Look, I know it was nice outside yesterday in Houston. And I also know it was Easter. But I'm still baffled by how only 14,195+ people show up for a Sunday game - the third game of the season. So let's see some things about attendance.
*Amazingly, yesterday's Astros/Rockies game was not the worst-attended game of the day in the Majors - 10,518 showed up for the Toronto @ Cleveland game (but it was 51 and windy at Whatever The Stadium Is Called). 14,738 were at the Minnesota @ Baltimore game.
*Average attendance among 14 games yesterday was 25,706.
*Average attendance in April 2011 was 25,257. Factor out Opening Day, and average April attendance in 2011 was 24,205. The 2nd/3rd games of this Rockies series averaged 19,075.
*Average Sunday attendance in 13 Sunday home games at Minute Maid Park in 2011 was 24,773 - 10,195 higher than yesterday's paid attendance.
So the Astros have a real problem. I thought attendance would be down, but not like what we saw yesterday. That said, if the Astros can continue playing hard, win more than they did last year, and run enough promotions, then things can bounce back - but the early returns do not look good.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
