PHOENIX -- Just as everyone expected, those Arizona Diamondbacks sure were petrified of playing in their first World Series game ever Saturday night. Anybody could tell that.

If they'd just been their usual cool, collected selves, they might have beaten the Yankees by 40 or 50 runs. Instead, in their clearly petrified state, they were only able to eke one out, 9-1.

	Going up 1-0 ...
	Teams which have won the first game of the World Series and the final result of that series dating back to 1990:
	Year	Winner	Opp.	Result
	'90	Cin.	Oak.	Cin., 4-0
	'91	Min.	Atl.	Min., 4-3
	'92	Atl.	Tor.	Tor., 4-2
	'93	Tor.	Phi.	Tor., 4-2
	'95	Atl.	Cle.	Atl., 4-2
	'96	Atl.	NYY	NYY, 4-2
	'97	Fla.	Cle.	Fla., 4-3
	'98	NYY	S.D.	NYY, 4-0
	'99	NYY	Atl.	NYY, 4-0
	'00	NYY	NYM	NYY, 4-1
	'01	Ari.	NYY	?

And if the Diamondbacks hadn't been so intimidated by the thought of playing a team believed to have won every World Series since 1834, Craig Counsell undoubtedly would have hit three or four home runs Saturday. Instead, one was all he had in him.

Yeah, it sure is too bad the mighty Yankees had them so rattled. Curt Schilling might have thrown seven hitless innings, striking out 20. Luis Gonzalez might have hit for the cycle. And Damian Miller probably would have outhit the Yankees all by himself.

Instead, Schilling was mortal enough to give up three hits and punch out eight. Gonzalez settled for just a homer and a double. And the Yankees got one more hit than Miller, 3-2. But that just shows what kind of 167-time champions they are.

Boy, it was some kind of wild and wacky night at the old Fall Classic, all right. Just when the Yankees thought they had this World Series thing down, they ran into a team that has never lost a World Series game in franchise history.

And don't go throwing technicalities at us like: "But they've only played one World Series game in franchise history." We know a team that has its last-week-of-October act together when we see one. And after one evening of unforgettable World Series euphoria, the Arizona Diamondbacks have the look of a team that could get to like this stuff.

"It was better than anything I ever could have expected," said Mark Grace, who needed to suffer through 13 years in Chicago before he caught onto the fact that the Cubs were never going to have a night like this. "It was better than sex. And I'm kind of lousy at that. So it would have to be a little better."

Now see, you never know when you'll go to a World Series game and find yourself hearing about Mark Grace's sex life. But when the Yankees lose a World Series game by eight runs -- matching their second-worst Series loss in team history -- just about anything is possible.

Like two Yankees errors leading to five unearned runs, for example. That's one more unearned run than they allowed in the 1998, '99 and 2000 World Series put together. But at least in this game, there were extenuating circumstances.

By that, we mean that for the first time in Yankees postseason history, an outfielder found himself chasing a long flyball that almost came down in a swimming pool.

This was in the third inning. A 1-0 Yankees lead in the top of the first had melted away in the heat of the desert, or at least in the heat of home runs by Counsell and Gonzalez.

So the Yankees already trailed, 3-1, when Steve Finley lofted a towering flyball that went soaring off toward the inaugural World Series Swim Club, sitting just beyond the fence in right-center.

David Justice chased that flyball all the way to the track, all the way to the wall, practically all the way to the lifeguard stand. Then, for reasons only the local sunbathers may ever know, the ball squirted out of his glove for a two-base error.

It led to two more Arizona runs, followed shortly thereafter by the exit of Mussina. And the rest of the night was going to go, well, swimmingly for the Diamondbacks.

The home team, of course, knows you have to work tirelessly to track those flyballs without letting yourself get distracted by certain attire -- or lack thereof -- that may be displayed by certain shapely fans in that pool area. But for visitors from the other league, adjusting to those distractions isn't something easily accomplished in one day.

