Arizona Diamondbacks:

The Arizona Diamondbacks have really shot out of the gate this season, starting the season off with a 38-34 winning record good enough for the #1 spot in their National League West division. This season, they are not led entirely by legendary pitcher Randy Johnson, but mainly by the young Cy Young Award winning All-Star, Brandon Webb, who has had a great start to this season himself. Webb is currently the pitching leader in wins in professional baseball this season with 11 wins in addition to his solid 75 strikeouts. The D-backs are led at the plate by unproven outfielder Chris Young, who currently has a solid .235 batting average resulting in 12 home runs and 31 runs batted in thus far this season. Tickets are selling quickly as the Arizona Diamondbacks hope to carry this early success all the way to the playoffs and ending with a National League pennant and hopefully a World Series Championship.

In the 2001 World Series, the Arizona Diamondbacks rode their pair of ace starting pitchers to victory against the New York Yankees starting their three season championship draught. In the 2002 season, the D-Backs won the NL West again with a 98-64 record. This time the Diamondbacks were eliminated by the St. Louis Cardinals in the first round, while their divisional foe, the San Francisco Giants, made their way to the World Series and lost to the Anaheim Angels in six games. Last season proved to be a painful season in all senses of the word, both of the D-Back’s aces went down for substantial amounts of games. With their pitching staff hurting, the Diamondbacks only pulled out an 84-78 record, finishing third in the NL West, 16.5 games out of first place.

Change was in the air for the Diamondbacks and the team realized they needed to move one of their aces. So in November of 2003, Arizona traded Curt Schilling to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for pitchers Casey Fossum, Brandon Lyon, Jorge De La Rosa, and a player to be named later. The team also brought in slugging first baseman Richie Sexon and left handed pitcher Shane Nance from the Milwaukee Brewers for Craig Counsell, Lyle Overbay and Junior Spivey. The team also signed former All-Star second baseman Roberto Alomar to a one year contract.

The lineup is anchored by longtime D-Back left fielder Luis Gonzalez, center fielder Steve Finley, and third baseman Shea Hillenbrand. Gonzalez batted .304 with 26 home runs and 104 runs batted in during the ’03 campaign. The team will look for Sexon to add a much needed pop to the middle of their lineup.
The pitching staff is lead by the intimidating left-handed Randy Johnson who only started 18 games and had a 6-8 record with a 4.26 earned run average. Fellow starters include super soph Brandon Webb, who was thought by many to be last year’s rookie of the year, Casey Daigle, Elmer Dessens, and journeyman Steve Sparks. The bullpen is lead by the one-two punch of hard throwing right handers Jose Valverde and Matt Mantei. Mantei will open up the season as the closer but Valverde will be trying to wrestle the closer job away from him. Valverde converted 10 saves in 11 opportunities in 2003 and posted a 2.15 ERA, while Mantei converted 29 saves in 32 opportunities with a 2.62 ERA in another season where he found himself on the disabled list.

The Arizona Diamondbacks take refuge from the desert in Bank One Ballpark, which is also affectionately known as “The Bob.” The Bob is as state of the art as stadiums get in the major leagues. It’s equipped with a retractable roof that will keep the rain and desert sun out and the air conditioning in. Also unique to Bank One Ballpark, is the swimming pool in beyond right-center field. Fans can rent out the Master Card Pool Pavilion and invite 34 of their closest friends for a game and have an experience they will never forget.

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