Dan Bickley

azcentral sports

Hushed crowds are not uncommon in Major League Baseball. But at Chase Field, the silence is deafening. It’s nauseating.

It gives the Diamondbacks one of the worst home-field advantages in sports.

You don’t need metrics for this one. You just need ears.

The issue is not attendance. For all the empty seats littering the place, the Diamondbacks have never failed to exceed two million fans in any of the previous 18 seasons. This is about engagement level of the audience, and it’s simply awful.

Most spectators who show up at Chase Field lack the energy or inclination to act like fanatics, thereby robbing the home team of a precious edge. Others are there only to support the opponent. Others are neutral to the Diamondbacks, viewing their tickets like a trip to the zoo, where you check out the panda, grab a hot dog and go home.

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Most everyone needs to be coaxed into some state of participation, with unbecoming audio prompts and market-mocking in-game hosts.

Revisit Zack Greinke’s unmemorable Opening Day start. When he reached two strikes with two outs in his debut inning with the Diamondbacks, a logical person would expect a crescendo of noise, a welcoming gift and energy feed connecting a fan base with their celebrated new pitcher. Something to give him a few additional miles on that fastball.

Nobody stirred. Nobody seemed to say a word. The moment said everything.

The Diamondbacks can shoulder the blame for some of this. They are industry leaders in wacky food items and culinary diversity on the concourse. They pull you from your seat, away from the game, into their kiosks and kitchens. A friend gets increasingly agitated over how many people are not in their seats when Paul Goldschmidt is at bat.

Hey, we can see him any time. But how often can we get a churro dog?

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Maybe we’re too young of a baseball town to sound like Boston, Chicago or New York. Maybe you need a greater tradition, a greater love for your city and fewer mixed allegiances for a community to go that deep with its baseball team. Either way, in Arizona, the energy just isn’t there. And on most nights, the park is so full of shhhhh that you actually hear people sneeze.

It’s not necessarily apathy permeating the walls. It just feels suffocating and inhibiting, where people are afraid of standing out, afraid of breaking the code of silence by screaming like some bloody fool. That’s sad, and it certainly doesn’t help the baseball team.

Entering Tuesday’s game, the personality at Chase Field had become a growing part of the 2016 narrative. The Diamondbacks were 4-7 at home compared to 7-3 on the road, while their top two starting pitchers have been shell-shocked by the place.

Greinke has never heard his pitches hit so loudly. Shelby Miller’s mechanics were thrown off the rails the moment he stepped on the Chase Field mound. They are both realizing the giant green backdrop behind them greatly enhances the batter’s eye, and the expansive surroundings can be lethal. Until they feel at home, the local optimism will be tempered.

Yet baseball fans in Arizona also need to do better. The request is not that you buy tickets and head down to the ballpark with a megaphone. But if you find yourself at Chase Field and you claim to be a Diamondbacks fan, feel free to get a little crazy. Spark an organic movement to change the awful code of silence inside our baseball stadium.

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If you are the type to call for an usher when the kid in front of you keeps bouncing up and down like a kangaroo, please let it go. Take one for the team.

Diamondbacks President and CEO Derrick Hall said the team strongly encourages a different level of fandom inside Chase Field. He says the team has had to correct ushers who have fielded complaints and shut down vociferous fans in the past. He knows there can be a different vibe in the stadium, which he's heard on only rare occasions.

“The last couple of times that we’ve made the playoffs, I’ve seen our crowd get really into it,” Hall said. “So I know it’s there.”

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Without it, the ambiance at Chase Field can be perfectly dreadful. So take it upon yourself. Make the ballpark experience something that’s prideful and productive for everyone, most notably the players.

If you haven’t noticed, they’re pretty good on the road. They could use a little help at home.

Reach Bickley at dan.bickley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8253. Follow him at twitter.com/danbickley. Listen to “Bickley and Marotta,” weekdays from 12-2 p.m. on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.