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The A-teams

Arizona joins Atlanta as 100-game winners in the NL

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Posted: Sunday October 03, 1999 07:41 PM

PHOENIX (AP) - The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the San Diego Padres 10-3 Sunday behind five shutout innings from Brian Anderson to win their 100th game and complete the biggest one-year turnaround in baseball history.

The NL West-champion Diamondbacks, the first team to reach the playoffs in just its second year, went from 65-97 in 1998 to 100-62 this year. The 35-game turnaround beats the previous best of 34 1/2 games, set by the 1903 New York Giants, who went from 48-88 in 1902 to 84-55 the following year.

Rod Barajas hit his first major league home run and had an RBI double for Arizona. Bernard Gilkey and Jay Bell also homered for the Diamondbacks

San Diego is headed in the other direction. After going 98-64 last year and winning the NL pennant, the Padres dropped to 74-88.

Anderson (8-2), who is 6-0 in his last nine starts, allowed three hits, struck out three and walked one in a performance that enhanced his chances of becoming the fourth starter in manager Buck Showalter's playoff rotation.

The other candidate for the fourth starting spot, Andy Benes, relieved Anderson in the sixth and gave up a leadoff homer to Ruben Rivera in the seventh.

Gilkey and Barajas hit consecutive homers off Heath Murray (0-4) in the second. Gilkey's homer, which drove in two runs, was his eighth. Bell led off the fifth with his 38th home run, his career best by 17.

Arizona scored a run in the third on Luis Gonzalez's RBI double. Barajas' RBI double highlighted the Diamondbacks' five-run sixth inning as Arizona blew open a 10-0 lead.

Notes: Gonzalez finished the season with a 12-game hitting streak, his fifth double-digit streak of the season. ... Gonzalez finished with the most hits in the NL at 206. ... San Diego's 28-53 road record was the worst in the majors. ... Steve Finley became the fourth Diamondback to score at least 100 runs. ... Arizona's Tony Womack won his third consecutive NL stolen base title with a career-high 72. ... U.S. Ryder Cup golfers Phil Mickelson and Tom Lehman threw out the first pitch, and Mickelson took batting practice with the Diamondbacks before the game. ... With the crowd of 43,465, Arizona topped 3 million in attendance for the season.

 

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