I t was November 4 2001 The Arizona Dia mondbacks were in trouble It was the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7 of the World Series Arizona had to score a run against the New York Yankees just to tie the game Mariano Rivera was pitch ing for New York The previous 23 times Rivera pitched in a save situation in the postsea son the Yankees won And he had struck out the side in the eighth inning Arizona’s Mark Grace stepped to the plate He faced difficult odds The Yankees were a famously successful team They had won 26 World Series titles including three in a row from 1998 to 2000 The Diamond backs were in only their fourth season as a team They were in their first World Series Although it was a new team Arizona had several vet eran players Luis Gonzalez was the team leader on offense Grace Steve Finley and Luis Gonzalez reacts after driving in the winning run in the Luis Gonzalez reacts after driving in the winning run in the Diamondbacks 3 2 victory in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series Diamondbacks 3 2 victory in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series GLORY 5
PAIR OF ACES Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling dominated hitters during Arizona's 2001 championship season Johnson a left-hander who stood 6-foot-10 had a blazing fast ball and a snapping slider In 2001 he won his third of four consecutive Cy Young Awards as the NL's best pitcher Johnson was 21 6 with a league-leading 2 49 earned-run average ERA He had a career-high 372 strikeouts which was also the third-highest total by a pitcher in one big-league season since 1900 Schilling a 6-foot-5 right-hander went 22 6 in 2001 with a 2 98 ERA and 293 strikeouts The duo was even better in the playoffs Schilling was 4 0 with a 1 12 ERA and 56 strikeouts in six starts Johnson was 5 1 with a 1 52 ERA and 47 strikeouts It was only fitting that each was named a co Most Valuable Player MVP of the World Series 6 ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS Jay Bell were all longtime major league players Starting pitchers Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson formed a one two punch that struck fear into opposing hitters It had been a wild fun ride for the team and its fans getting to the World Series Arizona finished the regular season 92 70 and won the National League NL West by two games With superb pitching and a tough veteran lineup the Diamondbacks were prepared to succeed in the playoffs The Diamondbacks faced the St Louis Cardinals in the NL Division Series NLDS Schilling threw a three-hit shutout at home in Game 1 He pitched again in the decid ing Game 5 and had another complete game Tony Wom ack’s single in the bottom of the ninth gave Arizona a 2 1
Arizona’s Curt Schilling left greets teammate Randy Johnson after Johnson pitched a shutout against Atlanta in Game 1 of the 2001 NLCS win and a series victory The excitement was only beginning Arizona’s pitching starred again against the Atlanta Braves in the NL Champion ship Series NLCS Johnson hurled a three-hit shutout at home in Game 1 He struck out 11 in a 2 0 victory Atlanta won the next game But Schilling came through again in Game 3 He pitched another complete game and struck out 12 as Ari zona won 5 1 The Diamondbacks offense led the way in the next game an 11 4 victory Thanks to another strong pitching effort by Johnson and a two-run home run by Erubiel Durazo GLORY 7
