May 4, 2009 (Akron Beacon Journal delivered by Newstex ) --
ESPN.com's Jayson Starke?writes that Baseball attendance was down an average of 287 fans per gamein April. And he points out that only nine of 30 teams had a "significant" attendance drop. Naturally, one of them was the Indians , who ranked 29supthsup of 30 teams in April attendance (the Pirates were worse), and whose drop is about 13.5 percentper game. I know I'm close to beating this horse dead, and a bad April does not mean a season is over. But the Indians needed a good start. They didn't get a mediocre one, or a bad one. They got a horrible start. And unless things change quickly it's going to show up not only in the won-lost figures but in the attendance figures, which means in next season's payroll figures as well.
April matters. And, yes, I think the Indians understand this fact.
Newstex ID: 34643722
