Conditioning pays off late in season

   Brian Anderson
   Special to the Republic
   The Arizona Republic
   Sept. 3, 1998
   
   The next time Andy Benes walks out to the mound, take a good look at
   him. He's big and strong and in great shape - not too many pitchers
   around are more durable than him.
   
   That's the goal I had coming into this season: being durable and
   dependable, having the manager and coaching staff know that they can
   call on me every fourth or fifth day.
   
   Andy has thrown close to 200 innings and by the time the season ends
   later this month, I should be close. I'm at 168 2/3 going into my
   start today against the Pirates in Pittsburgh.
   
   I've always considered myself to be in pretty decent shape, but the
   thing that has helped me this year is sticking to the program of Jeff
   Forney, our strength and conditioning coach.
   
   With the exception of that embarrassing little episode awhile back of
   my shoulder stiffening up on that cab ride, it has been great. I've
   felt good. I haven't missed a bullpen session (two days after a
   start), where a pitcher throws between 60 and 80 pitches at close to
   full speed.
   
   When the Diamondbacks took me in the expansion draft, I was concerned
   how I'd hold up because I knew I probably would get a lot of innings.
   The most I had was a combined 179 1/3 between Cleveland and Triple-A
   Buffalo in 1996.
   
   There's a certain amount of pride you get from people knowing they can
   rely on you. I have the confidence now that I can go a day early if
   they need me.
   
   Pitching mechanics obviously play a big role in your success. All of
   our pitchers strive to be better, and that's where "Goose" - Mark
   Connor, our pitching coach - comes in. We all do a lot of fine-tuning
   with him, and he knows us very well. He makes suggestions, yet is
   open-minded enough to let us have input.
   
The big finale

   Unfortunately, we are out of the race, but we still have some good
   teams coming in to play us at home as the season winds down.
   
   It will be a good time for the fans to come out. I don't want to say
   we will play the role of spoiler, but we do want to be competitive and
   win as many games as we can. It will be a good gauge to see how far
   we've come since struggling early in the season, and where we have the
   potential to go.
   
   And although I'm not sure how many of my teammates peek at the
   standings, I do and I've noticed that we were only a game behind Tampa
   Bay going into Wednesday after being a long way behind them early. To
   slip by 'em would be a noteworthy accomplishment.
   
Humble pie

   A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about college football and that
   Nebraska was the top team in the country.
   
   You like to think your faith doesn't waver when your team doesn't play
   up to its capabilities, but mine was shaken a bit when the Cornhuskers
   allowed Louisiana Tech's Troy Edwards to catch 21 passes for 405 yards
   and three touchdowns on Saturday in Nebraska's 56-27 victory.
   
   You could call it a Swiss-cheese defense. At what point does the
   defensive coordinator gather the defensive backs together and say,
   "See that guy over there? You've seen the number on his back the whole
   day - cover him!"
   
   That kind of thing doesn't sit well with the pollsters. And I'm sure
   the other teams in the Big 12 and around the country were taking a lot
   of notes. The Cornhuskers are going to have to be more ready now, but
   I still think they have a strong chance at the national title.
   
   Diamondbacks left-hander Brian Anderson shares his comments each week
   in Baseball Extra.