Why TBS announcer and World Series winner Ron Darling is 'energized' by the Diamondbacks

Ron Darling, the TBS baseball analyst who is calling the National League Championship Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Philadelphia Phillies, obviously loves the game.

But even he is human. The Phillies spanked Arizona 10-0 in Game 2, to take a two-game lead in the best-of seven series.

“I think once it became maybe 6-nothing I might have lost some interest,” Darling said, laughing. To be fair, he also said he was “energized” by Merrill Kelly’s pitching performance and that “he made a fan out of me for life.”

So there’s that.

In fact Darling went out of his way to praise the Diamondbacks generally throughout the broadcast, looking ahead to Game 3 — so much so that I wondered, did he believe it, or was he just selling the game?

“I'm sure that people would like you to sell it more,” Darling said. “I believe in this team.”

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What channel is the NLCS game on tonight?

Game 3 of the NLCS is scheduled for 2:07 p.m. Arizona time on Thursday, Oct. 19, at Chase Field in Phoenix. Darling will call the game, along with Brian Anderson and Jeff Francoeur.

He worked the Diamondbacks’ previous series, their sweep of the LA Dodgers in the National League Division Series, with Bob Costas.

Darling is a fan.

“It's an honor to be in the same booth as someone like Bob,” Darling said. “Bob has done and forgotten about more sports than I've done. So it's an honor to be there with him in the booth. And also he has a different kind of style. So his style, because he has such a gift of the language, he’s able to tell these amazing stories and tie them all together. … No one can do that, or anything like that, like him. He's just one of our great storytellers of all time.”

Now he’s back in the booth with Anderson and Francoeur, with whom he’s worked many times.

“I really think of them as kind of brothers,” Darling said. “I’m the older brother, of course.”

That means he plays a different role with them.

“I feel like I have a responsibility for some leadership in that booth, because I’ve been doing it for a long, long time,” he said. “And so I'm probably a little more proactive, as opposed to working with Bob, which is, you know, you don't get to work with greatness that often, and I just tried to add whatever I can to what what he brings.”

Darling thinks the DBacks can win but 'the bats have to get going'

Darling laughed at the idea that, as Diamondbacks fans believed, Costas was rooting for the Dodgers — or that as Dodgers fans thought, he was rooting for the Diamondbacks.

“I was doing a series — I'll leave the teams out of it — but I was doing a series and the entire team and their ownership group and everyone involved with this team was staying at the same hotel we were staying at, the broadcasters,” Darling said. “It was an LCS, I believe.

“And when we would come in that hotel, and their team had won, people were clapping us on our back. ‘Do you need a drink? Would you like a beer?’ It was so nice and so familiar. And it was, you know, wow, this is crazy. And then the next night they lost, and it was the walk of shame like no other through that lobby, as the folks kind of had their heads down.”

Like any announcer, Darling is rooting for a good game. And he sounds like he believes there are some in store coming up, despite the hole Arizona finds itself in. Of course, it’s going to take some offense.

“At some point the bats have to get going, because you're gonna have to match some of their thunder,” Darling said. “You might not have to score 10. But you're going to have to match some of the thunder, especially early, and I think in your own ballpark.”

Darling would know. He was a pitcher on the 1986 New York Mets, who won the World Series.

"Listen, I played on a team that lost the first two games in the World Series at home and won the World Series,” he said. “There’s no one that that can tell you that you can’t come from off the mat. That is an absolute.”

We’ll find out soon enough.

How can I watch the Diamondbacks vs. Phillies?

Thursday, Oct. 19: Philadelphia at Arizona, Game 3, 2:07 p.m. on TBS.

Friday, Oct. 20: Philadelphia at Arizona, Game 4, 5:07 p.m. on TBS.

Saturday, Oct. 21: Philadelphia at Arizona, Game 5 (if necessary), 5:07 p.m. on TBS.

Monday, Oct. 23: Arizona at Philadelphia, Game 6 (if necessary), 2:07 p.m. on TBS.

Tuesday, Oct. 24 Arizona at Philadelphia, Game 7 (if necessary), 5:07 p.m.

Listen to the games on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Ron Darling knows World Series comebacks. DBacks gotta start swinging