D-Backs sweep aside Cubs Nick Piecoro
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 6, 2007 11:21 PM
CHICAGO - The final out was about to fall into the glove of Jeff Salazar in right field when closer Jose Valverde began thumping his chest, and soon the celebration had begun anew, the smell of champagne and beer and sweat hanging heavy in the air of the cramped visitor's clubhouse at Wrigley Field.
The Diamondbacks danced and shouted and sprayed each other again - this time, with goggles, this time enjoying their 5-1 win Saturday night over the Chicago Cubs that completed a three-game sweep of this National League Division Series.
The win earned the Diamondbacks entrance in the National League Championship Series, where they will meet the Colorado Rockies, , who completed a sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies in Denver on Saturday night.
The win also allowed the Diamondbacks to again partake in their new favorite pastime: basking in their ability to disprove others. They dispatched a Cubs team that, despite having five fewer regular-season wins and playing in a far weaker division, was viewed widely as the favorites.
"Everyone questioned us going into this postseason, and I don't really blame them," outfielder Eric Byrnes said. "But there are 25 guys in here who never questioned themselves. This is how we've been winning baseball games all year - different guys on different nights."
They do not have big-name stars, but they produce new stars for every game, and on this night there were many, from Chris Young to Byrnes to Stephen Drew, all of whom homered. But none bigger than starter Livan Hernandez, whose round, shaved head was doused in alcohol by his teammates time and again in the lively postgame clubhouse.
Twelve men reached base in Hernandez's six innings, but only one scored, as Hernandez worked out of numerous jams, each time quieting the anxious Wrigley crowd.
"Houdini," manager Bob Melvin said.
Melvin always has been patient with his veteran right-hander, and that patience was not tested more than in the fifth inning, when Hernandez, trying to protect a 3-1 lead, loaded the bases with three walks, bringing up Chicago's Mark DeRosa with one out.
When Hernandez fell behind 3-1, the crowd was deafeningly loud, but Hernandez used his sinker to get a double play to end the inning, swinging the momentum back to the Diamondbacks.
"You have to allow my man here to have a little wiggle room," Melvin said, patting Hernandez on the head as he slipped past into the rowdy clubhouse. "And we do."
Young got the Diamondbacks off and running with a solo home run on the first pitch of the game from Cubs lefty Rich Hill, and Justin Upton made it 2-0 with an RBI single later in the inning.
Hernandez then went to work on earning his magicians' certificate. The Cubs had two on in the second, two more in the third, two in fourth and then loaded the bases in the fifth. But in the end, they came away with just one run on a ground out, going 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position.
After Melvin turned it over to his trusted troika of relievers - Tony Peña, Brandon Lyon and Valverde - the party was on in the clubhouse.
Hernandez, double-fisting, poured beers over the head of Byrnes, who let out a primal scream. Reliever Juan Cruz broke out the goggles - fitting, because they were his idea. The players twisted the words from the Australian chant to serenade second baseman Augie Ojeda: Augie, Augie, Augie! Oi! Oi! Oi!
And Mark Reynolds stood along a side wall, enjoying a celebration that the rookie didn't expect.
"To be honest with you," he said, "I didn't even know we celebrated after the division series."
Oh, they celebrated. And they're hoping they can do it again in another 10 days.