Torey Lovullo on Turning Around the NLCS Starting in Game 3

The Diamondbacks could very well be playing for their season tomorrow after two awful losses in Philadelphia to begin the National League Championship Series. They face an uphill battle to get back in the series, but they'll have a chance to play the next three games at home. Manager Torey Lovullo believes that one well-played win could be enough to get them back in the groove and on the winning path again.

"You know, our mindset is one game, one win -- one well-played game could lead to one win, and we're right back in the series. It's a long journey. We're taking that mindset, and we have to just play our best game tomorrow and see where that takes us."

That's the mindset this team will need to take moving forward. Down 2-0 in a best of seven series, the D-backs' thin margin for error just got smaller. Lovullo will need to manage with the same level of urgency as the Wild Card and Division Series, or there will be no tomorrow. At the same time, the players will need to execute better. That means having better at-bats, landing pitches to the right spots, and playing air-tight defense. Every mistake they've made in the series has been punished by the battle-tested Phillies, and their roster filled with players that have played on baseball's biggest stage in recent years.

"The Phillies are a good team. They're a veteran team. They've made adjustments throughout the course of the year. They're well-coached, and that's really the name of the game. They've gotten better through the course of the year."

Lovullo believes the D-backs, who have had to fight through much the second half of the regular season to make the postseason, are ready to handle that challenge.

"We've been playing meaningful baseball games probably for the past 45 days, so we're battle-tested from an emotional standpoint. We know that one quick turn, one quick moment can turn the tides in anything."

For the D-backs to have any prayer of getting back in the series, it starts tomorrow in Game 3. Lovullo says to expect the Phillies to come in with their best game of the series, and his team will need to send them a message that this series isn't over. Whether that message comes from a shutdown pitching performance or a big night at the plate, the message to Philadelphia needs to be made loud and clear. If not, expect this series to be finished before the Phillies leave town Saturday.