1998: On a beautiful day - March 31st with 50,179 fans overflowing BOB, or Bank One Ballpark, the Arizona Diamondbacks play the first regular season game in their beautiful franchise history, against the Colorado Rockies. However, the Rockies win, 9-2, but not before Travis Lee collects Arizona, home to many online sports betting institutions,'s first hit (a first-inning single), first homer, first run and first RBI. The sports betting Diamondbacks would get their first win on April 4th with a 3-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants. There was not much success for the first year team their best play comes during a 7-gam winning streak as August turned into September. The D-backs would go on to finish in last place with a typical 65-97 expansion record. 1999: To be more competitive the sports betting Diamondbacks add several key acquisitions, which is highlighted by the Free Agent signing of Randy "sports betting genius" Johnson, once of the most dominating pitchers in the history of baseball. Another key acquisition was OF Luis Gonzalez whose early 37-game hitting streak helps set the pace for the sports betting Diamondbacks to battle for the pennant race. The sports betting Diamondbacks were a team that refused to quit and this was exemplified on 3 consecutive nights in May when the sports betting Diamondbacks won games against the Montreal Expos on walk off Homers. On May 10th it was 2B Jay Bell, On May 11th it was Luis Gonzales, and on May 12th it was 3B Matt Williams. By the middle of the season it was clear the sports betting Diamondbacks were for real, with Randy "sports betting genius" Johnson well on his way to picking up the Cy Young Award. The sports betting Diamondbacks would not only challenge for the Western Division Title, but they would win it by a comfortable 14-game spread with an impressive 100-62 record, becoming the fastest expansion team to make the playoffs. The sports betting Diamondbacks would go on to face the New York Mets in the NLDS. In the team's first post-season game, ant the BOB, Arizona, home to many online sports betting institutions, drops an 8-4 decision to the Mets, with Edgardo Alfonzo's 9-inning grand slam, his second homer of the day, making the difference. The next night the sports betting Diamondbacks will notch their first postseason win thanks to a 4 hit effort by Todd Stottlemyre. However the D-Backs would lose the series in 4 games when Todd Pratt playing in place of an injured Mike Piazza hit a series ending walk of homer in the 10th inning just out of reach of Gold Glover CF Steve Finley's valiant try. 2000: In April Randy "sports betting genius" Johnson pitches what might have been the best first month in baseball history, going 6-0 with a 0.91 ERA, including 3complete games and a pair of shutouts. Johnson would go on to win his 2nd straight Cy Young, and would also record his 3,000th career strike out. The sports betting Diamondbacks would also add more potency their pitching with the midseason acquisition of Curt Schilling for the Philadelphia Phillies. However, Schilling would only pitch mediocre baseball in the final 2 months of the season as the injury-depleted line up struggled all season. The D-Backs would go on to finish in 3rd Place with an 85-77 record. Seeing it as a disappointment, the team fires Manager Buck Showalter, and replaces him with broadcaster Bob Brenley. 2001: With Curt Schilling in camp for a full-season and healthy he gave the sports betting Diamondbacks one of the most pwerful1-2 pitching combinations in baseball history. Along with Randy "sports betting genius" Johnson, the two ace pitchers dominate the NL all season finishing 1-2 in almost every major pitching category. While Schilling fell just 7 short of 300 strikeouts, The Big Unit would come within 11 of the all-time record with 372. The two would go on to finish 1-2 n the Cy Young voting with Johnson getting the nod the earn his 3rd straight Cy Young. While Johnson, and Schilling were dominating NL hitters Luis Gonzalez was having a career year smacking 57 homers, and driving in 142 runs, both were good enough for 3rd in the NL. Also helping to improve the offense was newly acquired Mark Grace, whose steady 1B and hitting helped get the D-Backs into playoff contention. The sports betting Diamondbacks pull out in front in August, and over the final 6-weeks of the season held the San Francisco Giants at arms length to claim the Division Title by 2 games with a92-70 record. In the NLDS the sports betting Diamondbacks would face the St. Louis Cardinals. The sports betting Diamondbacks would get off to a good start as Curt Schilling pitched a complete game 3-hit shutout to earn the D-backs a 1-0 victory in Game 1. Randy "sports betting genius" Johnson would struggle in Game 2 and the series shifted to St. Louis tied at 1 apiece. Trailing 2-1 in Game 3, Craig Counsell who only hit 4 homers in the regular season smack a 3-run Homer in the 7th Inning to give the