Arizona Going to Great Strengths

The Arizona Diamondbacks, riddled by injuries but still leading the National League West, are getting stronger as they eye their first home-and-home series with the Dodgers, starting next weekend in Arizona.

Erubiel Durazo, who was baseball’s hottest spring hitter when he broke his right hand in mid-March and hasn’t lost a beat as indicated by his three home runs Friday night, returned to first base Thursday, putting Mark Grace on the bench.

Closer Matt Mantei will return from elbow reconstruction at the end of the month to join Byung-Hyun Kim at the back of the bullpen, giving Manager Bob Brenly more options.

Matt Williams, who has a broken ankle, won’t be back until after the All-Star break and Jay Bell, out because of a torn calf muscle, is still two or three weeks away, but General Manager Joe Garagiola Jr. said Durazo and Mantei represent impact additions.

“To be 11 games over .500 [as the Diamondbacks were before Friday’s games], at or near the top of our division and now see some of our key people either back or on the horizon, you have to feel good,” Garagiola said. “I mean, to have stayed on the pace without them has to be encouraging. I think a lot of teams would trade for our won-lost record.”

Although Arizona still is searching for consistency behind Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, who were a combined 15-2 before the weekend, while four other starters were 6-11, that part of it also may be clearing up. Garagiola said Rick Helling, Miguel Batista and Brian Anderson all gave Arizona a reasonable chance to win in their last starts.

“If they keep up that level ... that’s all you can ask,” Garagiola said.

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What George wants, he still gets.

It was Christmas Eve, long after the New York Yankees had acquired Robin Ventura from the cross-town Mets and signed Jason Giambi, Rondell White and Steve Karsay as free agents. General Manager Brian Cashman and staff thought they had done all they needed to do, had pushed the budget as far as they could and certainly didn’t have room for one more starting pitcher.

Enter the Boss.

Making amends for having traded Yankee-to-the-bone David Wells three years earlier--in the Roger Clemens deal--and ignoring that Wells would be 39 in April and had been in only 16 games last year before disk surgery, George Steinbrenner personally signed the portly left-hander to a two-year, $6-million contract.

On Thursday, with a 13-0 shutout of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Wells improved his record to 6-1.

His 40-15 record as a Yankee gives him a .727 winning percentage, best among Yankee pitchers with more than 50 decisions.

Said Wells, “Now that I’m back, I’m just trying to make every outing count, make it memorable.”

Said Manager Joe Torre of Steinbrenner’s unexpected signing: “It was a stroke of genius, which doesn’t surprise any of us. It was a Christmas present for him, and as it turns out, everybody else.”

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He was the first player to steal 40 bases and hit 40 home runs in the same season. He hit 462 homers, drove in 1,407 runs, won a most-valuable-player award and two World Series rings, but Jose Canseco’s numbers leave him short of Cooperstown.

If, in addition, his defense deteriorated, many have said that his focus and priorities went with it.

Prompted by Canseco’s retirement last week, former Oakland teammate Dave Henderson, now a broadcaster with the Seattle Mariners, said Canseco lacked the commitment to sustain his early prowess, quit on the 1990 A’s in their World Series loss to the Cincinnati Reds and became so lackadaisical in the field that “We all said, ‘Get him out of here.’”

Added Henderson: “He was once the picture of speed, power and good defense, but he got lost, got bored. The defense faded, the speed faded, he became another average player, a guy who only hit home runs.”

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Allard Baird, the Kansas City Royals’ general manager, said it had nothing to do with his decision to hire Tony Pena as manager, but two unidentified players, one believed to be former Yankee Chuck Knoblauch, had come to him and said they would ask to be traded if Buck Showalter was hired, as many had expected. Showalter helped build championship teams in New York and Arizona, but his accomplishments tend to be overshadowed by his reputation as a control-obsessed manager.

“I understand how networking and word of mouth goes,” Showalter said, after losing out in Kansas City. “I know I’ve always tried to treat people the way I would like to be treated. I can tell you, those players don’t know me.”

Any manager would have a tough time turning around the Royals, but Pena made it clear he’s in charge.

“I am the new DJ,” he said. “I play the music and you have to dance. If you don’t know how to dance, get off the floor.”