La Russa to D-backs: Challenge yourself
Jul 13, 2016, 3:00 PM
Arizona Diamondbacks Chief Baseball Officer Tony La Russa, right, talks to the media during a press conference introducing new pitcher Zack Greinke, Friday, Dec. 11, 2015, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
(AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
With 72 games remaining in their season and the All-Star festivities over, it’s back to reality for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
When asked what the number one goal for the second half of the season is, D-backs chief baseball officer Tony La Russa is more concerned with how the players respond to their disappointing first half than the overall record.
“I just don’t think you can say winning,” La Russa said on the Doug and Wolf show on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. “Challenge yourself, eye in the sky, you know, why are we losing?
“I think it’s really, really important that, I know Chip and the coaches are going to try to attack this and the players have to respond, you know, you cannot get discouraged.”
The D-backs went into the All-Star break at 38-52, which is 19 games behind the NL West-leading San Francisco Giants and 10 games back in the NL Wild Card race.
Being 14 games under .500 can cause ballclubs to panic, but La Russa feels the team is more than what their record shows.
“I think the potential of the club is there,” he said. “I think in the end, our execution in all phases of the game at critical times has not been good enough and that’s something that we can improve because we have talent, guys have plenty of experience.”
Although La Russa isn’t down on the field, he knows he has played a role in the team’s poor performance.
“I take direct responsibility for some of the execution issues we have because evidently I haven’t done enough,” he said. “We’re not good enough because we aren’t executing.”