"You have to work at that. You do," said one of the original Diamondbacks, pitcher Brian Anderson. "We get some groups out there that are not afraid to throw out some skimp. But I don't think any of that was a factor with David. I saw him going for that ball, and his eyes were locked in on the ball. So that wasn't a factor. I played with David. So I know he stays focused this time of year."

After that, though, there wasn't much left for the Yankees to stay focused on except counting down the innings and hours until Game 2. And even that wasn't much fun after a Scott Brosius error kicked off a four-run fourth inning, turning this into a 9-1 game.

The Arizona Diamondbacks' job really isn't done. Of the last five teams to win a World Series opener by this many runs or more, four of them went on to lose the World Series. And one of those teams was playing -- guess who? -- the '96 Yankees, who didn't let a 12-1 loss to the Braves in the opener stop them from winning in six.

Maybe a 9-1 game with Schilling on the mound isn't quite a mortal lock. But let's just say it couldn't be farther off the board in Vegas if it were being played in Uruguay.

"We know Schill is one of the best front-runners in the game," Grace said. "So we pretty much knew once we got an eight-run lead, he could probably bring that thing home."

Yeah, probably. And that gave these Arizona Diamondbacks -- eight of whom had played at least a decade in the big leagues waiting for a night like this -- a chance to take a deep breath, look around and realize that after all these years, they were playing in a real, live, freaking World Series. And they were beating the real, live freaking Yankees by eight runs.

"A lot of dreams came true tonight," Grace said. "But the job's not done."

You understand that federal quotation regulations require that every winner of Game 1 of the World Series state at some point that "the job's not done" -- just as all opponents of the Yankees are required to say before Game 1 that "nobody expected us to be here except the 25 guys in this room."

But the fact is: the Arizona Diamondbacks' job really isn't done. Of the last five teams to win a World Series opener by this many runs or more, four of them went on to lose the World Series. And one of those teams was playing -- guess who? -- the '96 Yankees, who didn't let a 12-1 loss to the Braves in the opener stop them from winning in six.

So the use of the term, "momentum," will be strictly prohibited on this web site. So what if Randy Johnson is pitching Game 2? It might as well be Randy Tomlin. The job isn't done.

Therefore, you won't catch us telling you those Diamondbacks sent the champs a message with this one. No, sir. For details, please consult your Oakland A's postseason history manual.

"Knowing them," Grace said, "all we did tonight was probably wake them up. I don't think we sent them a message. These guys have returned many messages over the years."

But there may have been at least one message sent in this game -- to the Diamondbacks themselves. They waited a lifetime to get to the World Series -- then found out that, whaddaya know, it's just another ball game, except that Tim McCarver, Vanessa Williams, the commish and 50,000 very loud people also happened to stop by.

"You know," Anderson said, "a lot of these guys played a long time looking to get an opportunity to get here. And they know they may never get back. So they're determined to enjoy it. And it doesn't hurt that the guy out on the mound can dominate a game as well as any pitcher in baseball."

That guy is Schilling, who now has won four straight postseason starts, allowing a total of three runs and 16 hits in 34 innings. And maybe the best thing that came out of this game was that he could escape after seven innings and 102 pitches. So he's in perfect position to come back on three days' rest and start Game 4.

And Schilling made it clear afterward that's exactly what he has in mind.

"I don't know if I am starting that game, but I'm approaching it like I am," he said. "I can't approach it like I'm not going to be starting and then all of a sudden get the ball. In my mind, I'm getting the ball until he (the manager, Mr. Bob Brenly) decides I'm not going to get it until Game 5.

"But hopefully," Schilling said, with a wouldn't-that-be-something kind of smile, "I won't even have to pitch again in this series."

Let's see now. For that to happen, either there's going to be 43 consecutive days of rain in New York or there's going to be a (gulp) Diamondbacks sweep.

And these guys are way too petrified of that dynasty they're playing to do something like that. Uh, aren't they?

Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com