This year marks the ten-year anniversary of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ World Series triumph in an epic Fall Classic victory over the New York Yankees.Â
Few would have predicted a re-match heading into this season. While the Yankees were always going to be a contender, the D-Backs looked like being anything but. Indeed, I predicted they would finish last in the National League West division.
Not for the first time – and surely not for the last – my prediction has turned out to be completely wrong. Arizona currently lead the San Francisco Giants in the NL West and an excellent August has set up what could be a successful September.
My prediction was based on sound evidence. The D-Backs had propped up the rest in the West in the previous two seasons and the 2010 campaign was particularly miserable in the desert.Â
Manager A.J. Hinch and General Manager Josh Byrnes both received their marching orders in July as their team sunk towards a 97-loss season. The bullpen was historically terrible and the decision to trade ace starting pitcher Dan Haren to the Los Angeles Angels midway through the year didn’t exactly increase levels of optimism that the team would be competing for a playoff place any time soon.
Kirk Gibson and Kevin Towers filled the Manager and General Manager positions in what appeared to be the start of rebuilding process. Veterans Mark Reynolds (traded to the Baltimore Orioles) and Adam LaRoche (departing as a free agent) left the team over the offseason and there were even rumours that their young star Justin Upton was being dangled as potential trade bait.Â
The decision to keep hold of Upton – and by all accounts he would have only been dealt if the D-Backs had received a knockout return – showed that Towers believed this team could contend again quicker than others thought. Upton has been Arizona’s best offensive player as they have surprisingly shot to the top of the division and given themselves a great chance of making the postseason.Â
Arizona also gained two keystones to their success in two related trades.
Ian Kennedy was acquired from the Yankees back in December 2009 in a three-team trade also involving the Detroit Tigers. The D-Backs received Edwin Jackson from Detroit as part of the deal and – after he pitched a no-hitter for the team – they then flipped him to the White Sox at the 30 July 2010 trade deadline for Daniel Hudson. Kennedy and Hudson have pitched brilliantly for Arizona at the top of their rotation and the signs are good that they will give the team two quality starters to build around for several years to come.
There’s no doubt that the competition in the NL West this year gave the D-Backs an opportunity. The Padres have gone into rebuilding mode, the Dodgers and Rockies both have some star players but haven’t put together strong seasons, while the average offence of the reigning World Series champion Giants has made them vulnerable to an attack.
Arizona took full advantage in August, going 19-10 and showing a streaky tendency, winning six in a row, then losing six in a row before going on a nine-game winning streak to end the month. Although their roster doesn’t look as formidable as the Phillies or Braves on paper, if the D-Backs can hold off the Giants and then go on one of their positive streaks in the postseason, they might just recreate that 2001 World Series classic.
Seeing-eye singles
One additional point on the D-Backs’ season. While their performance last year was one of the key reasons for my pessimistic prognosis, perhaps I should have looked more closely at the organization’s short history. The last time the D-Backs lost 97 games was in their debut season of 1998. In 1999 they won 100 games.
The Detroit Tigers’ incredible comeback against the White Sox on Saturday – recovering from a 7-0 deficit and winning the game with two home runs in the ninth inning – may have dealt the final blow in Chicago’s challenge. As the commentator on Fox put it: “there are back-breakers and there are back-breakers. This game is a back-breakerâ€.
Whenever a player hits a home run in their first Major League at-bat, it’s always a great moment. When they do it on the first pitch they see, it’s even better. When the batter in question is actually a pitcher, well that’s just ridiculous. It was a great attempt by the Nationals’ Tom Milone to try and upstage the return of another Washington pitcher. However, something tells me even that homer won’t steal Stephen Strasburg’s thunder when he returns from Tommy John surgery on Tuesday.
If you missed Jayson Stark’s article on ESPN.com about how technology – specifically the iPad – is changing baseball, you definitely need to give it a look.
It’s hard to believe that its been ten years. I guess most of my memories from that season have absolutely nothing to do with that world series. TO this day I don’t think I have watched a replay of games four and five, in part because the Yankees lost that Series. I don’t even think that I’ve watched game three, where President Bush through out the first pitch. I just can’t bring myself to watch it. Especially since the Diamond Backs ruined what would have been a storybook ending. Atleast as far as most sports fans in this country were concerned.
As I write this, it is ten years to the day since the attacks happened. As a fan, most of my memories revolve around how baseball served as a much welcomed escape from the News about the invasion and Terrorism Threat Levels. I can remember how the game itself provided a distraction from the grim scenes taking place at ground zero. In those first few weeks after the tradgedy, baseball became a haven where people didn’t have to worry about the world.
I can remember Mike Piaza’s walk-off homer against the Braves at the Old Shea Stadium the first night back. I can remember on that same night in Boston, fans sang “I love New York” in the eight inning instead of Sweat Caroline as they normally do. I can remember Paul McCartney, who helped organized a concert at Carnegie Hall that features such artists as Paul Simon and THE WHO, sitting in the stands during game four against the Mariners and drinking a bottle of Budweiser. And I can remember the following night when the Yanks wrapped up the series, when the fan finally let it go emotionally. After everything that had happened in the previous five weeks fans simply needed to let go.
Hi Joe. Good to hear from you again, and particularly to read your thoughts on all that took place a decade ago.