D-backs Face Colorado in Home Opener
One week into the season, the Arizona Diamondbacks have the best pitching in the major leagues.
They also have the worst hitting.
The bottom line is that the Diamondbacks are 3-3 heading into their ninth home opener tonight against Colorado at Chase Field. After opening the season by winning two out of three against the Rockies in Denver, Arizona dropped two of three to the Milwaukee Brewers.
While it's risky to make judgments after six games, Arizona's much-maligned pitching has been a pleasant surprise. The Diamondbacks' 2.68 earned run average led the majors heading into Monday's games. Pitching was expected to be one of the Diamondbacks' weaknesses after the club finished 14th in the National League with a 4.84 ERA a year ago.
"It's better than I expected," general manager Josh Byrnes said Monday, a day off for the club. "So many guys are throwing the ball well the first week."
On the flip side, Arizona's touted batting order has been meek. Through Sunday's games, the Diamondbacks' .224 team batting average ranked last in the majors.
"The offense isn't really clicking yet," Byrnes said. "It's probably too early (to draw conclusions), but as we know, the two teams we played were really pretty good. We want to be in every game and that's been the case.
"The two lopsided games (a 12-5 victory at Colorado and a 7-0 victory at Milwaukee) were both in our favor."
While team officials are optimistic about the club's start, the fans have yet to catch the excitement. As of Monday, the home opener wasn't close to selling out in 49,033-seat Chase Field.
That's a concern for a club whose attendance has dropped in six of the last seven years. The Diamondbacks drew 3.6 million in their 1998 debut season. Since then, attendance has increased only once -- in 2002, as fans basked in the afterglow of the 2001 World Series triumph. Last year, the Diamondbacks drew a franchise-low 2,058,741.
General partner Jeff Moorad said he expects attendance to improve, although it might not happen overnight.
"In the end, I'd be very surprised if this market didn't support a two-and-a-half million fan base year after year," he said.
Over time, dwindling attendance may affect the Diamondbacks' payroll, which ranks fourth in the five-team N.L. West.
"We're committed to fielding a winning team, but we're also committed to running a cost-efficient enterprise," Moorad said.
"We will gladly reinvest all the proceeds we can into our team on the field.
"But there needs to be a partnership between the fans and the organization, and it's my hope that as long as the fans understand that that's our approach and philosophy, that they will support the club and allow us to continue to be competitive in the National League West."
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