Arizona leave Yankees gasping

Luis Gonzalez was on form in the game one

Game one:
Arizona Diamondbacks 9-1 New York Yankees

The Arizona Diamondbacks have grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 2001 World Series with an impressive win over the New York Yankees.

Four runs in both the third and fourth innings helped the Diamondbacks to rout the reigning champions on Saturday.

Curt Schilling baffled New York batters while Luis Gonzalez and Craig Counsell homered to lead the home side to an emphatic opening win in the best-of-seven title showdown.

New York, looking for a fourth consecutive crown and 27th overall, will attempt to even the scores in game two on Sunday.

Right-handed ace pitcher Schilling, aided by perfect fielding, struck out eight Yankees and scattered three hits.

I don't think there's ever a stress-free outing but that was as close as you can get

Bob Brenly
Arizona manager

He also allowed only one walk over seven innings to collect his seventh win in a row.

"You just go hitter to hitter, pitch to pitch and execute your pitches," said Schilling.

"I felt like I had good command. Our offense was incredible and our defense was the difference in the game."

Yankee pitching, aided by two costly New York errors, had no such success against Arizona's line-up of batters.

New York allowed five unearned runs in the game - the most by any Series team since 1973.

"We didn't pitch well enough to expect to win," said Yankees manager Joe Torre.

"The game got out of hand. We can't get behind in the count like we did.

Yankees can only watch on as Arizona soar ahead

"Schilling has too many weapons. He had good control."

It was in the third inning that Arizona surged ahead, forcing out Yankees starter Mike Mussina with four runs on three hits.

Gonzalez, who hit 57 homers in the regular season, blasted his third of the playoffs, a two-run hit that took Arizona to a 3-1 lead.

Reggie Sanders followed with a single up the middle and Steve Finley bolted another Mussina pitch to the centerfield wall, where rightfielder David Justice dropped the ball.

Sanders was able to score when Matt Williams botched a sacrifice fly out to centerfield.

The pre-game ceremony was emotional in light of recent events

Catcher Damian Miller grabbed a double down the left-field line to score Justice and boost Arizona's edge to 5-1.

Southpaw reliever Randy Choate came in for Mussina, but promptly surrendered four runs on three hits in the fourth, all coming after two outs.

Gonzalez doubled, Sanders walked and Finley hit a run-scoring single to right field.

Then Yankee third baseman Scott Brosius fumbled a ground ball from Williams, knocking it away off the edge of his glove and allowing two runs to score.

Mark Grace doubled home both runners, giving Arizona a 9-1 lead.

Reliever Sterling Hitchcock came for New York in the fifth to shut down Arizona, but the damage was already done.

Emotional displays

It was the most lopsided Series opener since Atlanta destroyed the Yankees 12-1 to start the 1996 final, which New York eventually won in six games.

Until the loss on Saturday, the Yankees had won 16 of 17 Series games since their 0-2 start in 1996.

Unsurprisingly, security was tightened around The Ballpark in Arizona with long lines formed hours before the game as security checked every spectator and searched every bag.

There was also an emotional pre-game ceremony with 132 soldiers holding a huge horizontal US flag that covered most of the outfield.

Fire-fighters were also there to raise a US flag on a leaning pole, recalling a familiar scene from the World Trade Center terrorism attack aftermath.

Unless Arizona manage a clean sweep, this will be the first time that the World Series has been played in November.

The attacks delayed the start of the World Series by a week.