Diamondbacks Acquire Schilling

P H O E N I X, July 26 -- Adding Curt Schilling to a staff that includes Randy Johnson, the Arizona Diamondbacks head into the pennant race with one of the most powerful 1-2 pitching combinations in baseball.

“Koufax and Drysdale come to mind,” Arizona general managerJoe Garagiola Jr. said after Wednesday’s 4-for-1 trade withPhiladelphia. “I’ll take these two guys.”

Schilling, who had pushed for a deal to a contender, is headedhome to Phoenix in exchange for first baseman-outfielder Travis Leeand pitchers Omar Daal, Vicente Padilla and Nelson Figueroa.

“I will leave here with nothing but the best memories on andoff the field,” Schilling said during a news conference atVeterans Stadium in Philadelphia. “I was booed so much less than Iprobably deserve to be booed here, which I don’t think too manypeople leaving Philly can say.

“It’s not as tough as you think because it’s all pretty much myfault. I would create problems that shouldn’t have been made.”

Will Start Friday

Arizona, the defending NL West champion, began Wednesday infirst place, one game ahead of San Francisco. Schilling is to makehis Diamondbacks’ debut Friday at Florida.

“There aren’t many teams who have a couple of number ones onthe roster on their pitching staff like we feel we do with Randyand Curt Schilling,” Diamondbacks owner Jerry Colangelo said.“This could be a very significant addition in a very tight pennantrace.”

As part of the deal, Schilling waived his right to demand atrade following the season, a power given to veterans traded whileunder a multiyear contract.

“He can only pitch once every fifth day,” manager BuckShowalter said before the Diamondbacks played at St. Louis.“Hopefully, this will be a new chapter for us. We’ve taken a lotof blows after 100 games and we’re still standing.”

Free Agent After 2001 Season