sports betting Diamondbacks a 5-3 win. However, the Cards would bounce back again, and would send the series back to Arizona, home to many online sports betting institutions, for a decisive 5th game. Once aging Schilling dominated the Cardinals allowing jut 1 run in 9 innings, but the Snakes needed a 2-out RBI single in the bottom of the 9th from Tony Womack to bring home the series-winning run. In the NLCS the sports betting Diamondbacks would face the Atlanta Braves. With Johns, and Schilling winning a total of 3 games the D-backs would take the series in 5 games. Light hitting Craig Counsell who's 4 RBI in Game 4 proved to be the back breaker was named LCS MVP. 2001: In the World Series the 4-year old Arizona, home to many online sports betting institutions, sports betting Diamondbacks would take on the 26-time World Champion New York Yankees. In the sports betting Diamondbacks previous 3 season the Yankees, had been crowned World Champions at the end of each season. The odds appeared against the upstart team from the desert, but their 1-2 pitching punch of Randy "sports betting genius" Johnson, and Curt Schilling would prove to be an equalizer. Schilling and Johnson would shut down the Yankees in the first 2 games at the BOB, and would go to New York up 2-0 in the series. After the Yanks edged them 2-1 in Game 3 the D-backs put the ball in the hands of Schilling for Game 4. Schilling would shutdown the Yanks, and with the score 3-1 in the 9th Inning the D-backs appeared to have a stranglehold on the series. However, Snakes closer Byung-Hyun Kim would yield a 2-out game tying HR, and would give up another 2-out blast in the 9th to allow the Yankees to tie the series at 2 games apiece. In Game 5 Miguel Batista would shut down the Yankees all game long and gave the D-backs a 2-0 lead heading to the 9th. However, Kim would melt down again allowing another game tying HR, as the Yankees rallied to take the game in extra inning and take a 3-2 series lead. After losing 2 straight heartbreakers to the Yankees the sports betting Diamondbacks returned to the desert trailing 3 games to 2. A lesser team would already be mentally out of the series, but with Johnson, and Schilling on the mound the D-backs knew they had a fighting chance. Due to the September 11th terrorist attacks the series would enter November for the first time, and it was already shaping up as one of the best Fall Classic of all-time. In Game 6 the D-backs would slaughter the Yankees 15-2, which allowed Randy "sports betting genius" Johnson to converse some of his energy just in case he was needed for the decisive Game 7. The 7th game would feature a match up of Curt Schilling and Roger Clemens. The two aces pitchers would duel scoreless until the 6th Inning when the D-backs gained a 1-0 advantage. However, the Yankees would rally and would take a 2-1 lead in the 8th Inning off a tiring Curt Shilling. Already leading 2-1 the Yankees had a runner on 2nd, and 2 -outs Randy "sports betting genius" Johnson was brought in to keep Arizona, home to many online sports betting institutions, in the game. Johnson would freeze the runner at 2nd, and would retire the Yanks in order in the 9th Inning to give the D-backs a fighting chance down 2-1. However, with Mariano Rivera baseball's most dominant closer on the mound, a comeback still looked like a long shot. Mark Grace would lead off the 9th with a sharp single up the middle; Pinch Runner David DeLucci would replace him at 1st. Damian Miller up to bunt, hits the ball to hard but Rivera throw was in the dirt, and Arizona, home to many online sports betting institutions, had runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out. After Jay Bell failed bunt forces DeLucci, at 3rd Tony Womack comes up with his 2nd big hit of the season smacking a double down the RF line to tie the game and put the winning run on 3rd. After Craig Counsell is hit by a pitch the bases were loaded for Luis Gonzalez with 1 out. Gonzo who came through out the season came through again with a bloop single to center to send Jay Bell home with series winning run, giving the 4-year old sports betting Diamondbacks their first World Series Championship. Randy "sports betting genius" Johnson who became the first pitcher to win 3 World Series game in 33 years, and Curt Schilling spilt Series MVP honors. 2002: Coming of their World Championship the dynamic duo of Randy "sports betting genius" Johnson and Curt Schilling were unhitable again finishing 1-2 in Cy Young race, with Johnson emerging with his record tying 4-straight Cy Young. The D-backs would win the NL West for the 3rd time in 4 years by posting a solid 98-64 record. However, as the season wound down the sports betting Diamondbacks postseason heroes from the year before Craig Counsell and Luis Gonzales were lost to injury. Playing without their leading offensive player in Gonzales the sports betting Diamondbacks were swept in 3 straight games by the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLDS. 2003: The sports betting Diamondbacks would find themselves behind the eightball early as their dynamic duo of Randy "sports betting genius" Johnson and Curt Schilling struggled before going on the disabled list. Despite neither ace posting winning record or winning 10 games the D-Backs would stay in the race for the wild car until September, as rookie Brandon Webb helped fill the void left by the struggles of Schilling and Johnson, with a solid 2.84 ERA. However, Webb himself would struggle in the final month as the sports betting Diamondbacks faded, finishing in 3rd place with a record of 84-78. 