"Alas, some things are unavoidable.

"Do I care if Justin Upton gets his MVP right now? Hell, no," Gibson said. "Do I care if Ian Kennedy gets his recognition? Hell, no. All I care is if we come out every day and go after our goal, which is a team thing. It's really dangerous when you start to look for credit."

To Gibson's dismay, credit has come looking for the Diamondbacks. That's what happens when a broken franchise goes from worst to first, when a baseball icon morphs into an impact manager, when a former Yankees prospect becomes a Cy Young candidate, when the next Willie Mays begins to look the part.

Gibson's stiff-arm also creates an awkward collision. In their recent history, the Diamondbacks have been declared incompetent, mocked by national observers and ignored by their hometown fans. The franchise has been craving this kind of publicity and praise, and now that it's cascading down, the manager wants no part of it.

But that's the beauty of Gibson. And in the long run, all that really matters is that the culture has changed, the pitching staff has a new ace and Upton finally is morphing into an MVP player, whether he receives the trophy or not.

The manager played a role in that, too.

"Part of this whole process was to understand who Justin was and let him grow into who he is going to be rather than make him something he wasn't," Gibson said. "I went to Michigan State to play football. Nobody knew anything of me. It was great. I just went there and kicked ass.

"Then I came out, and everyone said I was the next Mickey Mantle. I wasn't prepared for that.""