June 25, 2008
Tipping Point?
24 June 2008: Pittsburgh Pirates left fielder, Jason Bay (38), hits an RBI double against the New York Yankees at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, PA.
Photo: Icon SMI
Was Tuesday night's Pirates victory over the Yankees a tipping point for the franchise?
"It's one of those things where we didn't really know what kind of mob to expect," left fielder Jason Bay would recall later. "Would they be for us? Would they be for the Yankees?"
Well?
"Well, we found out."
They surely did, as the hanging-over-the-railings gathering of 38,867 was dominantly in favor of the home team and, most important, was given ample cause to cheer and chant all through the 12-5 rout last night: Jose Bautista and Ryan Doumit each homered as part of a relentless 19-hit attack.
By the ninth inning, in a scene that can be compared to precious few this decade, the third-largest crowd since PNC opened stood spontaneously and roared in unison, "Let's go Bucs!" in search of the final out.
A big crowd showed up and stayed to the end. The team played well against a perennial winner. The fans had fun in a beautiful ballpark. Maybe a game like this will make more people think, "Let's go to the Pirate's game!"
Pittsburgh is averaging 18,051 fans a game, 29th in the majors. That's down 4,000 a game from last year. They can use a reason to get the fans back in the park.
Posted by David Pinto at
10:19 AM
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It was nice to see a full house in Pittsburgh. Plus Bill Mazeroski!
That's the supposed draw of interleague play. Usually turning points appear in the rear view mirror - they need to work on getting to .500 first.
While it would be nice, I am pretty skeptical that one good game can have much of an effect on attendance.