azdad1978
Championship!!!!
Bob McManaman
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 5, 2005 12:00 AM
As the season took flight . . . it landed with a resounding thud.
Just like the poor bird that fell out of the air for some reason in the second inning of Monday's Opening Day disaster at Bank One Ballpark.
After getting blasted by the Chicago Cubs 16-6 in front of 45,539 - less than 4,000 shy of a sellout - the Diamondbacks can only dream the season ends the same way it did the last time a bird ran afoul with this baseball team.
Randy Johnson once made a pillowcase full of feathers out of a dove during a spring training outing in 2001, as the fowl crossed paths with a Big Unit fastball, and eight months later, the Diamondbacks won their first World Series.
Right now, the 2005 version will just settle for their first win.
"It felt like three losses, but it only counts as one, so that's the bright side," Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said after the Cubs pounded Arizona pitching for 23 hits and set a new club standard for the most runs scored on Opening Day.
Derrek Lee (4 for 6 with five RBIs) and Aramis Ramirez (3 for 4, four RBIs) led the hit parade for the Cubs, who had their fair share of fans in the stadium.
"I'm sure their hitting coach (Gene Clines) and (manager) Dusty (Baker) are pretty happy over there," Diamondbacks left fielder Luis Gonzalez, the lone returning starter in the field from last year's Opening Day lineup, said about the Cubs' hot bats.
Not everybody in a Cubs uniform was perfectly pleased.
Starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano, who had made fairly quick work of a retooled Diamondbacks lineup that was supposed to pack a mighty punch, left the game in a huff after being pulled by Baker in the fifth. Zambrano felt he was getting squeezed in the strike zone by umpire Dale Scott.
Scott subsequently ejected Zambrano for arguing - not that it mattered by that point, anyway - and the youngest Cubs pitcher to start a season opener since Joe Niekro in 1968 was denied a decision and a certain victory.
"I told (Scott) he needed glasses, and he tossed me out," said Zambrano, 23, who allowed three runs on seven hits with four walks and eight strikeouts. "I didn't even say a bad word to him or anything else."
Diamondbacks starter Javier Vazquez, meanwhile, said he was "speechless" about his own outing. After allowing seven earned runs on 10 hits in 1 2/3 innings, Vazquez seemed to agree with speculation he might have been tipping his pitches.
If that was the case, however, it doesn't explain the nine other runs and 13 other hits the Cubs collected off three other Arizona pitchers.
"That's why we play 162 games," Gonzalez said. "We'll put this one behind us and come out after it again (today)."
But so will the Cubs and a salivating group of hitters behind future Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux.
"We didn't hit that many home runs today, but we still scored a lot of runs and that's the team we're going to be," said Ramirez, who had one of the two Cubs homers of the day, along with Lee. "Last year, we hit a lot of home runs, and we didn't make the playoffs. We're going to play 'small ball,' a steal here, a hit-and-run there."
View from the press box
With his team trailing by six runs, a runner at third, and Cubs manager Dusty Baker calling for an infield shift a la Barry Bonds, Luis Gonzalez smartly took what Chicago gave him in the third inning and laid down a bunt to push a run home. An unselfish move by a guy who gets paid to swing for the fences.
- Bob McManaman
Voices from Opening Day
Fans speak out about what the season opener means, from Bank One Ballpark:
"It's the kickoff of summer. We're fortunate enough to get away from work for a day, and that's a nice thing, but it's nice to be out there with the weather the way it is. . . . Skipping work? Actually, we're having a sales meeting here."
- Brian Wills, 39, Phoenix
"I'm playing hooky from school. It's really fun and exciting to be here for Opening Day. They should have left the roof open."
- Gabby Selna, 14, Clarkdale
"Opening Day means you get out of work, and you don't get home late . . . and you get out of work. No championship (for Diamondbacks), but I was just curious to see how well they would do."
- Richard Sanchez, 29, Peoria
"I wanted to see how good the Diamondbacks are. I've waited all off-season for real baseball, not spring training."
