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Poisonous vipers face small, fuzzy bears

A A A Comments By Joe Watson Thursday, Mar 31 2005

Troy Glaus knows a thing or two about comebacks.

courtesy of Arizona Diamondbacks

Hey, batter! It's finally baseball season again.

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Bear down against the Chicago Cubs starting at 2:10 p.m. on Monday, April 4. Tickets, $11 to $116, are available by calling 602-514-8400 or at www.azdiamondbacks.com.

Bank One Ballpark, 401 East Jefferson Street

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After all, the new Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman was part of one of the greatest turnarounds in World Series history when he helped the Anaheim Angels (now the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) avoid elimination during Game 6 of the 2002 Fall Classic by overcoming a six-run deficit in the eighth inning.

Now the slugger faces an even bigger challenge: helping the D-Backs avoid replacing the Arizona Cardinals as the Valley's official sports pariah by rebounding from last season's ugly 51-111 finish.

While the straight baller is eager to get started, especially during this week's home opening series against the Chicago Cubs, he knows he's not a miracle worker.

"We're not counting on one guy to carry us this season," says Glaus, who signed a free agent contract worth $45 million in December. "I don't know if we're going to necessarily sneak up on anybody this year, but there's a lot of new faces, and a lot of veteran presence on the team, and we're looking forward to going out there and showing what we can do."

Good thing he won't be soloing this titanic task, as the "yanking" of the Big Unit by George Steinbrenner last December left a big hole to be filled in the team's draw, and the Snakes went on an off-season spending spree.

In addition to Glaus, Arizona added right fielder Shawn Green, pitchers Javier Vazquez and Russ Ortiz, shortstop Royce Clayton, center fielder Jose Cruz Jr., and first baseman Tony Clark, and brought back fan favorite Craig Counsell in hopes of reversing their cellar-dwelling ways.

But given the Valley's fanaticism for the Cubbies, will Glaus and company mind it if there are more folks wearing blue and red this week than purple and teal?

"Nah, they're all just baseball fans to me," Glaus says. "The bottom line is it's nice to get people in the seats. Noise is noise."

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