The return of the Pittsburgh Pirates to Nationals Park this season presented a stark contrast to the scene during their visit to Washington last year.
Attendance for Monday night’s 4-2 Washington win over Pittsburgh was reported to be more than 21,000 — impressive for a Monday night rain-threatened game against a team as hapless as the Pirates.
Of course, the club had to offer a number of seats for $1, plus parking and other concessions also for a buck.
If they had offered $1 tickets for a Tuesday night game last June against Pittsburgh, they might have been able to fill Nationals Park and RFK Stadium.
The last time Pittsburgh came to town, it was the debut of Stephen Strasburg, and more than 40,000 people showed up for the most historic moment in Nationals history since the opening of the new ballpark in 2008.
Strasburg set the baseball world on fire with his 14-strikeout performance over seven innings in a 5-2 victory over the Pirates.
When Pittsburgh came to Washington on Monday night, Strasburg was in Viera, Fla., at the Nationals’ spring training complex, continuing his rehabilitation from Tommy John surgery on his right elbow at the end of last year.
He was out of sight, but not out of mind.
All throughout the crowd Monday night, you could see Strasburg jerseys and shirts. There were some Jayson Werth and Ryan Zimmerman mixed in, as well as some Bryce Harper jerseys — last year’s No. 1 pick who is setting the South Atlantic League on fire in Class-A Hagerstown. But it was hard to find any section of the ballpark where one or more people were not wearing a Strasburg jersey.
It was a reminder of how painful this year is for the business of the Washington Nationals.
Baseball business writer Maury Brown estimated at the end of last season that the revenue losses for the team in 2011 could be in the low tens of millions of dollars in tickets, merchandising and other revenue — not including the $5 million in salary and signing bonus money they will be paying Strasburg to sit out most, if not all, of this season. He’s also one year closer to free agency, and the Nationals have with nothing to show for it.
Monday night, those Nats fans at the ballpark got to see two players nearly as encouraging as Strasburg for the team’s future. Second baseman Danny Espinosa won the game with a two-run home run and closer Drew Storen recorded his ninth save in as many tries.
But as well as the Nationals have played this year, going into Wednesday night’s game against the New York Mets with a 20-21 record, fans are still enthralled with the players who weren’t there — Strasburg and Harper.
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected].
