Arizona Diamondbacks (1998-Present)

Historical Moments:

1998: On March 31st with 50,179 fans overflowing Bank One Ballpark, the Arizona Diamondbacks play the first regular season game in franchise history, against the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies would win teh game 9-2, but not before Travis Lee collects Arizona's first hit (a first-inning single), first homer, first run and first RBI. The Diamondbacks would get their first win on April 4th with a 3-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants. There was not much success for the first year team their best play comes during a seven game winning streak as August turned into September. The D-backs would go on to finish in last place with a typical 65-97 expansion record.

1999: To be more competitive the Diamondbacks make several key acquisitions, which is highlighted by the Free Agent signing of Randy Johnson, one of the most dominating pitchers in the history of baseball. Another key acquisition was OF Luis Gonzalez whose early 37-game hitting streak helps set the pace for the Diamondbacks to battle for the pennant race. The Diamondbacks were a team that refused to quit and this was exemplified on three consecutive nights in May when the Diamondbacks won games against the Montreal Expos on walk off Homers. On May 10th it was 2B Jay Bell, On May 11th it was Luis Gonzales, and on May 12th it was 3B Matt Williams. By the middle of the season it was clear the Diamondbacks were for real, with Randy Johnson well on his way to picking up the Cy Young Award. The Diamondbacks would not only challenge for the Western Division Title, but they would win it by a comfortable 14-game spread with an impressive 100-62 record, becoming the fastest expansion team to make the playoffs. The Diamondbacks would go on to face the New York Mets in the NLDS. In the team's first post-season game, at the B.O.B, Arizona drops an 8-4 decision to the Mets, with Edgardo Alfonzo's 9th inning grand slam, his second homer of the day, making the difference. The next night the Diamondbacks will notch their first postseason win thanks to a four hit effort by Todd Stottlemyre. However the D-Backs would lose the series in four games when Todd Pratt playing in place of an injured Mike Piazza hit a series ending walk off homer in the tenth inning just out of reach of Gold Glover Centerfielder Steve Finley's valiant try.

2000: In April Randy Johnson pitches what might have been the best first month in baseball history, going 6-0 with a 0.91 ERA, including three complete games and a pair of shutouts. Johnson would go on to win his second straight Cy Young, and would also record his 3,000th career strike out. The Diamondbacks would also add more potency their pitching with the midseason acquisition of Curt Schilling for the Philadelphia Phillies. However, Schilling would only pitch mediocre baseball in the final two months of the season as the injury-depleted line up struggled all season. The D-Backs would go on to finish in third Place with an 85-77 record. Seeing it as a disappointment, the team fires Manager Buck Showalter, and replaces him with broadcaster Bob Brenley.

2001: With Curt Schilling in camp for a full-season and healthy he gave the Diamondbacks one of the most powerful 1-2 pitching combinations in baseball history. Along with Randy Johnson, the two ace pitchers dominate the National League all season finishing 1-2 in almost every major pitching category. While Schilling fell just seven K's short of 300 strikeouts, the Big Unit would come within 11 of the all-time record with 372. The two would go on to finish 1-2 n the Cy Young voting with Johnson getting the nod the earn his third straight Cy Young. While Johnson, and Schilling were dominating NL hitters Luis Gonzalez was having a career year smacking 57 homers, and driving in 142 runs, both were good enough for 3rd in the NL. Also helping to improve the offense was newly acquired Mark Grace, whose steady 1B and hitting helped get the D-Backs into playoff contention. The Diamondbacks pull out in front in August, and over the final 6-weeks of the season held the San Francisco Giants at arms length to claim the Division Title by two games with a 92-70 record. In the NLDS the Diamondbacks would face the St. Louis Cardinals. The Diamondbacks would get off to a good start as Curt Schilling pitched a complete game three hit shutout to earn the D-backs a 1-0 victory in Game 1. Randy Johnson would struggle in Game 2 and the series shifted to St. Louis tied at one apiece. Trailing 2-1 in Game 3, Craig Counsell who only hit four homers in the regular season smack a three run home run in the seventh Inning to give the Diamondbacks a 5-3 win. However, the Cards would bounce back again, and would send the series back to Arizona for a decisive fifth game. Once aging Schilling dominated the Cardinals allowing jut one run in nine innings, but the Snakes needed a two out RBI single in the bottom of the ninth from Tony Womack to bring home the series-winning run. In the NLCS the Diamondbacks would face the Atlanta Braves. With Johnson, and Schilling winning a total of three games the D-backs would take the series in five games. Light hitting Craig Counsell who's four RBI in Game 4 proved to be the back breaker was named LCS MVP.

