Uncertainty Is Still the Diamondbacks' Middle Name

by Jason Franz

Even the best start in ten years can’t seem to bring any more certainty to Team Uncertainty, AKA your Arizona Diamondbacks. The team is now 8-2 with the hottest pitching staff not named Shohei Ohtani and beginning to get some national love. Yet it’s hard to not get past the fact that they’re here with two of the top power hitting threats nursing upper body injuries and their perennial MVP candidate hitting a massive .118.

On top of all of this, they are doing it in such a workmanlike manner. Tonight’s 2-1 win over the San Fran Gnats was snooze worthy if not for Paul Goldschmidt surprising everyone with a triple into the nether regions of AT&T Park.

They don't call it triples alley for nothing. Goldy continues his domination for AT&T Park and get the @Dbacks on the board in the first. pic.twitter.com/wrCa9Y8Am1

— FOX Sports Arizona (@FOXSPORTSAZ) April 10, 2018

In fact, the only thing that’s been somewhat eye-opening – aside from all the winning – was the benches-clearing brawl in St. Louis on Sunday with Yadier Molina going all Macho Man Savage trying to rip out D-Backs’ Torey Lovullo’s larynx. But even that ended being a big yawn and shrug of the shoulders thanks to Lovullo’s gee-golly apology.

So where does that leave the fans of last year’s NL Wild Card champ? As of right now, it appears they’re either not trusting this team – yet – or they’re bored. Either way, they’re not on board the bandwagon right now. And the apathy is palpable.

At last week’s series sweep of the dreaded Dodgers, the home town attendance was virtually the same for a Tuesday night game against Clayton Kershaw (27,574) as it was for the Wednesday noon matinee (25,754). And at both games it was easily a 50/50 split of Dodger fans to D-Backs, only it seemed so much louder for the Dodgers because those fans are ungodly obnoxious.

Who’s to say if that will stay the same when the Snakes return to Phoenix’s biggest warehouse in the Warehouse District? If they keep winning series after series – and matching up against the lowly Giants and even lowlier Dodgers, they easily could – the Diamondbacks could return home to a livelier and more trusting home crowd. They could even have Steven Souza Jr. back just as Goldy’s bat starts really warming up.

Then again, Goldschmidt’s slump could linger, Souza could aggravate his strained pectoral and be down the entire season, Jake Lamb could be out for a long while with his bum shoulder and the pitching staff could simply tire of holding narrow victories, meaning this great start was for naught. But as long as AJ Pollock, David Perralta, Chris Owings and Ketel Marte keep showing up to play, and the starters can get to the 7th in clean shape, one gets the feeling things just might turn out pretty, pretty, pretty good. 

Two weeks ago, the only thing that seemed certain in the NL West coming into this season was the Dodgers’ impending dominance of everyone else.

Certainty Zero Dark Thirty GIF from Certainty GIFs

I guess the Valley of the Sun will just have to accept every win as they come, because all signs seem to indicate this team ain’t slowing down any time soon.