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Arizona Diamondbacks
built 655 days ago
The Arizona Diamondbacks were an expansion team in 1998 along with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays of the American League. There were originally owned by a local ownership group headed by Jerry Colangelo and Joe Garagiola, Jr. The Diamondbacks first manager was Buck Showalter and they signed big name free agents like Matt Williams, Jay Bell, Devon White and Andy Benes to help jump start the franchise. This strategy worked well as the Diamondbacks saw excellent returns on their investment by their second season. The Diamondbacks won the National League West division in 1999 with a 100 win season. The Diamondbacks lost in the divisional playoffs to the New York Mets 3 games to 1 but the addition of superstar players like Luis Gonzalez and Randy Johnson would soon pay even higher dividends. The Diamondbacks slipped to third in the division in 2000 and Bob Brenly was hired to replace Buck Showalter.
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The Arizona Diamondbacks are an expansion team and the first professional baseball team in the entire state of Arizona. The state of Arizona was awarded the franchise back in 1996. However, the first game for the Diamondbacks was not until the 1998 season. They debuted March 31, 1998 against the Colorado Rockies with over 50,000 fans in attendance. Colorado ended up winning 9-2 but Arizona did accomplish their first hits, home run, run, and RBI all by one player, Travis Lee. In only 5 days later, the Arizona Diamondbacks would win their first game, a 3-2 win over the San Francisco Giants.
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Finishing the 2006 season ten games under .500 was not the outcome the Arizona Diamondbacks had in mind. With pitching and defense concerns all season long, the Diamondbacks could not put together any sort of consistent baseball. The 2007 MLB season would be a transition point for the D-backs.
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The Arizona Diamondbacks and Phoenix Mercury have joined the team and firefighters will collect cell phones at the Sept. 12 and 14 Diamondback games at Bank One Ballpark and at the Phoenix Mercury game on Sat. Sept. 11th at America West Arena.
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The Arizona Diamondbacks won the 2001 World Series and became the youngest franchise to capture a World Series title in modern Major League Baseball history. The 2001 Diamondbacks were littered with veteran All Stars like Mark Grace, Jay Bell, Matt Williams, Luis Gonzalez and Steve Finely but the true force behind this Championship team was the starting pitching combination of Randy Johnson and Curt Shilling. These two Hall of Fame pitchers combined for a 43 and 12 regular season record and an ERA under 3. The 2001 Diamondbacks cruised through the National League playoffs with wins over the Cardinals and Braves. They faced the heavily favored New York Yankees in the World Series and won in seven games with a 2 run, ninth inning rally. The Diamondbacks won the Division in 2002 but failed to win the National League pennant.
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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.
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Arizona Diamondbacks