TUCSON -- Curt Schilling went to the ballpark in Tucson on Monday morning, pitched 4 1/3 innings that afternoon, showered, dressed, and by 3 p.m. was on his way to Phoenix for a team banquet where he would receive a final fitting for his World Series championship ring. He rode in a white stretch limo so long, one passing reporter said, "When the driver reaches Phoenix, Schilling will still be in Tucson."

Is there a better way to spend a day? One that does not begin with waking up next to Jamie Sale, that is?

That's the way it is for all the Diamondbacks this spring. Everywhere they go, fans insist on describing where they were during that ninth inning. Everywhere they go, fans insist on explaining how much that game meant to them.

This is what spring training is like when you're a world champion, though. Walk into the clubhouse in the morning, and your newspaper and breakfast is waiting for you. Walk out in the afternoon and a stretch limo may be waiting to take you wherever you want.

As if the Snakes haven't been transported far enough since Luis Gonzalez blooped a single over Derek Jeter's head.

Mark Grace spent 13 years with the Cubs before finally reaching and winning the World Series last fall. He says he's seen highlights of Arizona's ninth-inning rally at least 50 times but still gets nervous watching his at-bat. And after finally earning the championship ring he spent much of his life pursuing, he still worries about dying before he finally slips it on his finger. "Honestly, that's a fear of mine, that I'll die before I get it," he says. "God, what if I step off the curb and get hit by a car or a train and I don't get that ring? It's a legitimate thought."

Of course, if there is any legitimate fear in the Diamondbacks clubhouse this spring, it's only the danger of second-hand smoke. Grace and utilityman Chris Donnels share adjoining lockers and the two smoke so much they produce a perpetual cloud so thick that their lockers resemble Los Angeles during an air inversion.

Gonzalez has the misfortune of lockering next to Donnels and Grace and he complained so much about the smoke that Donnels broke down and bought an electric fan. Gonzo attached the fan to his locker and runs it full-time to blow the smoke back toward Donnels and Grace. Unfortunately, the fan also pushes the smoke in the direction of Steve Finley's locker, which is on the opposite side. "Like, it's all right for me to get cancer," Finley gripes.

This is all said good naturedly. This may be the happiest, most accommodating clubhouse in baseball history. Deadly second-hand smoke, ninth-inning deficits to Mariano Rivera -- the Snakes handle it all the same. Schilling says he worried last year that the club's apparent lack of emotion might be a weakness, "But what I thought was a flaw wound up being our strength."

"Everyone here has had a lot of ups and downs in their career, been traded and released, been on highs and lows," Gonzalez says. "We've seen it all and been through it all. So this is a special group of guys."

Certainly there aren't many players like reliever Mike Morgan. He is 42 years old and has pitched so long that he began his career playing for Charlie Finley. This is his 25th season in pro baseball and he has said that he wants to pitch until he is 50 and become "the white Satchel Paige." Apparently, he has spent a good portion of that 25-year career in the shower. Morgan's showers last so long that his Arizona teammates time them. They had him at 22 minutes earlier this week.

"He'll come out of the shower and then someone else will go in and so he'll go back in and shower again and talk to somebody else," Gonzalez says. "But nobody works harder. He's a special breed. That's why he's hung on so long. Hopefully he can last long enough that our kids can play with him, too."

When the world last saw Arizona closer Byung-Hyun Kim, he was bent over in agony, choking back tears on the Yankee Stadium mound. He shows no signs of emotional damage this spring. He is smiling, pitching well, and if anything, pitcher Brian Anderson says Kim's legendary naps are even longer and more numerous. Whenever Kim enters a game, he receives an enormous ovation, even when he bats.

That's the way it is for all the Diamondbacks this spring, though. Everywhere they go, fans insist on describing where they were during that ninth inning. Everywhere they go, fans insist on explaining how much that game meant to them.

"One woman came up to me," manager Bob Brenly says, "and said she had been so disillusioned with baseball that she wouldn't let her sons play Little League, but she would let them play now just because of that game. She said it was everything good about baseball."

Brenly sent the veterans home early Monday so they could drive to Phoenix for the banquet. With the veterans gone, Jose Parra finished up the 16-13 victory with an inning of relief. Parra began his with the Dodgers organization in 1989 and has spent the past five years pitching in Korea, Japan, Nashville and Mexico. And now he's with the world champions, desperately trying to keep his career alive.

"I'm like reporters who go to Afghanistan and Kabul," he says. "I have to go where I can find a job."

