Arizona Diamondbacks Baseball Team

From his office in Newport Beach, Jeff Moorad conjured up ways to pitch the Dodgers on buying his players. He was an agent. He delivered Shawn Green to the Dodgers, for $84 million. From his office at Dodger Stadium, Derrick Hall dreamed up ways to pitch the Dodgers to the media, and the community at large. He was a publicist. He told you all about Green, and everyone else in blue. As the years passed, Moorad decided he would rather be Green's boss than his agent.

PHOENIX -- Here, the youth movement worked. Three rookies and a second-year shortstop will be in the lineup for the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field tonight when they open their National League division series against the Chicago Cubs. A 20-year-old right fielder and a third-year first baseman also probably will be on the field in the next few days. Whereas the Dodgers are turning their team over to their future nucleus in phases, the Diamondbacks did so abruptly.

PHOENIX -- The Colorado Rockies had lost once in 25 days with Willy Taveras in the dugout, charging from fourth place in the National League West to Game 1 of the National League Championship Series. So the decision to put Taveras back at the top of his lineup for Thursday's NLCS opener wasn't one Colorado Manager Clint Hurdle made lightly. But it's one that turned out successfully, with Taveras scoring the go-ahead run to spark the Rockies to a 5-1 over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

PHOENIX -- One of the reasons the Colorado Rockies were able to play so well down the stretch, winning 14 of their final 15 regular-season games, was because they kept what happened on the field in perspective. And that starts with Manager Clint Hurdle. Moments after the Rockies lost a mid-September game that appeared to end their playoff hopes, a Denver radio reporter asked Hurdle if the defeat was "crushing" and "debilitating."

PHOENIX -- Two outs away from a two-game deficit in the National League Championship Series, the Arizona Diamondbacks clawed back Friday, turning an aborted double-play attempt into a ninth-inning run and taking the Colorado Rockies into extra innings tied, 2-2. The rally started with one out when closer Manny Corpas hit Chris Young with an 0-2 pitch. Stephen Drew then followed with a single to right-center.

DENVER -- Shortly after Willy Taveras went to the sidelines with a strained quadriceps last month, the Colorado Rockies embarked on a historic winning streak, leaping from fourth to second in the National League West, beating the San Diego Padres in a one-game playoff to earn the league's last postseason berth, then sweeping the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL division series.

DENVER -- The Arizona Diamondbacks might be down 0-2, but they're not out of the best-of-seven National League Championship Series, outfielder Eric Byrnes said Saturday. In fact, if you ask him, they have outplayed the Colorado Rockies even though the scoreboard hasn't reflected that. "I'm sure you guys are all probably writing us off. I don't blame you," he told reporters before a brisk late-afternoon workout at Coors Field.

DENVER -- Tony Clark, protected from a bone-numbing chill by a cotton pullover, looked out at the slate-gray skies over Coors Field late Sunday afternoon and feigned indifference to the weather. "What elements?" the Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman said. "We knew coming in it was going to be chilly. We knew there was going to be a possibility of rain." But the Fogg, apparently, caught them by surprise.

DENVER -- Anyone surprised by the fact inclement weather has hit the National League Championship Series games in Denver should take a closer look at the Colorado Rockies' logo. Yep, that's snow atop that purple Rocky Mountains peak. And that was also snow falling in the Denver suburbs Sunday, about a 20-minute drive from Coors Field.

DENVER -- The Colorado Rockies are going to the World Series. That's neither a joke nor a misprint. Because after sweeping aside the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League Championship Series on Monday night, the once-hapless Rockies woke up this morning smelling of champagne as the last NL team standing.