Mariners On Pace To Draw Over 3 Million Fans

When the Mariners sailed past the 2 million mark in home attendance, they did so for the fourth time in franchise history - and for the first time have a chance to draw 3 million fans.

On Tuesday, the Mariners got to 2,017,997 in their 52nd home date of the year, meaning they’ve averaged 38,808 fans a game.

Multiply that by the remaining 29 games in the dome and the Mariners are on pace to bring in another 1.1 million fans.

That would shatter the franchise single-season attendance record set last season: 2,723,850. For a team that six times didn’t draw a million fans through the Kingdome gates in a season, the 1997 totals are remarkable. The Mariners’ average crowd is the third-highest in the American League this season, trailing only Baltimore and Cleveland. Their largest crowd of the season (57,574) is the biggest single-game attendance in the major leagues this year.

Mariners notes

Tacoma Rainiers outfielder Raul Ibanez was called up for his second stay in the big leagues when Seattle placed outfielder Rob Ducey on the 15-day disabled list with a badly bruised right foot. In all likelihood, Ibanez won’t get much more playing time than he did a year ago when he had five at-bats in four games. With Ducey down, left field will remain a platoon position with Rich Amaral facing left-handed pitchers and Lee Tinsley playing against right-handers. While in Tacoma, Ibanez batted .286 with 11 home runs and 69 RBIs in 102 games… . For those wondering, Russ Davis’ two game-winning, game-ending home runs this season ties the club record for the most in a year - with eight other Mariners. The others who homered to win games twice in a season: Tom Paciorek, Phil Bradley, Jim Presley, Alvin Davis, Rey Quinones, Steve Balboni, Pete O’Brien and Tino Martinez. … Left-handed reliever Mark Holzemer cleared waivers Wednesday and agreed to accept an assignment to Tacoma… . When the team activates Ken Cloude before his start Saturday, it will have to make room on the 25-man roster. The team has already decided to go from a 12- to an 11-man pitching staff, and the leading candidate to leave would seem to be Felipe Lira.