This story originally ran in Hometown 9 on April 7, 2008.

By Nick Tavares

As of this morning, the festivities were already underway at Chase Field, where the Diamondbacks prepare to open the home slate of their schedule against the Los Angeles Dodgers at 6:40 p.m. local time.

But this past weekend, the Diamondbacks did everything you’d want them to do en route to the home opener, sweeping the defending National League champion Rockies in dramatic fashion.

After dropping the opening series to Cincinnati two games to one, Arizona regrouped and found their swing in Colorado, to the tune of seven home runs (they now lead the majors with 12) and solid starts from Micah Owings, Brandon Webb and Edgar Gonzalez.

Youngsters Chris Young and Justin Upton already have three dingers apiece, while Mark Reynolds and Stephen Drew each have a pair. For a team that was offensively challenged at times last year, seeing them break out in the early part of the season with the bats has been a treat, enough as to cloud the fact that Eric Byrnes has been slow out of the gate, only reaching base at a .241 clip over the first six games. Small sample size, to be sure, and the opinion here is that he’ll figure out his swing before the end of the month.

Yesterday, they exhibited the resiliency that carried them to the National League’s West crown, coming back twice against Colorado to win it in the 10th inning, with Drew’s solo home run the capper.

As if all this weren’t enough for fans to show their optimistic side, today the club announced that they had locked up center fielder Chris Young through 2013. Assuming Byrnes finds his groove, Arizona can expect to keep their outfield of Byrnes-Young-Upton together into the next decade.

I’m heading off to the opener, and I’ll be back with a full report on tonight’s game and the opening celebration.