Fans are human. They want winners. So, when you start winning and getting in pennant drives, that's when they're going to come out. We hope that we're doing all the right things to get people to come out. When he played for the Cubs, Gonzalez was used to seeing fans come out in force at Wrigley Field in the middle of the afternoon, even when the Cubs were lovable losers.
Phoenix has no such excuse.
When temperatures reach triple digits, the roof is closed and the air-conditioning is cranked. But attendance has dropped every year since Major League Baseball hit Phoenix in 1998. Last year, after 12 home games, the Diamondbacks had 418,702 fans come through the turnstiles, compared to the 367,198 this season. Manager Bob Brenly is taking a democratic approach to the ongoing apathy among fans. We've got to play, whether it's one or one hundred thousand and one.