Diamondbacks relish underdog label

PHOENIX -- Don't tell the Arizona Diamondbacks they're favored in the best-of-five NLDS against the Cubs that begins tonight at Chase Field.

The D'backs don't want the tag, even if their 90-72 record was the best in the National League.

It was obvious from their comments Tuesday that the Diamondbacks would much prefer to play the no-respect card, as so many teams find the need to do.

"It seems like no matter what we've done this year we've been kind of the underdog, so it's no different for us," manager Bob Melvin said. "I think a lot of people thought we were going to go away as the season went along.

"The deeper we got and closer we got to the finish line, I think there was a lot of speculation that this team was going roll under, but it didn't.

"We're not opposed to being the underdog, and I think a lot of times it probably works well for us because you don't put too much pressure on yourself."

The D'backs are well aware that there is considerably more Chicago media covering the series and that there will be thousands of Cubs fans in the stadium for the two games at Chase Field.

"I think our goal is just not give the Cubs fans a whole lot to cheer about," said D'backs left fielder Eric Byrnes. "We're not going to get caught up in the emotion of it too much. I know Chicago is going to be off the charts when we get there, but there's not a whole lot of guys that are going to be fazed by it."

The say-what's-on-his-mind Byrnes fielded wave after wave of questions Tuesday, many of them from Chicago reporters. He was even asked if he was familiar with Steve Bartman and the curse of the Billy Goat.

"Know about them? I consider them teammates," joked Byrnes.

On paper, the Diamondbacks don't have anywhere near the star power of the Cubs, who travel through the National League almost like rock stars.

Even the way the D'backs got to the playoffs was somewhat odd, having allowed more runs (732) than they scored (712). They had no .300 hitters and only one (center fielder Chris Young) with more than 21 homers.

The Diamondbacks, though, were an NL-best 32-20 in 1-run games.

"The numbers don't add up, but we know how to win ballgames," Young said.

"This is a young, confident group of guys that don't get fazed by much," Byrnes said. "We feel we don't have a whole lot to lose. No on expected us to be in this position and probably not a whole lot of people expected us to move on, but we've defied logic and defied numbers all year, so we couldn't care less."

So, Byrnes sees the D'backs as underdogs?

"We have no problem with it," Byrnes said. "This is a fun team to watch and hopefully people around the country will be able to see that. We play the game the right way and have a lot of young guys that play the game with a lot of enthusiasm."

Perhaps Cubs second baseman Mark DeRosa put it best when asked if there were a favorite in the series.

"I don't see us as the favorite because of the number of wins they had," DeRosa said. "But you know what? That favorite stuff all goes out the window once the series starts."