Clemens and Howard, Oh My

As this Associated Press story points out, two major-league stars -- Roger Clemens and Ryan Howard -- will be playing minor-league baseball in New Jersey on Wednesday. Clemens will suit up for Double-A Trenton at night and Howard for Single-A Lakewood in the morning.
The Somerset Patriots play host to the Bridgeport Bluefish at 7:05 Wednesday night.
Patriots team officials said that Trenton's attendance when other Yankees stars -- such as Derek Jeter -- are in town has not affected their attendance in the past. But with Trenton expecting about 3,000 more fans than its average attendance, I wonder where those fans are coming from. It can't all be Mercer County. Maybe Burlington, Camden.
I HIGHLY DOUBT those two games have any noticeable affect on Wednesday's attendance in Bridgewater, but the Patriots typically draw about 4,500 for a Wednesday game, so we'll see.

UPDATE: The Patriots drew only 3,52o for Wednesday's game. I'd be suspicious here, but the whole three-game series was around that number so I'm more inclined to attribute it to an early week series in May (when school is still in) than anything extraneous. Trenton did draw 9,000-plus, however.

Also, as a response to some comments, stories are not "negative" or "positive." They are what they are. I don't get to say whether I think something is good or bad. I let people draw their own conclusions on that. I also think I that people forget the "positive" coverage a lot quicker than they forget the "negative."