Great Moments in Triple-A: Buffalo beats Syracuse 27-9

Was gonna say that ten-run seventh was the problem, but losing 17-9 ain’t exactly great.

Eight RBI for Luis Jimenez. Lots of fun stuff from players who have hung around major league rosters on-and-off.  Minor League Baseball: it’s FAN-tastic.

Other fun stuff in the box score:

Every player in the lineup for both teams had a hit.
*Josh Thole was the only player for Buffalo who did not score.
*Mauro Gomez was the only player for Buffalo without an RBI.
*Moises Sierra was 6-6 with 5 runs scored. He was a home run away from the cycle.
*Ryan Langerhans scored five times, and hit two home runs.
*Remember Micah Owings? He had three hits!
*Only 21 of Buffalo’s 27 runs were earned
*Syracuse’s Patrick McCoy gave up 9 runs (4 earned) in 2/3 of an inning.

Verducci: Baseball is back (thank goodness) and it’s better than ever (really)

Chicks dig the hit-and-run.

• Fans like close games and close pennant races more than home runs

One of the great myths about The Steroid Era is that steroids “saved baseball” and made for a great period of huge economic growth. It’s baloney. After the great home run race of 1998, per game attendance went down three of the next five years. Take the best per-game attendance in The Steroid Era (1995-2003) and it would be the worst attendance rate of The Testing Era (2004-2012).

We are in an extremely rare period in the game’s history because offense is down and attendance is up. There are many reasons why this is happening, including something as macro an issue as the frightening pace in which America is becoming an entertainment-based society. We spend roughly three times as much money on entertainment as we do education. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, our overall spending from 1991-2011 rose 33 percent, but our spending on “Fees and Admissions,” which includes what we pay to watch sports, jumped 65 percent.

To an audience craving entertainment, baseball has provided more competitive games. Home runs are great, but having an outcome in doubt is better. The stands empty out in a blowout and stay full for a close game even if the ball never left the yard.