Cheers to the cherring section

A search through the boxscores shows that the announced crowd for last night's game between the Wild Things and Florence Freedom wasn't the smallest for a Saturday night game at Consol Energy Park. For the record, attendance was announced at 2,908. However, the number of people in the ballpark was significantly smaller, in large part because of the Penguins-Red Wings Stanley Cup finals game, and in small part because of the weather (a brief but heavy rain hit Washington around 5 p.m.).

The Wild Things rallied to beat Florence 10-6 by getting eight shutout innings from the bullpen. Eight batters into the game, Washington trailed 6-0 and it seemed like it was going to be a long night for the Wild Things. Instead, it was another game in a long list of improbable come-from-behind wins at home for Washington. And it seems more of these whacky wins come on Saturday than any other night.

Manager Greg Jelks tried to explain how the Wild Things win so many games at home with late-inning comebacks. It was interesting that he didn't say it's because of hitting, pitching or fielding. He says it starts with the crowds.

"There was what, about 1,500 people in the stands at the end? But when you get great baseball people who still cheer you on, anything is possible," Jelks said. "It would have been easy to boo us early, but the people in the stands continued to cheer. That gets noticed. And that's why, over a period of years, Washington has won games like that."

The crowd was the smallest for a Saturday since June 30 of last year when 2,907 were on hand for a game against Slippery Rock. The smallest for a Saturday game in the ballpark's history is 2,525 on May 29, 2003 against the Richmond Roosters.