Friday the 13th and the Diamondbacks, No Luck at All

Of all the major sports, baseball is perhaps the most superstitious. We’ve all heard of the “Curse of the Bambino” and the infamous “Goat Curse” that plagued the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs for decades.

There was the black cat episode in 1969 that led to the collapse of the Chicago Cubs where they inexplicably blew a 9.5 game lead to lose to the New York Mets. These curses and superstitions do not just effect teams, they also impact players.

Players are creatures of habit and as long as things are going well rituals will be retained. Long-time Diamondbacks third baseman Matt Williams was a classic example. When he was hitting well things seemed rather normal but if he went into a slump things changed dramatically.

First Williams would go from long baseball pants to pants that went just below his knee. If that didn’t break the slump the next step would be the left pants pocket. He would turn the pocket inside out before going to bat.

If the slump continued he went would turn the right pant pocket inside out. If that didn’t work then both pockets would be turned around. Once the slump was finally behind him he would gradually go back to long pants and pockets turned right side in.

Williams was not the only player to go through this. May of the current day Diamondbacks have similar routines that they follow to make sure the Baseball Gods look favorably upon them.

For the past two years, the Diamondbacks have found themselves mired in a tailspin of epic proportions. After the 2007 season when the Diamondbacks made it to the National League Championship Series there were expectations that the team was destined for a long run of success.

Instead the team stumbled in 2008 ending the season in third place. This was followed by a disastrous 2009 where they lost 92 games. This year’s team seems to be even worse with projections of 100 plus losses for just the second time in franchise history.

Today marks Friday the 13th, one of the unluckiest days of the year by many accounts. With the team still in last place in the National League West you have to wonder what else could possibly go wrong?

Arizona has already had to endure nearly two years without their ace Brandon Webb and have seen a fire sale of late with several players shipped off in what has been described as a rebuilding exercise.

Perhaps this team needs to look closely in the mirror and consider that their lucky charms may need to be retired and replaced with a new mojo. A good place to start may be in the pregame buffet.

A diet of garlic, rabbit’s feet and boxes of Lucky Charms cereal may be a good beginning. Whatever it takes to end this two-plus year losing streak, I’m all for it.