Bauer-Montero rift isn't a good sign for Diamondbacks
As badly as Thursday night's 4-1 loss to the visiting Dodgers had to feel for the Arizona Diamondbacks -- it pushed their losing streak to a season-high six games -- more problems seem to be lurking right around the corner.
Before the game, rookie right-hander Trevor Bauer held court with reporters and during a lengthy interview, he didn't sound the least bit humbled despite two unimpressive starts in the majors that have left him with an 0-1 record and a 9.82 ERA.
In his home debut Tuesday, a 9-5 loss to the Padres, Bauer repeatedly shook off pitch suggestions from catcher Miguel Montero. It visibly irritated Montero, and Bauer said Thursday he planned to have a meeting that very day with the catcher to try to "get on the same page."
Only it didn't sound as if Bauer was reading form the same book when he said, "We're going to have a meeting and talk about how he likes to call a game and how I like to call a game and just find some middle ground. I haven't thrown to him very much and the way I throw when I'm most effective is drastically different than the way most people throw."
Asked after Thursday's loss if he had such a meeting with Bauer and how it went, Montero looked confused.
"What meeting? I don't know anything about it," he said. "He knows where my locker is if he wants to come talk to me. ... I'm not in the mood right now to talk about Bauer."
Earlier, when asked if he should lean more on Montero's pitch-calling ability simply because the catcher has been around and knows major league hitters, Bauer, who pitches again on Sunday, shrugged.
"I throw completely different in the sense that I don't try to throw to hitters' weaknesses, I throw to my strengths," he said. "My approach is really hitter independent; it doesn't matter who is at the plate. I'm going to throw to my strengths."
He also boldly declared he will continue to throw pitches up in the strike zone rather than down in the strike zone, saying, "Ninety-five percent of the hard-hit balls are balls in the bottom of the strike zone. When I'm executing, throwing fastballs at the top of the zone, I have never been hit consistently."
Told of Bauer's comments, manager Kirk Gibson brushed most of them off and suggested Bauer will "live and learn" now that he's in the majors.
"If he continues to have bad results, he will change," Gibson said. "If not, he won't be here. It's no different than anybody else.
"We're not going to sit him down after two starts and tell him we want you do this and this and this. It's a process. And you know what? If he keeps getting his tail beat, he's GOING to change, I've got news for you."