When the day ends, Parra and Donnels are among the last players in the clubhouse. The two are non-roster invitees with no guarantee they will be on the team Opening Day. While their teammates have no more worries beyond whether their World Series rings fit or how their team is doing in the NCAA pool -- "We have so many pools that you could win one and still wind up losing money for the tournament," Gonzalez says -- Parra and Donnels are fighting for spots on the roster. This is what spring training is like when you're a non-roster invitee. Everyday is a day you must prove that the one thing the best team in baseball needs is a 29-year-old reliever with 6.62 career ERA who last played with the Oaxaca Warriors.

"This is what I chose to do for a living," Parra says. "You just keep going for as long as you can go. I'm just trying to go as far as I can. There still is something in my arm. I don't know what will happen but you just have to go out and give it your best shot."

While Parra is saying this, Donnels is icing his leg near his locker, talking baseball with a friend and former player.

And the Diamonbacks veterans are probably halfway to Phoenix.

Schilling's chauffeur, of course, is much closer.

Box score line of the week
Last year, the spring focus was on Rick Ankiel and his struggle with the strike zone. Less noticed, but just as frustrating, has been Tampa Bay's Nick Bierbrodt's fight to regain his control.

Bierbrodt was 3-4 with a 4.55 ERA last year and was expected to be in the starting rotation this year. But after a 1-2-3 inning against Texas two weeks ago, he's walked 12 batters, hit three and thrown five wild pitches. He walked five batters and hit two last week against the Twins for this frustrating line:

.2 IP, 0 H, 4R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 1 K, 2 HBP, 4 WP

Tampa Bay scratched him from his next start and is having him throw on the side while they search for answers. They think the problem may be a mechanical flaw but no one knows for sure.

"I'm just trying not to read the papers," Bierbrodt told the St. Petersburg Times. "I've got people calling me at home and I'm just not answering the phone. I know they just want to talk about it, and that's the last thing I need. ... My agent said he has all kinds of gurus calling and I told him to throw all the numbers away."

Lies, damn lies and statistics
Nice day for the defending world champs Sunday. The Snakes made 10 errors in a split-squad game against Colorado -- and still won --- a feat that as the Mesa Tribune's Ed Price put it, had only been accomplished by a team managed by Walter Matthau. Shortstop prospect Tim Olson, up from the minor-league camp and wearing No. 90, made four errors. "What can I say?" he said. "Will someone pinch me and wake me up from this nightmare?" At least he's on the right team. Arizona manager Bob Brenly once made four errors in a regular-season game -- in one inning -- as an emergency third baseman. Of course, Brenly made up for it by hitting the game-winning home run that day. "Anyone can make four errors in one game. That takes a special kind of horse---- athlete to do that." Brenly said. ... Curt Schilling has pitched five games this spring, all against the White Sox, so that he won't face any National League opponents until the season starts. "It's good to be challenged like that in spring training," Chicago Frank Thomas said. "It's all downhill after that." ... Promotion of the year: The Twins will hold three "$1 dollar hot dog nights." Two of them are against the Royals, Chuck Knoblauch's new team. Minnesota insists it's just an awful coincidence (Knoblauch, of course, is hated in Minnesota and was on the receiving end of many hot dogs thrown at him during a game last season). ... Derek Bell is threatening Operation Shutdown, but the question is how anyone would notice. He missed 116 games and finished with fewer runs, RBI and home runs than Colorado pitcher Mike Hampton.

From left field
With "The Rookie," the Dennis Quaid movie based on Jim Morris' amazing journey from high school teacher to major leaguer, opening soon, we asked Rockies pitcher and movie buff Denny Neagle to critique actors on their portrayals as baseball players. He named D.B. Sweeney from "Eight Men Out" as the best-looking player and John Goodman in "The Babe" as the worst. "On the other hand," Neagle said, "it wasn't too bad because all he had to do was look sloppy and fat like the Babe. So he had the appearance down. But the swing was awful."

Neagle's 10 favorites baseball films:

1. The Natural
2. Field of Dreams
3. Major League
4. Bull Durham
5. A League of Their Own
6. Long Gone
7. Eight Men Out
8. Band the Drum Slowly
9. The Bad News Bears
10. The Sandlot

Off Base spring power rankings

1. Yankees Jeter's spring fundamental drill: Putting his pants on two legs at a time

2. Barry Bonds Latest honor: Named secretary treasurer of Justice League of America

3. D-Backs Money woes force Colangelo to display World Series trophy at Moe's Maricopa Pawn Shop

4. Tom Ridge And Condition Black applies when Roger Clemens pitches to Mike Piazza

5. Jeff Kent Applies for exemption to wear body armor while washing his truck

6. Enrone Suggested new stadium names: Bank Rupt Ballpark, Debits Field

7. Pirates Derek Bell's next threat: Operation Enduring Mendoza Line

8. Ruben Rivera Robin Ventura just called. Apparently he's missing his swing

Jim Caple is a senior writer for ESPN.com.