- Donnie Perrone, 24, Glendale
- Jim Gintonio
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diamondbacks/articles/0405dbacks0405.html
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 5, 2005 12:00 AM
As the season took flight . . . it landed with a resounding thud.
Just like the poor bird that fell out of the air for some reason in the second inning of Monday's Opening Day disaster at Bank One Ballpark.
After getting blasted by the Chicago Cubs 16-6 in front of 45,539 - less than 4,000 shy of a sellout - the Diamondbacks can only dream the season ends the same way it did the last time a bird ran afoul with this baseball team.
Randy Johnson once made a pillowcase full of feathers out of a dove during a spring training outing in 2001, as the fowl crossed paths with a Big Unit fastball, and eight months later, the Diamondbacks won their first World Series.
Right now, the 2005 version will just settle for their first win.
"It felt like three losses, but it only counts as one, so that's the bright side," Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said after the Cubs pounded Arizona pitching for 23 hits and set a new club standard for the most runs scored on Opening Day.
Derrek Lee (4 for 6 with five RBIs) and Aramis Ramirez (3 for 4, four RBIs) led the hit parade for the Cubs, who had their fair share of fans in the stadium.
"I'm sure their hitting coach (Gene Clines) and (manager) Dusty (Baker) are pretty happy over there," Diamondbacks left fielder Luis Gonzalez, the lone returning starter in the field from last year's Opening Day lineup, said about the Cubs' hot bats.
Not everybody in a Cubs uniform was perfectly pleased.
Starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano, who had made fairly quick work of a retooled Diamondbacks lineup that was supposed to pack a mighty punch, left the game in a huff after being pulled by Baker in the fifth. Zambrano felt he was getting squeezed in the strike zone by umpire Dale Scott.
Scott subsequently ejected Zambrano for arguing - not that it mattered by that point, anyway - and the youngest Cubs pitcher to start a season opener since Joe Niekro in 1968 was denied a decision and a certain victory.
"I told (Scott) he needed glasses, and he tossed me out," said Zambrano, 23, who allowed three runs on seven hits with four walks and eight strikeouts. "I didn't even say a bad word to him or anything else."
Diamondbacks starter Javier Vazquez, meanwhile, said he was "speechless" about his own outing. After allowing seven earned runs on 10 hits in 1 2/3 innings, Vazquez seemed to agree with speculation he might have been tipping his pitches.
If that was the case, however, it doesn't explain the nine other runs and 13 other hits the Cubs collected off three other Arizona pitchers.
"That's why we play 162 games," Gonzalez said. "We'll put this one behind us and come out after it again (today)."
But so will the Cubs and a salivating group of hitters behind future Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux.
"We didn't hit that many home runs today, but we still scored a lot of runs and that's the team we're going to be," said Ramirez, who had one of the two Cubs homers of the day, along with Lee. "Last year, we hit a lot of home runs, and we didn't make the playoffs. We're going to play 'small ball,' a steal here, a hit-and-run there."
View from the press box
With his team trailing by six runs, a runner at third, and Cubs manager Dusty Baker calling for an infield shift a la Barry Bonds, Luis Gonzalez smartly took what Chicago gave him in the third inning and laid down a bunt to push a run home. An unselfish move by a guy who gets paid to swing for the fences.
- Bob McManaman
Voices from Opening Day
Fans speak out about what the season opener means, from Bank One Ballpark:
"It's the kickoff of summer. We're fortunate enough to get away from work for a day, and that's a nice thing, but it's nice to be out there with the weather the way it is. . . . Skipping work? Actually, we're having a sales meeting here."
- Brian Wills, 39, Phoenix
"I'm playing hooky from school. It's really fun and exciting to be here for Opening Day. They should have left the roof open."
- Gabby Selna, 14, Clarkdale
"Opening Day means you get out of work, and you don't get home late . . . and you get out of work. No championship (for Diamondbacks), but I was just curious to see how well they would do."
- Richard Sanchez, 29, Peoria
"I wanted to see how good the Diamondbacks are. I've waited all off-season for real baseball, not spring training."
- Donnie Perrone, 24, Glendale
- Jim Gintonio
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diamondbacks/articles/0405dbacks0405.html
