(McAfee Coliseum, 5 minutes before first pitch)

From Inside Bay Area’s Josh Suchon.

Eric Chavez has always defended the core group of A’s fans who attend games, saying what they lack in numbers they make up in passion.
But after three straight games with attendance well under 20,000 fans this week against the Twins, Chavez didn’t try hiding his feelings.

“It’s been disappointing,” Chavez said. “Hopefully, they respond. If this is the same response for Anaheim for those four days? That would just be … it’s just really is frustrating.”

Chavez brought up the subject Wednesday morning on an interview with KNBR 680.

“To me, it’s a telling tale,” he said on the radio. “You have a team in a pennant race and only drawing 10 to 15,000 a game. I don’t know. Obviously, something needs to be done. It’s discouraging. Any other place, they are drawing 25 to 30,000.”

Chavez is holding out for one possible theory.

“I’m using the excuse that it’s just hangover from the Raider game and they are still recuperating,” Chavez said. “We’ll see if that is true.”

Though I don’t know how many times Eric Chavez has paid to see, well, Eric Chavez, I remain of the opinion that Oakland’s football stadium gets a bad rap for baseball. At least a third of the available seats are pretty good and a large percentage of those are available the day of the game. And unlike Turner Field, there’s no evidence that ordering a bagel dog = biohazard.