Kasten did not respond to interview requests.
Barb Angelino, a member of the Nats Fan Club, said that not all rooters are as loyal as she would like. "When things aren't going so well, they tend to disappear. Those are the people I would not want to be married to," she said.
The Orioles and Nationals are geographic rivals but also partners. That's because they share the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, the regional system that televises both teams' games.
And when it comes to attendance, at least the Nats and Orioles have each other.
The teams averaged more than 38,000 during three games in Washington last June. They averaged more than 31,000 in a series a month earlier at Camden Yards.
The Nats have tried to stoke the rivalry through marketing and by poking fun at the Orioles. Last May, the club sent its mascot and other representatives to distribute Nationals coolers and pocket schedules at the Inner Harbor, just blocks from Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
"It's good for a potential rivalry between the two clubs," Orioles spokesman Greg Bader said.
The Orioles have been creative this season in trying to keep fans coming to Camden Yards. Bader said the team had a record walk up crowd on April 25 of 12,000 fans - they bought tickets just before the game - on the first night of a promotion in which kids 14 and under can attend 10 team-selected games for a total price of $17. The event also was designed to capitalize on Ravens crowds for the NFL draft.
Another promotion allows Orioles fans to attend a game for free as a birthday present. Bader said the club borrowed that one from DisneyWorld.
"I don't think anything has surprised us in terms of where we are [with] attendance," said Andy MacPhail, president of the Orioles. "It's been pretty much what we anticipated and maybe not as bad."
Baltimore, which attracted more than 40,000 fans a game in 2000, averaged 25,000 last season. Washington averaged 29,005 in its first year in the new stadium - less than the team drew when it arrived in the city in 2005 and played at old Robert F. Kennedy Stadium.
Major League Baseball officials say the overall decline of more than 4 percent this season is misleading because the just-opened stadiums of the New York Yankees and New York Mets together hold about 15,000 fewer fans each game than their predecessors.
DuPuy said "clubs have been pretty clever" with promotions. Among his favorites is a discount in which the Minnesota Twins tie certain seat prices for Monday home games to the Dow Jones industrial average. If the Dow closes in the 8,000s on Friday, a ticket for Monday night costs $8.
Attendance drops
Orioles
2008 (through 22 games): 24,412
2009 (22 games): 21,833
Decline of 2,579 fans
Nationals
2008 (through 19 games): 29,354
2009 (19 games): 20,041
Decline of 9,313 fans
Sources: Major League Baseball and sportsnetwork.com