2001: In the World Series the four year old Arizona Diamondbacks would take on the 26-time World Champion New York Yankees. In the Diamondbacks previous three season the Yankees, had been crowned World Champions at the end of each season. The odds appeared against the upstart team from the desert, but their 1-2 pitching punch of Randy Johnson, and Curt Schilling would prove to be an equalizer. Schilling and Johnson would shut down the Yankees in the first 2 games at the BOB, and would go to New York up 2-0 in the series. After the Yanks edged them 2-1 in Game 3 the D-backs put the ball in the hands of Schilling for Game 4. Schilling would shutdown the Yanks, and with the score 3-1 in the ninth Inning the D-backs appeared to have a stranglehold on the series. However, Snakes closer Byung-Hyun Kim would yield a two out game tying Home Run, and would give up another two out blast in the ninth to allow the Yankees to tie the series at two games apiece. In Game 5 Miguel Batista would shut down the Yankees all game long and gave the D-backs a 2-0 lead heading to the 9th. However, Kim would melt down again allowing another game tying homer, as the Yankees rallied to take the game in extra inning and take a 3-2 series lead. After losing two straight heartbreakers to the Yankees the Diamondbacks returned to the desert trailing 3-games-to-2. A lesser team would already be mentally out of the series, but with Johnson, and Schilling on the mound the D-backs knew they had a fighting chance. Due to the September 11th terrorist attacks the series would enter November for the first time, and it was already shaping up as one of the best Fall Classic of all-time. In Game 6 the D-backs would slaughter the Yankees 15-2, which allowed Randy Johnson to converse some of his energy just in case he was needed for the decisive Game 7. The seventh game would feature a match up of Curt Schilling and Roger Clemens. The two aces pitchers would duel scoreless until the sixth Inning when the D-backs gained a 1-0 advantage. However, the Yankees would rally and would take a 2-1 lead in the 8th Inning off a tiring Curt Shilling. Already leading 2-1 the Yankees had a runner on second, and two outs Randy Johnson was brought in to keep Arizona in the game. Johnson would freeze the runner at second, and would retire the Yanks in order in the ninth Inning to give the D-backs a fighting chance down 2-1. However, with Mariano Rivera baseball's most dominant closer on the mound, a comeback still looked like a long shot. Mark Grace would lead off the ninth with a sharp single up the middle; Pinch Runner David DeLucci would replace him at 1st. Damian Miller up to bunt, hits the ball to hard but Rivera throw was in the dirt, and Arizona had runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out. After Jay Bell failed bunt forces DeLucci, at third Tony Womack comes up with his second big hit of the season smacking a double down the rightfield line to tie the game and put the winning run on third. After Craig Counsell is hit by a pitch the bases were loaded for Luis Gonzalez with one out. Gonzo who came through out the season came through again with a bloop single to center to send Jay Bell home with series winning run, giving the four year old Diamondbacks their first World Series Championship. Randy Johnson who became the first pitcher to win three World Series game in 33 years, and Curt Schilling spilt Series MVP honors.

2002: Coming of their World Championship the dynamic duo of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling were unhitable again finishing 1-2 in Cy Young race, with Johnson emerging with his record tying fourth straight Cy Young. The D-backs would win the NL West for the 3rd time in 4 years by posting a solid 98-64 record. However, as the season wound down the Diamondbacks postseason heroes from the year before Craig Counsell and Luis Gonzales were lost to injury. Playing without their leading offensive player in Gonzales the Diamondbacks were swept in three straight games by the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLDS.

2003: The Diamondbacks would find themselves behind the eightball early as their dynamic duo of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling struggled before going on the disabled list. Despite neither ace posting winning record or winning ten games the D-Backs would stay in the race for the wild car until September, as rookie Brandon Webb helped fill the void left by the struggles of Schilling and Johnson, with a solid 2.84 ERA. However, Webb himself would struggle in the final month as the Diamondbacks faded, finishing in thirrd place with a record of 84-78. Following the season the Diamondbacks would trade Curt Schilling to the Boston Red Sox in a cost cutting move.

