From the NTRA Notebook:

DIAMONDBACK DAN DOUBLES DOWN ON DERBY DAY

Like so many other groups, the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League
Baseball make Kentucky Derby day more festive by conducting a Derby
pool in which each participant draws a horse at random. In fact, the
Diamondbacks operated two such Derby pools this year.

Star Diamondbacks pitcher Dan Haren was interested enough to enter
both pools, but as he tells Kenny Mayne in the June 15 issue of ESPN
the Magazine, he wasn't initially thrilled with his luck in the two drawings.

"I somehow drew Mine That Bird in both of them," Haren told Mayne. "I
was so mad. Before the race I asked [Diamondbacks reliever] Chad
Qualls, who had two different long shots, if we could pool our
horses. He asked me who I had, and when I told him, he said, 'Hell,
no.' I was starting that night, so I was literally getting stretched
out on a table while the race was going on. When Mine That Bird won,
I jumped up and ran through the clubhouse with my arms up."
The good luck continued for Haren that night as he went on to toss
eight innings of one-run ball while striking out 11 in a 4-1 road
victory over Milwaukee. And Qualls salvaged his day by picking up the save.