Arizona left fielder Eric Byrnes has never been shy about expressing his feelings, dating back to his days as a two-sport high school standout.
But his baseball coach firmly drew the line between what Byrnes meant by his eyebrow-raising comments Saturday and how people might have perceived them.
Byrnes said Saturday that the Rockies hadn’t outplayed the Diamondbacks and that “they’ve had a little luck go their way” and that Colorado was “the beneficiary of some calls.”
Chris Bradford, Byrnes’ baseball coach at St. Francis High School in Mountain View, Calif., said Sunday: “I just take it simply as, ‘It’s not over. Let’s go.’ He was one of the best sportsmen we’ve had. I don’t think he’d do anything negative to Colorado.”
Bradford, who retired from coaching at the end of the 2004 season after a 31-year career, vividly remembers when Byrnes would voice his opinion.
“He was very serious,” said Bradford, who coached Byrnes in 1993-94 before Byrnes went to UCLA. “He would yell at a few guys and give them grief if they weren’t playing hard. I never had any problems with his assertiveness.
“He was going to make sure the other 24 guys on the team weren’t going to outhustle him. He pushed his teammates to play hard.”
Bradford insisted that Byrnes’ style is genuine.
“OK, some of his falls after throwing are a little over the top,” Bradford said. “But the rest of his game is serious. I take exception to what Milton Bradley said [in Sports Illustrated] about his game being false hustle.”
Close, but not quite
Arizona Game 4 starter Micah Owings was drafted in the second round by Colorado in the 2002 draft but reportedly turned down an $800,000 bonus to attend Georgia Tech.
“I thought we were very close,” said Owings, who transferred to Tulane after two seasons before he was drafted and signed by the Diamondbacks in 2005. “I’m a strong believer in Christ, and it wasn’t time yet for me to go on.”
Spring thing
The White Sox are trying to schedule a March 28 game with the Diamondbacks at Chase Field to complete the Arizona portion of their 2008 spring training schedule, a D’backs source said.
