Orioles attendance: It's way up over last year

Remember when the Orioles came home for a series with Texas in early May with a 19-9 record and some people were disappointed that the first two games of that series drew a total of 23,201 fans on a Monday and Tuesday night? Well, the Orioles are doing a little better at the gate these days. In fact, Orioles' attendance is up an average of 6,721 fans per home game this year from the same point last year. O's attendance after 35 home dates: 2011: 709,284 for average of 20,265 2012: 944,521 for average of 26,986 That is an increase of 33 percent from last year's average. I know there were a lot of Phillies fans in the park and much fewer, but still some, Nats fans in the park for some recent home games, but the Orioles are starting to post attendance figures not seen around here since 2007. The three-game series with Philadelphia from June 8-10 drew 132,337. The Nats-O's series topped that at 133,983. Through 35 dates, the Orioles have drawn 944,521 for an average of 26,986. They have 45 dates remaining and if they average the same amount per home date, the season attendance will finish at 2,158,891. The Orioles drew 1,755,461 last year and they have not drawn over two million since they attracted 2,164,822 fans in 2007. If the O's attendance increases a little the rest of the summer they could produce a figure that will be the club's highest since 2,624,740 fans poured through the Camden Yards gates in 2005. Four of the last six crowds in the Phillies and Nats series produced sellouts and the club now has five sellouts on the year. Not only are the fans coming back to the park in big numbers, but the crowds are getting into the games. It also seems to me that the club is making fewer attempts to get the crowd into the game with scoreboard prodding and more of just of letting it happen naturally. And it has been happening that way and I like that. There is one thing I'd like to see the crowd bring back and that is the curtain call. You know, when they cheer so loud and long after a big homer that the player has to come out of the dugout to tip his cap. I was wondering if we'd get one yesterday when Matt Wieters hit that homer in the eighth. So the fans are coming out now in much larger numbers than last year and the games at Camden Yards are becoming somewhat of a happening again. Camden Yards is again a cool place to be.