The dog days of summer are in full effect here, with temperatures up to 110 F or more, almost every day. There may be occasional brief respites when a thunderstorm rolls through, but apart from a hint of ozone in the air, it just feels like you’re standing beside a shower. Mrs. SnakePit has already had her “We need to get out of this hellhole” rant – another marker on the journey through summer!
July results
When we checked in at the start of July, it was at the end of a fairly rough month. The team had gone 12-15
in June, and with a run differential of -32 for the month – the worst since May 2024 – they were probably lucky to have got a dozen wins out of it. The ERA wasn’t quite as bad as it was in the first month of the season: 4.90, compared to 5.09, but the offense lost its clutch completely. Arizona hit just .162 with runners in scoring position for June: that and the .259 SLG with RISP, were both the worst figures in the majors, and led to a sharp downturn in offensive production.
Throw in the bad news about the pitchers we hoped to have returning, and fans were definitely not happy about it…
You have to look back a long way to find the last time there was nobody above a “5”. There’s usually some renegade who feels willfully optimistic. In fact, this is the first time we had nobody in that category. The closest was August 2021, and even then we had one person vote “8”. For comparison, the average rating that point was 1.87, which is perilously close to an all-time low. The average confidence figure this month wasn’t nearly as bad, but still represents a sharp down-turn from the general optimism found at the start of June. From an average of 5.71, it dropped by more than two points to start July at 3.40. It’s the lowest figure in almost four years, since August 2022.
Below, you can see the breakdown for the past 12 polls’ results, followed by the line graph showing the trends over this and previous seasons.
August poll
The malaise rolled over into July, with the team dropping five of seven to start the month. But, wait! They then won four straight heading into the break, including their first sweep of the Dodgers in Los Angeles since late in the 2017 campaign. Series wins over the Cardinals and Athletics opened the second half, propelling the D-backs back into a wild-card spot. They then dropped the series against fellow playoff contenders in Washington, but bounced back to take two of three in Pittsburgh. The trade deadline is looming, but with so many teams still in contention, do you think Mike Hazen will be able to strengthen the team for the stretch run?
That may be a factor which affects your overall fan confidence as we enter August, and that’s what the poll below is for. And, of course, tell us in the comments why you feel that way, especially if your opinion has changed from last month. Here’s a link, for those on mobile.
