are plenty more to come, too — the record was broken with 18 days left in the regular season. The rise in home runs during re- cent seasons has been tied to changes in the baseballs that have made them fly farther. Villar’s three-run shot off Caleb Ferguson of the Los Angeles Dodgers at Camden Yards was the 22nd home run of the night. It was Villar’s career-high 21st homer. “Somebody told me after the homer. That’s unbelievable,” Vil- lar said. “That’s impressive for me, not for me, it’s for the team be- cause we hit it here. That’s awe- some. They put the bat in the Hall of Fame. I’m excited for that.” The Orioles have allowed a record 280 homers. “The home runs are up every- where and it’s tough to keep the ball in the ballpark. It’s tough to keep the ball in this ballpark on a humid night when the ball was

traveling,” Baltimore Manager Brandon Hyde said after a 7-3 win. “I’ve seen enough home runs here from the other side so it’s nice to get one from our side.” Mets rookie Pete Alonso leads the majors with 47 home runs. The Minnesota Twins top the majors with 277 after Jorge Polanco connected in the third inning against Washington ace Stephen Strasburg at Target Field. The Twins’ total is the most for a team in a single season. In August, big league batters broke the monthly home run record for the third time this year when they hit 1,228 home runs, the Elias Sports Bureau said. That surpassed the 1,142 in June and 1,135 in May. There were 5,585 home runs last year. In 2017, Alex Gordon hit the record-breaking 5,694th homer of the season. That topped the mark set in 2000 at the height of the ster- oids era.

Home Run Record Falls

With 18 Days Left to Play

The Orioles help

break a record, in

more ways than one.

By The Associated Press

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