Pheonix ? Not since they were kids in Valdosta, Ga., have J.D. Drew and his little brother, Stephen, played against each other.

That changed Monday night when the Los Angeles Dodgers opened a four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Arizona won the opener, 8-3.

J.D., the veteran right fielder, was hitting fourth for the Dodgers, while Stephen, the wunderkind shortstop called up by the Diamondbacks on Saturday to replace the injured Craig Counsell, was batting eighth for Arizona.

Stephen got his first major-league hit with a one-out single in the fourth and made two spectacular plays at shortstop – a diving stop to his left and a play deep in the hole to his right. J.D. had an RBI sacrifice fly when Los Angeles tied it at 2-2 in the third.

“He’s eight years older,” Stephen said, sitting beside his brother at a news conference before Monday night’s game. “Backyard baseball, the last time we played against each other was in the back yard.”

Their parents flew in for the series, and brother Tim was to fly in today.

“It’s always been our dream to play professional sports,” J.D. said. “For most of my life, I grew up wanting to play football and changed over to baseball when I got to high school and started having two-a-day in the south Georgia heat. Stephen didn’t play much football at all. He followed the route I took.”

All three brothers were first-round draft picks. J.D. and Stephen had the same tough agent in Scott Boras. J.D. was the second pick overall by Philadelphia in 1997, but sat out the season and re-entered the 1998 draft, where he was chosen fifth overall by St. Louis.

That situation made teams shy away from Stephen because of concerns over signing him. He was a still available when Arizona picked at No. 15 in the 2004 draft.

It took until May 2005 to reach a deal, the youngest Drew signing a five-year, $5.5 million contract. Once in the fold, Stephen rose rapidly through the minors, reaching the majors just 14 months later and making his big brother proud.

“You hate the circumstances with Counsell going down with injury, but sometimes that’s the way things happen,” J.D. said. “I was pretty fired up knowing that he was going to get a chance to make a debut, then coming here and getting a chance to see him play for four games.”

J.D. said his brother has the advantage of knowing what it’s like in the majors.

“This guy’s had pretty much a cakewalk since I got out of the house,” he joked. “He’s definitely got the benefit of seeing the big leagues firsthand, you know, something I never got a chance to experience growing up. I didn’t even know what a big league clubhouse was like, and he’s seen it all firsthand.”

Stephen, 23, said J.D. was a big influence. Both throw right-handed but bat left.

“We never watched TV at all, really,” he said. “We were always playing ball against the wall or playing in the yard with friends. He’s taught me a lot. I used to be a switch hitter, and when I was 11 or 12 or something like that he taught me how to bat left-handed.”

J.D. said a big goal in the series was to knock one off Stephen’s glove.

“Not an error,” he said, “just an infield single.”

Tim Drew, a pitcher, was a first-round draft pick of Cleveland in 1997.