D-Backs cruising into 1st-ever Series

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Originally published October 23

PHOENIX -- The Arizona Diamondbacks arrived early Monday morning to a city in the early stages of its first dose of World Series euphoria.

"We landed here at 3 in the morning and the ballpark was just surrounded by fans, waiting to buy tickets and out by the gate cheering as guys left," general manager Joe Garagiola Jr. said. "That was just tremendous."

Ticket windows at Bank One Ballpark were open through the night. Saturday's Game 1 and Sunday's Game 2 were sold out by 5:30 a.m.

The team took Monday off, but planned a workout at the ballpark free to the public tonight.

"The guys will be on the field stretching around 6, then it will be a regular batting-infield practice situation," Garagiola said. "It's kind of a thing for the fans."

The National League championship trophy will be on display in the ballpark rotunda during the workout.

Garagiola said the plane ride was relatively quiet after the raucous celebration in the Atlanta. But Craig Counsell, the National League championship series MVP, begged to differ.

"Joe clearly never made it to the back of the plane," Counsell said. "The Mark Grace sing-a-long and dance party didn't end until we landed in Arizona. We had a lot of fun on the plane, trust me."

Not surprisingly, manager Bob Brenly said he was leaning toward starting Curt Schilling in Game 1, with Randy Johnson going in Game 2, the same order that Arizona used in the division series and NLCS.

"Always subject to change, but it seems to have worked pretty well up to this point," Brenly said. Schilling and Johnson are a combined 5-1 in the postseason.

Miguel Batista is the projected starter for Game 3. Brenly wouldn't say who would be the Game 4 starter until he talked to the players involved. The comment was a hint that he may start Brian Anderson instead of Albie Lopez, who has struggled in his two postseason starts.

Brenly hopes to continue to avoid having to use either Schilling or Johnson on three days' rest instead of the normal four, although he wouldn't rule it out in an extreme situation.

"One thing that people who clamor to bring Randy and Curt back on three days' rest don't realize is that those guys on three days' rest are not the same pitchers that they are on four days' rest," Brenly said. "They're both power guys. They need their fastballs. They need to have that velocity to set up the rest of their arsenal."

Brenly said he would stage intrasquad games on Wednesday and Thursday "so the pitchers can get their work in against live hitters and the hitters can see some live hitting. Friday we'll go back to a more normal pregame routine."

As normal as a World Series workout can be for a franchise that made it to baseball's biggest stage in just four years, the quickest in major league history.

Brenly said the team can use the time off.

"I think it was big not only for the pitchers but it was big for the entire ballclub," he said. "These last couple of weeks have been more emotionally draining than physically draining. I think it will do all the guys good to get home and sleep in their own beds for a couple of days and relax with their kids."

The Olympian Copyright 2001

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