Old-school Torey Lovullo doesn't care what anybody says about his player substitutions

Torey Lovullo is one of the longest-tenured managers in the wild, wild West, so it’s only right that he’s sticking to his guns on heavily scrutinized decisions on player substitutions.

“I am prepared to get booed,” he said after a controversial move early in the National League Championship Series against the Philadelphia Phillies.

“I am prepared to get second-guessed. It's my job. I sit in the seat, and that happens. I don't mind it. (Winning) a baseball game, and that's all I care about.”

The second-guessing has been the first order of business for Diamondbacks fans, and there have been plenty of moves to argue over.

Lovullo pinch hit for veteran postseason protagonist Evan Longoria in a key moment in Game 1.

He brought in a reliever for Merrill Kelly after he struck out Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper in Game 2.

He had an early hook for Brandon Pfaadt who hadn’t allowed a run over 5 2/3 innings in Game 3.

He went through pitchers like the Kardashians go through shoes in Game 4.

In Game 5, he benched Tommy Pham for Pavin Smith.

And there’s no telling what he’ll do Monday in a win-or-go-home Game 6.

Lovullo, for his part, stands on every move, regardless of what anyone else has to say about it, and the Diamondbacks are headed back to Philadelphia two wins away from the club's first World Series appearance in a generation; so he must be doing something right.

“I want everybody to know … that we have a strategy,” he said. “I have a strategy for everything that's done. Everything that's done has been well-talked about.”

The approach feels decidedly new-school, which might come as a surprise from a baseball lifer such as Lovullo.

He was drafted out of UCLA in 1986, and he spent the next 15 years bouncing around infields from Toledo to Tokyo and from Oakland to Anaheim.

Lovullo started managing in the minors at 36 years old before finally getting a shot with the Red Sox when he was nearly 50. In Boston, as an interim skipper for the last two months of the 2015 season, Lovullo worked with certified sluggers like Hanley Ramirez and David Ortiz.

You’d forgive the guy if he was all “baseball is 90 percent mental, and the other half is physical” in his approach to running the Diamondbacks over the last seven years.

But Lovullo has embraced a decision-making process that involves taking in as much information as he and his staff can process about player tendencies and statistical trends.

If he has to make a call on a when to remove a pitcher or replace a hitter or whether to ask his guys to steal a base, you can rest assured that Lovullo won’t be making that decision based on how he feels in a given moment.

Fans and observers (such as the guy writing these words) might want him to leave Pfaadt in until he either pitches a shutout or gets beaten by Kyle Schwarber, but Lovullo isn’t about to play that game.

And Hollywood screenwriters (and the sports columnist writing these words) might leave Longoria in to face a flame-throwing right-handed reliever, even if the metrics might suggest it’s not the best idea, but Lovullo is going to trust his process, which involves making decisions in his office before the game, “when there’s limited emotion and limited stimulus.”

He still knows how to trust his gut. “It's not just analytics,” Lovullo said. “I know how quickly playoff baseball can change.”

It’s just that his gut usually tells him to trust his head.

Hate it or love it, you’ve got to respect it.

Lovullo isn’t some 30-year-old hotshot with an Excel spreadsheet and a goofy algorithm. He’s an old-school, dyed-in-the-wool, “Bull Durham” and “Field of Dreams” baseball guy who’s figured out a way to stay up with the times, rather than getting stuck in the past.

“I love baseball,” he said. “And I was taught the game by my parents, by my grandparents, and I am extremely traditional, but I've got to be able to change hats and help us win baseball games and make tough decisions.”

Besides, he likes it like this. Lovullo is in his first NLCS, and he’s up against a bunch of high-paid, and highly motivated brutes who occasionally hit home runs by flexing their muscles and scaring the ball over the fence.

This series demands Lovullo’s full attention. He’s got to hit every button in the right order and at the right time or else Simon says the Dbacks don’t stand a chance.

“I think what we rely on,” Lovullo said, “is just having a high baseball IQ, winning the margins, and executing at a high level no matter what the circumstance is … it's an entire engagement by the entire team, and everybody is all in.”

The approach has made Lovullo one of the longest-tenured managers in the wild, wild West, and it’s given him the confidence to stick to his guns on the toughest of decisions.

Hate it or love it, you’ve got to respect it — especially since it’s been working.

Reach Moore at gmoore@azcentral.com or 602-444-2236. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @SayingMoore.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Torey Lovullo says he's 'prepared to get booed' on game strategy