Counsell helps carry D-Backs
Second baseman goes 5-for-5, steals three bases for first time

Steve Gilbert
MLB.com
August 7, 2005

PHOENIX -- Overall, it was a homestand to forget for the Diamondbacks, but on Sunday, they ended it on a positive note by beating the Rockies, 9-4, at Bank One Ballpark.

The D-Backs finished the homestand just 2-4, but Sunday's win helped them stay three games in back of the first-place Padres in the National League West and they hope provided them with momentum heading into what could be a make-or-break road trip.

"It's a huge trip," second baseman Craig Counsell said of the upcoming 12-game, 14-day excursion to Florida, Atlanta, St. Louis and Cincinnati. "More than anything we're playing some tough teams. We need to find out what team we're going to be. Are we going to be a team that's going to compete for the playoffs? Or are we going to be a team that's going to tread water all year? I think this trip will go a long way to determining that."

Counsell's play on Sunday went a long way toward deciding the outcome. The pesky leadoff hitter was 5-for-5 with three runs scored and three stolen bases. The five hits matched a career high, while the three steals were the most he'd ever had in a game.

Counsell has 17 steals on the year, matching his total from last season, and he seemed to have Colorado starter Jamey Wright distracted, and then downright agitated, throughout his six-inning stint.

"That's your job when you're over there," said Counsell, who raised his average to .276. "If you're not going to always steal bases ... at least be a threat to steal bases and somehow try to effect what's going on for the pitcher out there so maybe he loses a little bit of concentration and it helps the hitter."

After his lead off single in the first, Counsell stole second, and then he and Chad Tracy, who was hit by a pitch, came around to score on a double by Luis Gonzalez.

Then in the third, Counsell once again led off with a base hit, stole second and scored two batters later when Gonzalez hit his 16th homer of the year as the D-Backs took a 4-0 lead.

In the fifth, he again led off with a single, and before he had a chance to steal, Tracy hit the first pitch from Wright over the right-field wall to run the Arizona advantage to 6-0.

With Counsell stealing at will, Wright went to the slide step when Tracy came to the plate. Usually when a pitcher does that, the pitch is going to be a fastball.

"And Trace was aware of that and he knew going up for that at bat, he said, 'If he slide-steps, I'm going to lay one out pretty good,'" Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said. "So Couns not only had an effect when he was stealing and getting in scoring position, he had an effect when next time around after stealing a couple of bases and getting Trace a good pitch to hit."

One inning later, with Arizona still up 6-0, Counsell singled with two outs and promptly stole second. The very next pitch sailed precariously close to Tracy's head. Tracy did not say anything, but Gonzalez, who was in the on-deck circle, immediately started yelling in the direction of the Rockies dugout.

While not being specific, Gonzalez said he saw someone in the Rockies dugout signal for Wright to hit Tracy.

"I just saw something in their dugout that they thought nobody else saw, but I saw it," he said. "And the next pitch went over Tracy's head and I took it upon myself to go out and yell at those guys. The coaches over there played in the Major Leagues so you would think they knew better."

Both Wright and Colorado skipper Clint Hurdle denied the hurler was trying to hit Tracy, but the Diamondbacks weren't buying it.

"I think they clearly took exception," Counsell said. "They threw at him. We don't agree. We're not going to sit down and play dead at 6-0. It's 6-0 and we're trying to win the game. I don't think it's at the point where we need to stop being aggressive and stop taking it to them. If they want us to quit at 6-0, we should have just stopped the game."

Said Melvin: "We felt like he was throwing right at him and it looked like it went right over the top of his head and we felt like we heard something come out of the dugout."

Tracy said he didn't mind so much being thrown at, but the fact that the pitch nearly hit him in the head bothered him.

The offense and the incident with Tracy overshadowed another solid performance by Arizona starter Claudio Vargas. The right-hander held the Rockies to just one hit through six innings before giving up a three-run homer to Jorge Piedra in the seventh.

"Since he's been here, he's been our most consistent player probably, so he should get some credit too," Counsell said.