2009 DIAMONDBACKS SEASON PREVIEW - PART II
* 2001: A BASEBALL ODYSSEY - If their first three years were an exercise in the improbable, then 2001 saw the Diamondbacks achieve the unthinkable. Bolstered by the additions of Mark Grace and Reggie Sanders, Arizona played a magical season, regularly winning games late and in dramatic fashion. The Snakes' stars dominated the batting and pitching leaderboards. Gonzalez -- now "Gonzo" to his adoring fans -- hit .325 / .429 / .688 with 57 HR and 142 RBI, marks that would have earned him an MVP but for the eye-popping performances of Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa. Co-aces Johnson and Schilling combined for 43 wins and 665 Ks in 506.1 IP, with the only sub-3.00 ERAs among NL starters.
The amazing season was epitomized by its final moments, which played out like a kid's backyard baseball fantasy. Against the three-time defending champion New York Yankees, Schilling (7.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 9 K) pitched deep into Game 7 of the 2001 World Series and entered the 7th inning with a 1-1 tie. The Yankees claimed a 2-1 lead on Alfonso Soriano's solo HR to lead off the 8th and a David Justice single with one out chased Schilling from the game. Miguel Batista came on to retire Derek Jeter on his only pitch, then gave way to Johnson, who set down Chuck Knobloch despite throwing 7 IP to win Game 6 only the night before. Facing the middle of their opponents' lineups, Yankees' closer Mariano Rivera gave up a single but struck out the side in the bottom of the 8th before Johnson followed-up by retiring all three New York batters to open the 9th.
Still down by a run, the Diamondbacks' 7-8-9 hitters seemed to be overmatched against Rivera entering the bottom of the 9th. But Grace led off the inning with a clean single and was rewarded with a massive ovation as David Dellucci replaced him on the base paths. The raucous Arizona crowd shook the stadium and perhaps the nerves of the otherwise unflappable Rivera. The Sandman then fielded Damian Miller's sacrifice bunt attempt, but drew an E1 on a throw wide of 2B, exposing Jeter to a cleat-on-ankle collision at the bag. Bell, by then relegated to pinch-hitting duties, reached and moved pinch-runner Midre Cummings to 2B on a force out of the lead runner Dellucci. Next up was Womack, who doubled down the RF line to plate Cummings with the tying run, as Bell advanced to 3B. The game knotted at 2-2, Rivera then drilled Craig Counsell to load the bases for Gonzalez. Finally, Gonzalez served a Rivera pitch for a soft single over the head of the drawn-in Jeter, scoring Bell with the winning run. Thus, the four-year old Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the juggernaut New York Yankees to win the World Series faster than any club in history.
* TAKING STOCK - If Colangelo & Co. hoped to grab and keep the attention of fans, well ... mission accomplished. No one who witnessed it can deny the dizzying heights to which the club rose. In only four years, the Diamondbacks went from chumps to champs and made it look easy. Operating under the premise that anything was possible, they proved it to be so. In the process, Arizona established its claim on the hearts and minds of the first generation of Diamondbacks Nation.
Perhaps the most amazing part of the story is that Arizona did all this with a roster full of players who ought to have been well past the primes of their careers. The 2001 rotation was led by Johnson (37) and Schilling (34). The starting lineup featured Grace (37), Finley (36), Bell (35), Williams (35), and no regulars under the age of 30. With the exception of embattled closer Byung-Hyun Kim (22), youthful players without ties to other ML clubs (Erubiel Durazo (27), Junior Spivey (26) and Rod Barajas (25)) appeared only in cameo roles. For an organization so young, the Diamondbacks on the field were very, very old.
Of course, such a veteran-laden roster was hugely expensive. On a payroll in the hundreds of millions of dollars -- and absent the revenues enjoyed by teams in the largest media markets -- the Diamondbacks financed their miracle run by deferring salary commitments on a promise to pay with interest. So the cost of the 2001 title was a mortgage on the future future of the franchise, an enormous debt of which some $58M remains on the books to this day.
The Snakes gambled big and won big ... for a time. But the Baseball Gods are fickle. They tend not to bless any team for long with such outrageous good fortune. And having spoiled Arizona and its fans with incredible success, they had lessons to teach us about failure and redemption.
After years of living on borrowed time and borrowed money like Johnny Ryall, the Diamondbacks were due for a nasty hangover. In our next installment of the 2009 season preview, we'll remember the big comedown from those glorious days and consider some blessings in disguise that may have yet to reveal themselves in full.
2009 DIAMONDBACKS SEASON PREVIEW: PART I - PART II - PART III - PART IV
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