NEW YORK -- Brian Anderson is goofy enough not to feel the pressure tonight. Maybe it's simply because he's left-handed. He's still the same free spirit he was as an up-and-coming prospect a few years ago for the Buffalo Bisons.
With the Arizona Diamondbacks holding a 2-0 lead and threatening to make a runaway of this World Series, manager Bob Brenly has opted to start Anderson -- for the first time since Sept. 8 -- tonight in Game Three against the New York Yankees (8; Ch. 29; Radio 1520).
At Yankee Stadium. Against Roger Clemens. With President Bush expected to be among the sellout crowd of more than 56,000.
It's a big risk for Brenly, who watched Anderson struggle with a 4-9 record and 5.20 earned run average during an injury-plagued regular season.
"Brian Anderson is a very calm, cool and collected pitcher," Brenly said. "He does not get rattled. I'm not sure why he does not recognize the magnitude sometimes of the games he's pitching in but he does not seem to be fazed by the situation or the magnitude of the ballgame."
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Anderson, 29, was Arizona's first pick in the 1998 expansion draft and was 31-22 for the Diamondbacks in their first three seasons.
And he has plenty of big-game experience: Anderson was the winning pitcher in Cleveland's 1997 ALCS clincher at Baltimore and also got a three-inning save in Game Four of the '97 World Series against Florida. While with Arizona, Anderson got a no-decision despite seven strong innings in Game Four of the '99 division series against the Mets.
"I realize what's at stake and how big this is," Anderson said. "I look at it as a great opportunity and some of the calm comes from just preparing yourself. . . . It's going to be a thrill to go out there. Obviously I'm not facing (Clemens), so my job is to get the Yankee hitters, but to share the mound with him in this big of a game is something special."
The 2001 season has been far from special for Anderson. It's been one mishap on top of another.
There was a 104-degree fever, a strained ankle, a bruised elbow, a middle finger cut trying to open a cologne bottle, a line drive off the thumb and a strained back. And all of that came in spring training.
"Then heaped on top of that was a lot of ineffectiveness," Anderson cracked.
He was out of the rotation the last four weeks of the regular season, but got the start because of his 2.45 ERA in this postseason and his potential for neutralizing the Yankees' left-handed hitters.
"I came back and I was pitching healthy but just not pitching well this year," he said. "I had some games where I threw well and had nothing to show for it and I had dozens of games where I got my teeth kicked in. That's obviously what led me to being taken out of the rotation."
"We had expectations that he would have a breakout season based on his career and really penciled in 15 wins for Brian Anderson," said Diamondbacks owner Jerry Colangelo. "We thought he was capable of that. Then with injury and lack of productivity, we looked up in September and he had three wins. Fortunately, other people we had no idea would be on our roster have filled in. This is really a chance for him to save his season."
Anderson went 18-6 in 34 starts for the Bisons in 1996 and 1997, the most career wins by a Buffalo left-hander in the team's modern era. He also won two playoff games during Buffalo's '97 run to the American Association championship. That got him a September callup to Cleveland and thrust him in the middle of the Tribe's push to within one out of a Series championship before it lost Game Seven at Florida in 11 innings.
"It all happened so fast that you didn't get a chance to assess your feelings on it until later," said Anderson, who grew up following the Indians as a child in Geneva, Ohio. "Then all of a sudden, it was like, 'Man, you might never get back there.' And then all of a sudden, you're taken by an expansion team and thinking, 'I might never make it back.' "
The Diamondbacks were brutal in their 1998 inaugural season but rebounded to win the National League West in 1999.
"It's been very satisfying to see because we came out (in 1998), had white caps that made us look like ice cream vendors, wore purple and almost lost 100 games. All of a sudden, four years later, here we are in the World Series. It's happened so fast."
Is there any concern he might be intimidated by the hostile Yankee Stadium crowd? Are you kidding?
"They can be obnoxious, they may be mean but they are witty," Anderson said. "They come up with funny things. They say something that's a slam on you or your family and it's funny but you don't want them to see you laughing at it because you're supposed to be getting locked in for a game. . . . To play and compete against a New York team is unlike any other experience that you can have. With a game of this magnitude, it's going to be a zoo."
Anderson is part of a big Buffalo connection on the Diamondbacks' roster of players and front office staff.
Four other Diamondbacks (infielders Tony Womack and Jay Bell, outfielder Midre Cummings and pitcher Albie Lopez) played with the Bisons in their minor-league days. Womack still owns Buffalo's modern-era record for stolen bases with 41 in 1994.
Ex-Buffalo player Junior Noboa and Jim Marshall, Buffalo's manager in 1986, are in charge of the club's Latin American and Pacific Rim scouting. Buffalo native Ed Durkin, who played at Bishop Fallon and the University at Buffalo, is Arizona's Eastern scouting supervisor and was heavily involved in the D-Backs' advance planning for a potential Series matchup against the Yankees.
e-mail: mharrington@buffnews.com
