Gibson: Bauer and Montero on same page

July 8, 2012: Diamondbacks vs. Dodgers pre-game

For manager Kirk Gibson, it’s always team first. Yes, he
wants his players
to succeed, but not at the expense of the team.

Which brings us to today’s starter, Trevor Bauer.

There’s been much talk this week about Bauer and the
relationship he and
catcher Miguel Montero have after Bauer repeatedly shook
off Montero
during their last outing together.

“I think we’re really in good position to have a good
outing,” said Gibson. “I
think we’re all on the same page going in to the start
today, better than we
have been in the first two. Yes, I do. We’ve had good
communication. We
talked a lot about it. We understand him and he
understands some of the
things we want to do.”

Bauer has not pitched more than four innings in either of
his first two big
league starts.

“I know that he’s prepared extremely hard for this start
today,” continued
Gibson. “We all know he’s got good stuff. We just want
to try and
understand what he wants to do in certain situations and
maybe offer some
reasons why he might want to change that up occassionally.
If you do the
same thing all the time, they will figure it out and
they’ll sit on it.

“We had a lot of dialogue—all of us together, and it was
very good. He’s
growing up. He’s maturing. He’s trying to get better.

“The reality is our goal is to get our starters to go as
deep into the game as
we can and give us a chance to win. That’s the goal.”

—

Despite driving in a pair of runs Saturday night, Gerardo
Parra is not in the
lineup Sunday. Instead, Chris Young is back in his
familiar spot in center
field.

“I know he’s going to play” said Gibson of Parra.

“Can I lay it out and say he’s going to play three days
and CY is going to
play two; and then we’ll play him one day and CY’s going
to play—I can’t
lay it out.

“You just kind of look ahead. See what your match-ups
are. See how guys
are swinging, playing. Who’s playing better, makes us
better, (then) he’ll
play.”

Parra is hitting .375 (6-for-16) in his last five games.
Young, meanwhile,
continues to struggle since returning off the disabled
list with just one hit
in his last 22 at-bats (.045) in his last seven games.

—

Speaking of looking ahead, a stretch of 20 straight games
awaits the
Diamondbacks following the All-Star break.

It begins with a seven-game road trip, stopping first in
Chicago before
moving on to Cincinnati. The D-backs are then home for 10
games in a
row that will see them host Houston, Colorado and the New
York Mets.

The Diamondbacks do not have an off day until August 2.

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