2004: To bolster their offense the Diamondbacks acquired Richie Sexson from the Milwaukee Brewers for Lyle Overbay, Junior Spivey, Craig Counsell and Chad Moeller. Sexson would get off to a good start with 9 homer runs in April. However as the first month came to a close Sexson would suffer a shoulder injury. After missing 3 weeks he would attempt to comeback only to injury it worse which would lead to season ending surgery, limiting him to just 23 games. Sexson would not be the only injury the Diamondbacks would suffer as Luis Gonzalez would later be lost to an elbow injury, as the Diamondbacks roster began to take on a Triple A feel. Except of course when Randy Johnson pitched as a year after he was felled by injury he was the Unit of old surpassing 4000 career strike outs early in the season, and pitching a Perfect Game against the Atlanta Braves on May 18th. When Johnson threw his perfect game the D-Backs were struggling with a 15-23 record, and no idea just how bad things were about to get. After a win the following day the Diamondbacks would win just 2-of-their-next-12-ganes. Things would only get worse in June as they endured an 11-game losing streak, which would cost Manager Bob Brenley his job. Under replacement Al Pedrique things would only get worse as the D-Backs lost 19-of-their-first-21 including 14 straight completing a dreadful 5-23 July. The Diamondbacks would go on to finish in last place with a miserable 51-111 record. Despite the horrible record Randy Johnson managed a solid season with a 16-14 record and 2.60 ERA with a league high 290 strike outs. As the disastrous season wound down the Diamondbacks began to make drastic changes as CEO Jerry Colangelo was replaced by former Super Agent Jeffrey Moorad.

2005: After losing 111 games there was no place else to go but up as the Diamondbacks who under went an ownership change also changed the team on the field as they allowed Richie Sexson to sign with the Seattle Mariners while reacquiring Craig Counsell and signing slugger Troy Glaus. To reshape the pitching staff the Diamondbacks would sign Shawn Estes and Russ Ortiz while trading Randy Johnson to the New York Yankees for Javier Vazquez, and minor league prospect Dioner Navarro who they later traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Shawn Green. However, the off season was not without its own embarrassment as the search for a new Manager ended up blowing up in General Manager Joe Garagiola Jr.'s face after Wally Backman was hired and fired within in a few days after a background check revealed legal and financial troubles in Backman's face that the organization found too embarrassing. Eventually the Diamondbacks would settle on Bob Melvin recently fired by the Seattle Mariners as their new skipper. Under Melvin the new Diamondbacks would play solid winning baseball in April as they were also bolstered by the return of Luis Gonzalez who would hit 24 homers with 79 RBI as the Diamondbacks used the home run ball to their advantage as newcomers Glaus and Tony Clark each slugged more than 30, while Shawn Green and Chad Tracy were each over 20, as the D-Backs were 30-22 at the end of May. However, a June swoon would strike at an inopportune time as the Diamondbacks won just 9-of-28-games. Despite playing sub .500 ball the Diamondbacks were in the race as the entire NL Western Division struggled with all five teams below .500 for most of the final two months, as August saw the Diamondbacks struggle again as their pitching was often exposed as their weak underbelly. On September 20th the Diamondbacks sat in 3rd place with a 67-83 record as all hope for a division title was all but lost. However, the D-Backs would not give up as they hung in as long as possible sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers twice and taking two of three against the eventually Division Champion San Diego Padres, as they finished strong winning 10-of-their-last-12-games to get second place with a 77-85 record that marked a 26-game improvement.

2006: As some of the Diamondbacks top prospects like Connor Jackson began to establish themselves as the foundation of the future, players like Troy Glaus were dealt away to the Toronto Blue Jays for Orlando Hudson, as the D-Backs got younger and more talented. One player having a break out year was Brandon Webb who posted a 16-8 record and a 3.10 ERA to earn Cy Young honors in the National League. However, the season was not smooth sailing as after Webb the Diamondbacks struggle to find any consistent pitching, as Orlando Hernandez who was acquired in the off-season for Javier Vasquez struggled, before being traded to the New York Mets in May. Ironically the D-Backs would later acquire El Duque's brother Livan Hernandez from the Washington Nationals; Livan would pitch well down the stretch posting an ERA of 3.76 with a record of 4-5 in ten games. Meanwhile the Diamondbacks had to deal with a steroids scandal when reliever Jason Grimsley was busted for receiving Human Growth Hormone in a FBI sting. Grimsley would retire from baseball, as accusations of players named in a FBI interview hung like a dark cloud over the D-Backs during June, as the Diamondbacks who were in first place lost 20-of-23-games in June. The Diamondbacks would never fully recover as they ended up stumbling their way to a 76-86 record that had them tied at the bottom of the National League Western Division.

