THEY'RE DIAMONDBACKS IN ROUGH; DODGERS OPEN AT HOME VS. EXPANSION TEAM WITH SOLID FOUNDATION.Byline: Matt McHale Daily News Staff Writer The Arizona Diamondbacks This article is about the baseball team. For other uses, see Diamondback. The Arizona Diamondbacks (also referred to as the D-backs) are a Major League Baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They play in the West Division of the National League. are the National League's newest team, but Matt Williams Matt Williams can refer to different people:
For seven years, Williams was the San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California that currently play in the National League West Division. New York Giants history Early days and the John McGraw era third baseman third baseman n. Baseball The infielder stationed near third base. Noun 1. third baseman - (baseball) the person who plays third base third sacker and a personal terrorist of Dodgers pitching with 27 lifetime home runs. And though he doesn't have Barry Bonds Barry Lamar Bonds (born July 24 1964 in Riverside, California) is a left fielder for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball. He is the son of former major league All-Star Bobby Bonds, the godson of Hall of Famer Willie Mays, and a distant cousin of Hall of Famer Reggie batting behind him, Williams remains one of the steadiest players in the game and a natural to help guide the Diamondbacks through their first season. ``He was the kind of player we were looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. , someone whose strong character wears off on his teammates,'' Diamondbacks general partner Jerry Colangelo Jerry Colangelo (born November 20, 1939 in Chicago Heights, Illinois) is a respected American businessman and former sports mogul. He is the former majority owner of the Phoenix Suns of the NBA, the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA, the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football said after Williams was acquired from Cleveland for Travis Fryman Like play 25 of their next 31 games on the road, beginning today at Dodger Stadium • • [ . After five consecutive losses to open the season, the Diamondbacks got their first win Sunday 3-2 against the Giants. Williams, who drove in the first run, went 3 for 4 and has gone 8 for 16 since an 0-for-8 start. ``It sure was nice to get the monkey off our back,'' he said. Despite the poor start it should be noted that the Diamondbacks have a lot going for them. With $400 million in advertising from such corporate giants as K-Mart and America West Airlines America West Airlines was one of the United States' ten major airlines. The airline was based in Tempe, Arizona, and is now a part of US Airways Group. At the time of its integration into US Airways, the airline maintained two hubs, one at Phoenix Sky Harbor International , the Diamondbacks were able to build much more than an expansion team. They signed free agent right-hander Andy Benes, who won the franchise's first game, to a five-year $30 million contract. They also signed established big leaguers Devon White to play center and Jay Bell to play shortstop. They have high profile youngsters like Travis Lee, who appears to be worth the $10 million he received last year after his agent Scott Boras found a loophole in the draft process. He went 3 for 4 with a home run in the franchise opener and has hits in four of the five games he has played. Another player to watch is former Dodgers prospect Karim Garcia, who will start in right field against Dodgers right-hander Chan Ho Park. Garcia, who hit 20 home runs for Triple-A Albuquerque at the age of 19, has just one hit in 16 at-bats this season, but it was a home run on opening night against Colorado. Garcia, now 23, already is wildly popular with the Diamondbacks large Latin fan base. He grew up not far from the Arizona border in Ciudad Obregon, Mexico. ``This guy is going to be huge for them,'' said Glenn Hoffman, Garcia's manager last year at Albuquerque. ``He is very outgoing and personable PERSONABLE. Having the capacities of a person; for example, the defendant was judged personable to maintain this action. Old Nat. Brev. 142. This word is obsolete. and since he is from the area fans will just flock to him.'' The rest of the team is filled with kids like closer Felix Rodriguez, a former catcher in the Dodgers organization, who earned his first major-league save in Sunday's victory over the Giants. Before that, he had just one save in the minors, but expectations are high. ``When we had him he was just making the transition to pitching,'' Dodgers farm director Charlie Blaney said. ``But there was never any doubt he had a great arm. He could be a very good one.'' After a 17-hour day at the ballpark for the historic first game, Arizona's compulsive manager Buck Showalter rose early Wednesday and visited a Phoenix-area hospital to greet the parents of 16 children born on Opening Day. Colangelo also presented each of the families with Opening-Day tickets for life. Colangelo gave an emotional talk to the players and staff in the clubhouse before the opener, basically thanking the players for joining him in introducing Major League Baseball "MLB" and "Major Leagues" redirect here. For other uses, see MLB (disambiguation) and Major Leagues (disambiguation). Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. to Arizona. ``There weren't many dry eyes in the house when he got through,'' Showalter said. ``He's passionate about baseball. He loves the game. It was wonderful to see that from an owner,'' infielder Andy Stankiewicz said. At one point, Colangelo paused to regain his composure. ``You realize how important things are to people when they sit down and talk about them. It was genuine. Usually owners are separated from the players,'' said Andy Fox, who came over from the New York Yankees  Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism. in spring training.
Colangelo broke through a media pack interviewing Lee to present him his home run ball, which Colangelo coaxed from a fan. ``I hope you know this cost us a couple of season tickets,'' Colangelo said. They can afford it. Diamondbacks season tickets have reached 36,000, surpassing Colorado for the major-league lead. ``One of our goals was to be No. 1. We got them. That's one category we will lead from the get-go,'' Colangelo said. Showalter, however, will not predict how the team will do in the standings during their first season. ``I'm a fan at heart,'' he said. ``The emotion I have is uncertainty. You can't hide on that field. The little white rat white rat n. A domesticated albino variety of the Norway rat, used extensively in laboratory experiments. (baseball) will find you. To say you know what's going to happen, nobody can do that. I do know we're going to compete. Whether we will compete record-wise remains to be seen.'' OPENING HOME SERIES DODGERS vs. ARIZONA All games on 610/1150/1330 AM Today 1:05 p.m., Fox Sports West 2 Chan Ho Park vs. Willie Blair Wednesday 7:35 p.m., No TV Hideo Nomo vs. Brian Anderson Thursday 7:05 p.m., Channel 5 Ismael Valdes vs. Jeff Suppan CAPTION(S): Box BOX: OPENING HOME SERIES (see text) |
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