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Snakes alive! Diamondbacks shrug off heartbreaking losses with blowout
Updated: Sunday November 04, 2001 5:24 AM
PHOENIX (AP) -- No emotional hangover for the Arizona Diamondbacks and no tense fight for survival. Instead, they pounded out a parade of hits unmatched in World Series history. From the moment Tony Womack led off the first inning with a double on Saturday night, this was Arizona batting practice. The 15-2 rout in front of the largest crowd ever at Bank One Ballpark, 49,707, was the worst loss in the New York Yankees' 293 postseason appearances and most one-sided game in the World Series since 1963. "That was a hungry bunch of hitters we sent up there tonight," manager Bob Brenly said. The Diamondbacks came home from two of the most excruciating losses imaginable in Yankee Stadium and knocked around a New York team that needed one victory for its fourth consecutive world championship.
"We think we're capable of doing that on a given night," Brenly said, "You certainly don't anticipate it against Andy Pettitte in Game 6 of the World Series." Arizona averaged 3.4 runs in its previous 15 games this postseason, and had 32 hits total in their first five Series games. The Diamondbacks set a World Series record with 22 hits in this one, and broke the record of 20 in the sixth inning. "Hitting is contagious," Womack said. "It wasn't `I've got to do it.' It was, `I'm going to try to do it, and if I don't, the next guy will.' It was a collective thing." Danny Bautista, one of three right-handed hitters inserted into the lineup by Brenly against the left-handed Pettitte, was 3-for-4 with five RBIs. In limited World Series duty, Bautista has six hits in nine at-bats with six RBIs. By the third inning, the Diamondbacks led 12-0 and every Arizona starter had a hit, including pitcher Randy Johnson. By the fourth, it was 15-0 and every starter had an RBI, including Johnson. When Matt Williams became the first player in World Series history to double twice in an inning -- in the Diamondbacks' eight-run third -- there was no doubt there would be a Game 7 on Sunday. Asked before the game about his decision to go with Bautista, Jay Bell and Greg Colbrunn instead of Steve Finley, Craig Counsell and Mark Grace, Brenly talked about how lefties struggled against Pettitte in Game 2. They were 0-for-11 in that game with six strikeouts. Brenly acknowledged the move would sacrifice some defense, but would be necessary against Pettitte. "In a perfect world, we are thinking because we are putting an offensive juggernaut of a right-handed lineup, we'll be able to get that guy out early," Brenly said, "and bring these guys in for defense later." Little could he know that juggernaut would be an understatement or that Pettitte would last just two batters into the third. Brenly was severely criticized for some of his moves in Games 4 and 5, when the Diamondbacks lost after Byung-Hyun Kim gave up game-tying, two-run homers with two outs in the ninth. Nobody will second-guess his lineup moves in this one, though. "It's been the attitude of this ballclub all year, and I've talked about it ad nauseam," Brenly said. "When you have a veteran team, they understand that one game doesn't carry over to the next day. ... As heartbreaking as those last two losses were in New York -- all three losses for that matter -- they had no bearing on what was going to happen tonight." The Diamondbacks showed no signs of a team overcome by tension and spent emotionally. "That's the way we've been all year," Williams said. "It's fun now. That's why we all play, to have an opportunity to do what we're going to do tomorrow." Arizona carried a meek .196 World Series batting average into the game, .222 for the entire postseason. In Saturday's starting lineup, only Bautista and Luis Gonzalez (.222) had better than a .200 average in the Series. If there was such a thing as a turning point, it came from Womack, who was 3-for-4 with two RBIs and scored twice. The Arizona shortstop had entered with just three hits in 21 Series at-bats. In the second, Williams led off with a single, then Reggie Sanders doubled to put runners on second and third with no outs. Jay Bell grounded out. Damian Miller was intentionally walked to bring up Johnson with the bases loaded. Johnson hit a grounder to third baseman Scott Brosius. But instead of touching third and throwing out the slow, loping pitcher for an inning-ending double play, Brosius went home for the forceout. That brought up Womack, who slapped a two-run, two-out single to center. Bautista followed with an RBI single to make it 4-0. Eight runs in the third, including Johnson's RBI single, and three more in the fourth and it was 15-0. "I've said from the beginning of this, because we have a lot of veteran guys, I wanted them to enjoy this for all it's worth," Brenly said. "Those three games in New York, it got to the point of `When does the enjoyment start?' Hopefully tonight they got a little taste of it and it will make them hungry for more of the same tomorrow."
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