Awkward Timing for Diamondbacks

Timing is everything, never so much as in sports. The Arizona Diamondbacks, a spunky expansion team, have fought their way into the World Series for the first time.

Predictably, Diamondback mania is sweeping the state.

Unfortunately, the Diamondbacks find themselves up against not only the mighty New York Yankees and their century of pinstriped tradition, but also a large swath of the American public pulling for a feel-good Hollywood ending: letting the Yankees win the World Series title to help repair a city’s damaged psyche.

Here in Phoenix, which hosts game one on Saturday, fans are determined not to allow the Yankees--or terrorism--impede the celebration they’ve earned.

“It’s understandable that people will be rooting for the Yankees,” said local radio talk show host David Leibowitz. “We are going to go out of our way to welcome them with open arms. We wish them well. But, hey, once the game starts, we are going to beat the snot out of them.”

This should be an exquisite moment for the Arizona team, appealing to the nation’s equally vast banks of underdog-lovers and Yankee-haters. Usually there are plenty of neutral fans who would pull for the young team over an organization that has won 26 World Series titles and four of the last five.

But this year, sports fans’ compassion seems to be overriding their natural affinities. That puts the four-year-old Diamondbacks and their fans in an unusual position should they win: party poopers.

“We know that because of the times, the Yankees are going to be the favorites of the country,” said Phoenix Mayor Skip Rimsza. “But, on the other hand, I think the whole country understands what it is to challenge something like the Yankees.”

Baseball officials postponed the World Series by a week to allow more time for national healing. But to many fans, the words “Let’s play ball!” are all the salve they need.

“Baseball makes people feel good, it’s the national pastime, for Pete’s sake,” said Howard Reuben, a transplanted Midwesterner. “We need to get back to normal and this is it.”

Like their town, the Diamondbacks have been fashioned out of whole cloth and plunked into the desert. But the Diamondbacks--like Phoenix’s professional franchises in football, basketball and hockey--have never fully captured the populace. In fact, until this year, the Diamondbacks have faced declining attendance. Many sports fans here still root for teams they followed in the towns where they grew up.

One of this sprawling city’s source of everlasting angst is its lack of a center. Urban planners often use Phoenix’s look-alike red-tile-roofed, stucco homes tucked behind high walls as a cautionary tale of how best to alienate citizens.

But with the new stadium and a new arena as the core of a refurbished downtown, officials are betting that the city’s sports teams can provide a kind of civic glue. And, with the sudden success of the Diamondbacks, there is the possibility that this city of 1.3 million, many of them transplants, will finally embrace a home-grown entity.

“I think this is great for Phoenix,” said Ligia Burkett, who was buying T-shirts to send to family members in Panama. “Most people here are from somewhere else. The Diamondbacks in the World Series gives us all something to root for together.”

And, while much of the country may be discussing how much a World Series victory would mean to the city of New York, people here are respectfully disagreeing.

“I would say that it would be wonderful for Phoenix too,” said Connie Tafoya. “We need to cling to something. We need to say, ‘This is my home. I’m rooting for the Diamondbacks because they are my team.’ We need to stop rooting for the teams where we used to live. So we need to win. Sorry, New York.”

On a recent weekday afternoon the sunbaked plaza around Bank One Ballpark--known here affectionately as BOB--was thronged. Even though tickets for the first two games here sold out in hours, fans were milling around, happy just to gawk at the shuttered stadium.

Rex Hardin, a car dealer in Scottsdale, Ariz., owned two season tickets, which allowed him to buy two tickets to the World Series. He needed two more Series tickets and to get those he had to buy another pair of next year’s season tickets.

“I’ve got a 71-year-old mother and if I leave her behind, I’m doomed,” he said, detailing a complex commercial exchange that also involved buying three tickets from scalpers at $500 each.

“I’ve spent a few thousand dollars on all this, just to keep the peace at home,” he said.

In the team’s store, merchandise was flying off the shelves. Glenn Martin, wearing a “Pride in America” gold shirt, juggled an armful of T-shirts and caps.

“I’ve got a couple hundred dollars worth of stuff,” he said, smiling ruefully. “I’m a die-hard Cubs fan, but not now.”