If David Wright goes to the Phillies....

when all 3 games of the last season were sold out.

Last year’s mentality was “let’s get into the playoffs for Bobby,” and fans were turning out to support it in droves. This year seemed to be more along the lines of “I can’t believe how badly we’re playing.”

It’s not 1991-1993 anymore, and the sooner people lower their expectations and realize that the Braves will struggle to have 50,000 packed houses in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium doing the Tomahawk Chop in unison, the sooner this attendance issue will temper down.

Times have changed. People no longer want to go out in 102 degree humid Georgia summers anymore. Atlanta’s more diverse with more transplants in than before. Attitudes have changed. Some people think the chop is lame. I don’t do it because I went to VT. Fuel costs are higher. MARTA still sucks. People don’t have as much disposable income as they used to.

Fandom is cyclical. The Phillies may have 104% attendance two years going but 4-5 years ago, people couldn’t give away their Citizens Bank Park tickets. Sometimes it takes marketing. Sometimes it takes winning. Sometimes it takes promotions and cheap bait. But even Wrigley Field and Fenway Park aren’t selling out to the mythical proportions they once had at some point. But things will change, and eventually people will come back. Whether or not it requires more time of tepid attendance is yet to be determined.

I live in Atlanta and I go to several games throughout the year, and I can tell you that in ‘10, at least, the attendance was mediocre until we were in first in the division. Then attendance picked up (which was kind of annoying, because it made MARTA even more of a pain in the ass, because I had to ride with a bunch of fair-weather fans). When we’re not chasing the Phils, more people get out to games. On top of everything royhobbs mentioned.

are you using the standard, or metric, definitions?

How doesn’t it make sense? Baseball ratings don’t match up with football, but they’re a lot better than reruns of Dawson’s Creek, or some of the other crap these networks air. It’s a win-win for teams with a national audience. This is exactly the way TBS worked.

And no, I don’t have any specific ideas about networks, because I don’t really keep up with a lot of TV. I’m sure there are some that wouldn’t be good fits and some that would, just like for any other endeavor. But I know there are plenty of national channels that don’t have to worry about keeping up a primetime schedule or anything like that and could benefit from a baseball contract.

you aren’t willing to move. And I think Hanley could play a passable CF. Not good, but there’s a lot who get by on athleticism and not much ability out there these days.

first of I am well acquanted with minor league players and Matt Dominguez is a solid player. He is supposed to be a very good defender, but considering he hsa one season with an OPS above 800 in the minors, and an OBP of 325 in the minors… I would assume the Marlins would rather have Hanley in teh lineup than DOminguez.

He is a solid prospect but he isnt a player you build around, which means DOminguez is expendable. Especially when you look at his career arc todate, he appears to be regressing a bit.