2007: With Brandon Webb anchoring a solid pitching staff that featured the return of Randy Johnson, who was reacquired from the New York Yankees. the Diamondbacks entered the season with a new look featuring a red and black color scheme, and renewed hope. Early on the D-Backs played well starting the season with wins in seven of their first nine games. However, inconsistency marked the next month, as two five game losing streaks sandwiching a six game winning streak had their fortunes going up and down. Johnson, who won four Cy Youngs would not see much action as a sore back limited him to just ten games, in which he posted a 4-3 record. Meanwhile, the young stars came into their own, as the team became affectionately known as the "Baby Backs" rose to the top of the National League West powered by an eight game winning streak. One young pitcher who rose to be one of the Diamondbacks most reliable starters was Micah Owings, as he often delivered the winning hit in his own starts, becoming the first pitcher since the Designated Hitter era to have two four hit games in the same season. The Diamondbacks being so young still had fits of losing as they struggled heading into the All-Star Break, but an eight game winning streak at the end of July helped lift the Diamondbacks again, as they were in first or close to first place most of the season. The Diamondbacks would go on to win the division with a 90-72 record that was actually the best mark in the mediocre National League. In the NLDS against the Chicago Cubs, the Diamondbacks were a slight underdog as the Cubs entered the playoffs as the sentimental favorite. However, the young D-Backs were not much for sentimentally as Brandon Webb pitched a solid game giving the D-Backs a 3-1 win in the opener. In Game 2 it was the young Backs offense that led the way, as Chris Young erased an early 2-0 Cubs lead with a three run home run in the second Inning, as the Diamondbacks took a 2-0 series lead with an 8-4 win. Young would strike again as the series shifted to Wrigley Field, hitting a lead off homer as the D-Backs completed the sweep with a 5-1 win behind Livan Hernandez. In the NLCS against the streaking Colorado Rockies, the Diamondbacks found themselves in an early hole as Jeff Francis out dueled Brandon Webb to give the Rockies a 5-1 win in Game 1. Needing a win in Game 2 the D-Backs battled the Rockies into extra innings, however, closer Jose Valverde who saved 47 games during the regular season lost control of the strike zone as he walked three straight hitters in the 11th inning to force home the winning run as the Rockies took a 2-0 series lead with a 3-2 win. As the series shifted to Colorado the Diamondbacks could not get back on track as the Rockies continued to steam roll through the National League completing a four game sweep by silencing the Diamondbacks bats.

2008: Coming off a Western Division Championship, the Diamondbacks got off to a fast start, holding a 20-8 record at the end of April, which was the best in baseball as they built a six and half game lead. A big reason for the D-Backs strong start was Brandon Webb, who won his first nine starts. However, in the middle of May the Diamondbacks offense began to resemble the desert with runs being far too scarce. Once a dozen games above .500 the D-Backs went into the All-Star Break with a 47-48 record. Despite their losing record the Diamondbacks remained in first place through out the first half. In the second half the Diamondbacks would get a challenger for their first place perch, as the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired Manny Ramirez in a three team deal with the Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates on July 31st. Forced to respond the D-Backs dealt Pitcher Micah Owings, and Minor League Catcher Wilkin Castillo to the Cincinnati Reds on August 11th, for Adam Dunn, who at the time led the National League with 32 Home Runs. However, at the same time the already struggling offense was dealt another blow, when 2B Orlando Hudson needed season ending wrist surgery. With Webb in the running for another Cy Young, while compiling a 22-7 record, the D-Backs remained in first place entering September. However, the lead was shrinking as the Dodgers took two of three in Arizona, beating Brandon Webb in the rubber game of the series. On September 5th the Diamondbacks faced the Dodgers again in Los Angeles hold a game and half lead. However, the series got off on the wrong foot, as Dan Haren was hammered, with the Derek Lowe pitching a two hit shut out to lead the Dodgers to a 7-0 win. A day later with Webb on the mound, Manny Ramirez knocked the Diamondbacks out of first place, blasting a three run homer to give the Dodgers a 7-2 win. The Dodgers would complete the sweep with a 5-3 win. The Diamondbacks would never recover as they suffered a three game sweep at the hands of the San Francisco Giants, as they went on to finish the season in second place with an 82-80 record, while falling two games short of first place.

2009: Despite the departure or Adam Dunn, Orlando Hudson and Randy Johnson through free agency, the Diamondbacks entered the season with expectations of challenging for the National League West again. However, they would get off to a rocky start as ace Brandon Webb was lost to a shoulder injury. One month into the season the D-Backs were scuffling with a 12-17 record, leading to the dismissal of Manager Bob Melvin, who was replaced by A.J. Hinch on May 8th.