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Cam's Comments: Diamondbacks' Torey Lovullo's way still works

Arizona Diamondbacks' manager Torey Lovullo just became the team's winningest manager of all time. Here's how he did it.

PHOENIX — It’s crazy to think about and it probably caught some of you by surprise, but Arizona Diamondbacks' manager Torey Lovullo is now the team’s all-time winningest manager.

Lovullo passed former Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson, who previously held the title, after their 9-3 win over the Marlins Tuesday night.

The list of names he’s ahead of is a who's who of baseball managers. Three of them currently still have head jobs today including the first D-backs manager, Buck Showalter, who is with the New York Mets, Bob Melvin who is leading San Diego, and AJ Hinch who is Detroit’s skipper.

Lovullo even has more wins in Arizona than World Series winning manager, Bob Brenly.

Anybody remember win number one back in 2017? The D-backs walked it off on Opening Day to beat the San Francisco Giants 6-5. It was Lovullo’s first win as a full-time manager. He had worked the previous six years as the bench coach in Boston and Toronto under John Farrell.

It also came just 3-months after his dad Sam Lovullo passed away at the age of 88.

RELATED: MLB umpire apologizes after ejecting D-backs star Bumgarner

Lovullo has survived longer than any other manager here. So how does someone with only one playoff appearance in nearly six seasons still have a job?

Peace, love, loyalty and keeping it real.

Good coaches will tell you that good players make them better coaches. Good players will tell you that good coaches make them better as players.

Listening to the two longest tenured D-backs, outfielder David Peralta and shortstop Nick Ahmed, talk in the locker room after win number 354, you get a clear picture as to how much better a good coach has made them—and it started with turning the clubhouse into a family.

Sound familiar? It’s the same thing Suns head coach Monty Williams did across the street. Family, relationships and culture come first.

While Lovullo’s teams haven’t shared the same success, they do share the same environments and that’s a quality foundation to build any successful organization on.

Now we’re seeing that foundation thrive. With a solid mix of new, old and more young talent on the way, the D-Backs are playing some of their best baseball in years in the hardest division in the league.

Maybe it’s time to start talking about ending the playoffs drought? Or maybe it's too soon, but this team is on that path.

Coming into this year, Lovullo’s squad was coming off the second worst season in team history. Lovullo was entering the final year of his contract and many fans were calling for him to be fired—they were really bad last season.

But the team stuck by Lovullo.

They gave him a one year prove-it-extension and all Lovullo has done is show why his way still works.

Thoughts are my comments, let me hear yours on twitter @camcox12 or send me an email.

RELATED: Trevor Bauer, former Diamondbacks player, suspended 2 seasons over alleged sex assault

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