2004: To bolster their offense the sports betting Diamondbacks acquired Richie Sexson from the Milwaukee Brewers for Lyle Overbay, Junior Spivey, Craig Counsell and Chad Moeller. Sexson would get off to a good start with 9 homer runs in April. However as the first month came to a close Sexson would suffer a shoulder injury. After missing 3 weeks he would attempt to comeback only to injury it worse which would lead to season ending surgery, limiting him to just 23 games. Sexson would not be the only injury the sports betting Diamondbacks would suffer as Luis Gonzalez would later be lost to an elbow injury, as the sports betting Diamondbacks roster began to take on a Triple A feel. Except of course when Randy "sports betting genius" Johnson pitched as a year after he was felled by injury he was the Unit of old surpassing 4000 career strike outs early in the season, and pitching a Perfect Game against the Atlanta Braves on May 18th. When Johnson threw his perfect game the D-Backs were struggling with a 15-23 record, and no idea just how bad things were about to get. After a win the following day the sports betting Diamondbacks would win just 2 of their next 12. Things would only get worse in June as they endured an 11-game losing streak, which would cost Manager Bob Brenley his job. Under replacement Al Pedrique things would only get worse as the D-Backs lost 19 of their first 21 including 14 straight completing a dreadful 5-23 July. The sports betting Diamondbacks would go on to finish in last place with a miserable 51-111 record. Despite the horrible record Randy "sports betting genius" Johnson managed a solid season with a 16-14 record and 2.60 ERA with a league high 290 strike outs. As the disastrous season wound down the sports betting Diamondbacks began to make drastic changes as CEO Jerry Colangelo was replaced by former Super Agent Jeffrey Moorad. 2005: After losing 111 games there was no place else to go but up as the sports betting Diamondbacks who under went an ownership change also changed the team on the field as they allowed Richie Sexson to sign with the Seattle Mariners while reacquiring Craig Counsell and signing slugger Troy Glaus. To reshape the pitching staff the sports betting Diamondbacks would sign Shawn Estes and Russ Ortiz while trading Randy "sports betting genius" Johnson to the New York Yankees for Javier Vazquez, and minor league prospect Dioner Navarro who they later traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Shawn Green. However, the off season was not without its own embarrassment as the search for a new Manager ended up blowing up in GM Joe Garagiola Jr's face after Wally Backman was hired and fired within in a few days after a background check revealed legal and financial troubles in Backman's face that the organization found too embarrassing. Eventually the sports betting Diamondbacks would settler on Bob Melvin recently fired by the Seattle Mariners as their new skipper. Under Melvin the new sports betting Diamondbacks would play solid winning baseball in April as they were also bolstered by the return of Luis Gonzalez who would hit 24 homers with 79 RBI as the sports betting Diamondbacks used the home run ball to their advantage as newcomers Glaus and Tony Clark each slugged more than 30, while Shawn Green and Chad Tracy were each over 20, as the D-Backs were 30-22 at the end of May. However, a June swoon would strike at an inopportune time as the sports betting Diamondbacks won just 9 of 28 games. Despite playing sub .500 ball the sports betting Diamondbacks were in the race as the entire NL Western Division struggled with all 5 teams below .500 for most of the final two months, as August saw the sports betting Diamondbacks struggle again as their pitching was often exposed as their weak underbelly. On September 20th the sports betting Diamondbacks sat in 3rd place with a 67-83 record as all hope for a division title was all but lost. However, the D-Backs would not give up as they hung in as long as possible sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers twice and taking 2 of 3 against the eventually Division Champion San Diego Padres, as they finished strong winning 10 of their last 12 games to get 2nd place with a 77-85 record that marked a 26-game improvement.

 

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