PHOENIX -- Fans streamed into Chase Field for nearly four hours Saturday as one of the largest groups in the 12-year history of the Diamondbacks annual Fan Fest shared the field with the players and saw them in a new way.
Whether it was taking playful shots at each other, making bold predictions or taking part in friendly competitions, fans saw a little bit of everything between autograph sessions, a rummage sale and countless photo opportunities.
"It's great to see all the fans come out," first baseman Paul Goldschmidt said. "It gets us pumped up that much more to get going in spring training and then the season."
Goldschmidt took the state with fellow All-Star A.J. Pollock and played a baseball version of the Newlywed Game, during with he picked himself as the one who would be the better color analyst when his playing days are complete.
"I think I could learn to talk more," said Goldschmidt, usually one of few words.
Jake Lamb deadpanned wonderment as why he doesn't play first base more (hint: Goldschmidt), Zack Greinke noted he didn't get the memo to wear pants -- "I think I'm the one in shorts," he said -- and the ace right-hander predicted, presumably in jest, five home runs and five stolen bases for himself this season.
Greinke has six homers and four stolen bases in his 12-year career, 7 1/2 of which were in the American League.
"To see the look on little kids' faces, it puts things in perspective," new reliever Tyler Clippard said of his first mass introduction to D-backs fans.
In one of the most humorous games, Lamb and fellow infielders Chris Ownings and Nick Ahmed took on Nitasha Truss, Subway's fastest sandwich artist, to build a sub sandwich.
Ahmed finishes first, ahead of even Truss, of Tucson -- though she said he skirted a few rules -- followed by Owings and Lamb, who was sabotaged a bit by Owings.
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