Young guns

Hurting D'backs find success in a fountain of youth

By this time, the Diamondbacks should have folded like the bunch of old, rickety has-beens they are supposed to be. They should have taken their BenGay and their lumbar pillows and their half-empty bottles of Rogaine, loaded up their Cadillacs, pointed them toward Sun City and moved a few notches down the standings into the Padres' neighborhood.

By this time, the Diamondbacks ought to be 12 games back, minimum. With all the injuries they've had -- with who's been injured, especially -- this is a team that ought to be looking to send 2003 into a Valley sunset as soon as possible.

Everyone with a pulse should have been on the trading block a long time ago, really. General manager Joe Garagiola Jr. probably should have had his cell phone surgically attached to his ear weeks ago, just to save time. If ever a team was ripe for tearing down and rebuilding, this was it.

Of course, if the Diamondbacks had been thinking that way, they wouldn't be where they are now. Which is, incredibly, in this thing.

Way, way in this thing.

The Diamondbacks are a funny team. For the five-plus years they've been around and the four that they've been a National League force, they've relied on a veteran lineup -- or "old," as other people call it. The Diamondbacks weren't born, even from their start in 1998. They started as adolescents. And they quickly matured all the way to their improbable World Series win in 2001.

Last year, though, things seemed to degenerate as quickly as they came together. Luis Gonzalez, one of their veterans (or "old guys") went down with a shoulder injury right before the playoffs. The Diamondbacks rolled over in the first round.

And now, this year, everything's gone wrong. Everybody's been injured. It started with ace pitchers Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, of course, the two main reasons the Diamondbacks have won. They're out. And infielder Craig Counsell, described as the heart of this aging team, is still hurt.

And then there's Matt Mantei, their closer, and Shea Hillenbrand, the former Red Sox slugger whom they traded for late in May, and all sorts of other players. The Diamondbacks have used the disabled list 17 times this season. Sunscreen doesn't get used this much in Phoenix. The D'backs have become the DL'backs. It's been a mess.

Former Mets manager Bobby Valentine, in fact, who is now an ESPN analyst, declared the Diamondbacks all but out of the playoff race in late May.

"He's managed some teams that were out of it on May 20," Arizona manager Bob Brenly said at the time, "so maybe he is the voice of experience."

Except, somehow, Arizona is not out of it. The Diamondbacks tumbled to 10 games behind the Giants on June 14, but since then they've shaved four games off the lead and -- this, again, falls into the realm of incredible -- now sit six games back. They're the hottest team in baseball. They've won seven straight games, nine of their last 10, and they haven't lost a series in their last seven tries.

"We've come to expect the unexpected around here," Brenly said.

How have the Diamondbacks done it? Well, because of all the injuries, the Diamondbacks have had to dip into the minors, a lot, which means those aging D'backs are not aging any longer. The Diamondbacks have called up 11 players this season from their Class AAA team. They now have 10 rookies on their 25-man roster. Their average age is under 30. They are practically middle-aged.

The youngsters are the ones who have done the job of keeping the Diamondbacks within hailing distance in the National League West while the old guys recuperate. Just about all of them have contributed in some way. Pitcher Brandon Webb has run off a string of 10 quality starts, the first rookie in some 30 years to do that. Rookie reliever Jose Valverde, before Tuesday night's game against the Astros, pitched in five straight games filling in for the injured Mantei. He won one of them and saved four. He pitched again Tuesday night, giving up a hit in one inning in a 12-5 Arizona win.

"They have just stepped up and done a remarkable job," says Garigiola of the team's youngsters. "We've pretty much blown up the Tucson Sidewinders, but ...

"They just come out every night with an energy and entuusiasm. They just don’t know that we were supposed to be out of this thing two months ago."

Still, this rising from the dead thing has not been easy. Brenly has had to do a lot of maneuvering along the way. He used 68 different lineups in the first 75 games. His bullpen, which has been particularly hard hit, is constantly being patched together. But it has worked. Going into Tuesday's game, the Arizona pen ranked as fourth best in the NL.

The old guys on the roster still help, of course. Gonzalez has provided "veteran" leadership, hitting .311 with 15 homers and 52 RBIs. Pitcher Miguel Batista is 6-3 with a 2.82 ERA. Since moving into the starting rotation in mid-April, he is 6-1 with a 2.57 ERA.

And more help is on the way. Johnson, who hasn't pitched since April 27 because of a balky knee that finally was operated on, should be back right after the All-Star Game. Schilling, who broke his hand late in May, could be back not long after that. Counsell should be back before the break, as should closer Mantei.

"The one great thing -- among many great things -- is that they know they can play up here now. They know."

It all has to be rather unsettling for the Giants and Dodgers, especially given the schedule. Arizona has 27 games left with those two teams ahead of them in the NL West standings. They also have 11 games remaining against the West-trailing Padres.

Maybe the creaky Diamondbacks seemed out of it back in May. Maybe they really were out of it. But that's old news now.

Unload the Caddies. The Diamondbacks are back.

John Donovan is a senior writer for SI.com.

Comments? To e-mail Donovan, click here.

 

Related information

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video