D-backs GM: Only title belongs to Cardinals

The Arizona Diamondbacks won the NL West in 2011, and
that’s
all well and good.

But now it’s 2012, and what happened last year will have
zero impact on the team’s chances to repeat as division
champs and advance in the playoffs.

“The only title, really, that anybody owns is really the
Cardinals,” D-backs GM Kevin Towers told Arizona Sports
620’s Doug and Wolf. “They’re the defending World Series
champs.”

Towers said the D-backs turned the page as soon as the
2011
season ended in Milwaukee. They had no other choice.

“It was an enjoyable season last year, but this is a new
one,” he said, “and I’m looking forward to the new
journey.”

That journey officially begins Friday at Chase Field when
the D-backs host the San Francisco Giants in the regular
season opener, a game that begins a season many think
could
end in the World Series.

But Towers isn’t placing expectations like that on his
team, at least not externally.

“We need to play with the same intensity that we did last
year,” he said. “We think, on paper, we’re a better
ballclub.

“I like to win 15 games a month; for sixth months that
works out for 90 wins, and usually 90 wins is good enough
to get in the playoffs.”

And reaching the playoffs, Towers said, is the
goal. Do that, and the team will have another shot at
winning “the only title.”

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