In a normal year, an early-season loss like the one the Diamondbacks endured on Tuesday night might generate some sense of accomplishment. Despite the outcome, the Diamondbacks did enough good things that they would be able to keep the big picture in mind, secure in the knowledge that some of what happened likely bodes well over the next 140 or so games.
But after falling 8-7 to the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo did not seem to view things that way. If anything, he sounded as if he were trying to talk himself into that perspective while he met with reporters after the game, even though he knew the club had around 100 fewer games left than in a typical season.