NOTES

While Game 2 Wednesday night was a sellout, people were still talking about the opener Tuesday afternoon, which featured more than 11,000 empty seats at Bank One Ballpark, putting the Diamondbacks in the middle of an awkward list.

The crowd of 37,729 was the smallest for an NLCS game in 17 years. It was also the sixth smallest NLCS crowd ever.

Part of the reason for the relatively low turnout was that it was a day game, because Fox wanted to save its prime-time spot for the finale of “Love Cruise: The Maiden Voyage.”

(Nice to know baseball owners were willing to take more than $1 billion from a network that places such a high value on their property).

Another reason for the small crowd was that, because the Diamondbacks didn’t officially advance to the NLCS until beating St. Louis on Sunday night, in the fifth and deciding game of the division series, fans didn’t have much notice.

The third reason was ticket prices.

Major league baseball sets prices for the championship series, which meant that an upper-deck ticket that cost $13 during the regular season was jacked up to $38.

Even the worst seat in the house, a top-level bleacher seat that costs $1, was raised to $5.

And baseball wonders why, on Monday night, a televised football game between the two worst teams in the league earned a bigger rating (9.8) than a series-deciding game involving the New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics (8.4).

“Fans are huge,” Schilling said. “I guess with seeing what [owner Jerry Colangelo] has done is disappointing that the fans haven’t turned out more.”

For Game 2, Schilling got his wish as 49,334 filled the stadium.