PHOENIX -- It was a small reminder of how significantly Junior Guerra's baseball story has been rewritten over the past year. On a couple of occasions over the winter, he went to Estadio Universitario in Caracas, Venezuela, and instead of heading toward the clubhouse to put on his uniform, he sat in the stands as a fan.
Guerra had pitched for Tiburones de La Guaira in each of the previous eight seasons, since he was a 23-year-old Mets farmhand. Now he was going on 32 and coming off a breakthrough season in the Major Leagues that saw him post a 2.