CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The crowd of 9,962 fans that walked into Progressive Field on Tuesday night to watch a good game between two of the American League's top wild-card contenders shocked some.

It was a beautiful September night. A playoff chill was in the air. Resurgent

Commissioner Bud Selig, who studies the attendance for each game, probably frowned when he looked at the bottom of the Indians-Orioles' boxscore. In the executive offices of at Progressive Field, it's unlikely in power was caught by surprise.

The Tribe's attendance turned toward Tuesday night a long time ago. In 2007, when the Indians won the AL Central with 96 victories and came within one win of reaching the World Series before losing to Boston in the ALCS, the Indians drew just 2.3 million fans.

Team officials felt they would see a big surge in ticket revenue during the offseason for 2008. There was no surge as the Indians went 81-81 in 2008 and attendance slipped to 2.2 million.

Except for a slight increase from 2010 to 2011, it's been slipping ever since.

Fans' have long memories. The trades of CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee, after they won CY awards in 2007 and 2008, still bother people. The return the Indians received for the two left-handers bothers them even more.

Lee was traded four years ago, Sabathia five years ago. In baseball, that's ancient history. Is that really why people aren't coming to the ballpark to see this year's bounce-back Indians?

After beating the Mets on Friday, they owned the fifth best home record in the AL at 43-27. Overall, they were 75-65, already a seven games better that last year's 68 victories, and two games out of the last wild card spot. Managed by Terry Francona, who won World Series in 2004 and 2007 in Boston, the Indians have shown a flair for the dramatic. They have nine walkoff victories and are 9-2 in extra innings.

Ownership, which kept a close guard on its wallet over the years, spent big money during the offseason. They signed Francona to a four-year deal followed by four-year deals to first baseman Nick Swisher for $56 million and center fielder Michael Bourn for $48 million. Swisher and Bourn haven't played like All-Stars, but they've had their moments.

GM Chris Antonetti swung and missed with free agents Brett Myers and Mark Reynolds, but at least he had the means to swing the bat. They were both on one-year deals so there will be no residual pain. Besides the free agent additions of Scott Kazmir and Ryan Raburn more than offset that.

The farm system, at the highest level, is seems barren of position players, but the development people have done a good job with several pitchers over the last few years including Corey Kluber, Zach McAllister, Cody Allen, Danny Salazar and Vinnie Pestano.

Still, when compared to teams in similar markets, the Indians have played in front of a lot of empty seats. While they're averaging 19,839 fans per game, a tick above

bottom-feeders Houston and Miami, Kansas City (21,492), Oakland (22,388), San Diego (26,789), Milwaukee (31,634) and Minnesota (31,474) are out-drawing them. Oakland and Kansas City are the only teams with a winning record and only Oakland has a better record than the Tribe.

Viewership on Fox-Sports/STO is up 34 percent over last year. Ratings on WTAM-1100 and WMMS-100.7, the two flagship stations, have increased 40 percent. But getting people to leave their wide-screen TVs and come to the ballpark has been hard.

Season tickets are the key to any team's ticket base. The Indians' have about 7,500, a far cry from the heyday of the 1990s when it was cutoff at 25,000 and the Indians drew over 3 million fans for six straight years.

The Indians use the "dynamic pricing' system to determine ticket costs. It's designed to protect their season ticket holders and to encourage the early purchase of single game tickets. Depending on who is doing the talking, it has hurt attendance or it's the way of the future.

In Cleveland, it seems like the Indians have almost always worked in a soft light. Expect for the renaissance of the 1990s and some Bill Veeck tricks in the late 1940s, they haven't caused much of a stir. They are a whisper that more and more fans are choosing to ignore.

This week in baseball

Baseball is a game of threes. Three strikes and you're out and three outs in each half of an inning. Here are two more sets of threes to consider from last week in baseball. All stats are through Friday.

Three up

Pirates closer Jason Grilli, seen here leaving the mound in late July with a right elbow injury, returned to the Pirates on Wednesday and pitched a scoreless inning.

1.Pittsburgh closer Jason Grilli pitched a scoreless inning Wednesday after being sidelined since late July with an elbow injury.



2. Alfonso Soriano has four doubles, 13 homers, 43 RBI and 40 runs in 39 games since being acquired by the Yankees from the Cubs on July 26.

3. Oakland started the season by going 13-3 vs. the AL West and 5-15 against everyone else. Since then they're 22-24 vs. the AL West and 41-18 against everyone else.

Three down

1. Reds first baseman Joey Votto, with his teammates trying to rundown Pittsburgh and St. Louis in the NL Central, is hitting .203 (14-for-69) over his last 20 games.

2. The eight home runs allowed by the Tigers on Wednesday against Boston were the most in team history for one game.

3. After hitting .350 in August, Matt Joyce is 2-for-25 for the Rays, who are 2-6 on a 10-game West Coast trip that ends today.

Tribe talk

"It was a tight fit. We almost had to go to the zoo," Justin Masterson, who stands 6-6 and weighs 250 pounds, when asked last week if he was able to fit in the MRI tube to get his strained left oblique checked out.

Stat-o-matic

John Danks is one of four lefties in the White Sox's rotation this year who has made at least 20 starts.

-Lefties rule: Lefties John Danks, Jose Quintana, Chris Sale and Hector Santiago have made 20 or more starts for the White Sox this season. The 1954 Washington Senators, according to Elias Sports Bureau, is the only other team in history to have four lefties make 20 or more starts.

-Big difference: Before the Tigers lost to Boston, 20-4, Wednesday, they had

a run differential of +167 run compared to Boston's +138. After the game, Boston's run differential was +154 and Detroit's +151.

-No guarantee: When Andy Pettitte left Friday game against Boston, he had a 8-3 lead and his record of 92-54 following a Yankee loss looked golden. Then Boston rallied for nine runs in a 12-8 victory.

The chart

Here's what the Indians annual attendance has been over the last 10 years.

Year Attendance Rec Finish

2013 1,368,941 75-65 2nd.

2012 1,603,596 68-94 4th.

2011 1,840,835 80-82 4th.

2010 1,394,812 69-93 4th.

2009 1,776,904 65-97 3rd.

2008 2,169,722 81-81 3rd.

2007 2,275,916 96-66 1st.

2006 1,999,995 78-84 4th.

2005 2,013,763 93-69 2nd.

2004 1,814,401 80-82 3rd.