Sweep of Giants impressive start to D-backs’ season
Apr 10, 2012, 10:27 PM | Updated: Apr 11, 2012, 12:34 am
The Diamondbacks started the season with a bang, sweeping
the San Francisco Giants in a three-game series.
MLB Network’s Larry Bowa told Arizona Sports 620’s Doug
and Wolf Tuesday that the wins over the Giants show the
Diamondbacks mean business.
“Everybody thought they were going to be good, but to
sweep the Giants and the three pitchers they beat, to me
was pretty impressive,” Bowa said.
The D-backs narrowly beat the Giants by one run each game,
and rallied over the final few innings in the last meeting
to win. Bowa says the triumphs over Giants are significant
because of how the two battled each other last year.
“You remember what happened last year, and they beat them
up pretty good last year,” Bowa said. “I think they’re
leaving an impression on the Giants, you know, ‘even
though we snuck up on some people last year, we got a
pretty good ball club, and we think we’ve got a pretty
good chance to do it again.'”
The D-backs were 9-9 against the Giants in 2011, and San
Francisco finished eight games back of division-champion
Arizona.
Bowa mentioned the rivalry between the two has almost
taken the place of what used to be a Giants-Dodgers
rivalry, and the wins over San Francisco gave the D-backs
confidence.
“There’s something there,” Bowa said. “The Diamondbacks
are walking with a little swagger, which I like it.”
And because Arizona started out so strong, they’ve become
an early target for all the other teams, which something
they were not last year after a slow start.
“Everybody knows that Arizona won the division and,
sometimes it’s different when you are the hunted,” Bowa
said.