Neutron Bomb

• Pirates: 12
• Nationals: 7
• Sold: 24 beers, 17 peanuts/Crackerjack

This is what the ballpark looked like, attendance-wise, during the middle of the third inning on a fine weather night:
It's a late-arriving crowd, no doubt, but there's no traffic excuse on Monday night and this was as good as it got. The lower seats were overfull with vendors, so I beat a retreat to the high reaches where this shot was taken, and it didn't get much better, and I ended up doing something I rarely ever do: I gave up for three full innings and watched the game while chatting with another vendor from the upper concourse.

Just bitching, basically, about the slapdash appearance of the ballpark, the abundance of vendors for the small crowds, and the penny-pinching rapacity of the Lerner ownership.

"This place was a big money-grab," said Glenn. "From the high-priced beer, to the ridiculous rates to enter the President's Club, and plenty else. And people got turned off to it; that's why season tickets are down 25% this year, and you can see the result." He motioned to the empty grandstand.

"Here's what to consider: this team isn't as bad as they seem. They're actually a couple of years from being pretty good. But what's gonna happen when they are good, and still no-one shows up?"

That's enough to chill the vendor's heart.