How rainouts impacted D-backs' routines
This story was excerpted from Steve Gilbert’s D-backs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
CHICAGO -- You know the weather had to be pretty bad in New York on Saturday for the Yankees to announce the postponement before it even hit 9 a.m. in the Big Apple.
Some players came to the ballpark anyway and got some hitting done in the underground batting cage, some came on and got their strength workouts in while some pitchers came in to throw.
Zach Davies had been scheduled to start Saturday’s game and even though he knew the forecast looked ominous, he still went to bed Friday night with the mindset that he was going to have to pitch Saturday.
When he woke up Saturday morning, he got the word that the game was postponed, and he elected not to go to the ballpark to throw because he knew that the D-backs would want to keep ace Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly on their regular turns so they would pitch Sunday and Monday.
So, Davies -- like a lot of his teammates -- took advantage of the day to get out and try to enjoy an off-day in New York.
“It definitely throws us for a little bit of a loop,” Kelly said of the schedule changes this past week. “Luckily, I've had some friends in town, my wife's here and we've got some kind of friends from back home. So [Saturday] was actually kind of nice getting a little impromptu off-day and kind of being able to roam the city with them. But yeah, it's definitely an unusual experience.”
Kelly is a creature of habit, but he spent the days trying to keep things simple, making sure he knew when he next would throw if a game was postponed, and not looking too far ahead.
“As far as like throwing off routines and stuff, I feel like at this point of the year, at least for me this point of the year you’ve got to kind of roll with the punches,” Kelly said. “This time of year, I'm more open to kind of deviating from the normal routine just based on how my body feels anyways.”
Senior Reporter Steve Gilbert has covered the D-backs for MLB.com since 2001.