Many Yankees fans still think it was a fluke.
The Diamondbacks didn’t win the World Series last season. The Yankees gave it away when Mariano Rivera’s throwing error allowed the D’backs to manufacture the winning runs in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7.
Man for man, the Yankees may have more talent than Arizona, but don’t tell that to the Mets. They have to find a way to beat Randy Johnson today or be swept in a four-game series by an Arizona team whose success is predicated on more than talent.
“No team has ever won on talent alone,” Arizona ace Curt Schilling told The Post before the Diamondbacks routed the Mets 12-7 yesterday. “Talent’s not what gets you through postseason series. We beat the Yankees six out of seven games in the World Series last year. It wasn’t about talent. It was about coming through when it matters.”
Schilling is right. If the Yankees hadn’t hit dramatic ninth-inning home runs off Arizona closer Byung-Hyun Kim in Games 4 and 5, the World Series never would have gone to seven games. Arizona shook off those two defeats to win the franchise’s first-ever title with a 3-2 victory.
The Diamondbacks are proving this year they are not the Marlins, a one-year wonder. This is a veteran team that has shown it can play small ball or long ball; it can win with role players or stars.
“It’s fundamental baseball being played as well as it can be played and that’s the key to this team from a physical standpoint,” said Schilling. “And from a psychological standpoint, the one thing we’ve done, every day that I’ve been here, we have never, ever played a game on Tuesday still bothered by Monday’s outcome. This is the most even-keel team I’ve ever been on.”
The Diamondbacks have displayed that belief against the Mets. After Edgardo Alfonzo hit a two-run homer to give the Mets a 5-4 lead in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, Craig Counsell came off the bench to hit a ninth-inning, game-tying home run. Arizona went on to win 8-5 in 10 innings.
Yesterday it was slugger Luis Gonzalez’s three-run homer off Mark Guthrie that broke a 7-7 tie in the seventh. Gonzalez is the team’s one established slugger, who, along with Schilling and Johnson, represent the team’s superstars.
“I disagree when you think there’s not as much talent here as anywhere else,” said pitcher Mike Fetters, who came over in a trade with the Pirates on July 6. “Yeah, we’re not the New York Yankees. They’ve got an All-Star at every position. But if you look on this team there are guys who have been an All-Star at one time or another in his career.”
Players like Steve Finley, a former All-Star who jacked a three-run homer off Al Leiter in the second inning yesterday. Or players like Jay Bell, whose three-run homer Saturday afternoon led the Diamondbacks to a 9-2 win in the nightcap.
“The confidence level in here is unbelievable,” said Fetters. “They know what they need to do. And they go out and do it.”