By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

ATTENDANCE

With the possibility of 100,000 fans projected to visit Great American Ball Park during this weekend's series, the Reds will get a big attendance boost. Team Attendance Percent 1. Yankees 46,823 81.5 2. Dodgers 42,055 75.1 3. Angels 40,050 88.9 4. Cubs 39,172 99.0 5. Phillies 39,063 89.8 6. Giants 38,638 93.0 7. Houston 36,484 89.1 8. Padres 36,184 86.2 9. Cardinals 35,309 70.1 10. Boston 35,083 101.1 19. Reds 24,575 58.4

The Houston Astros might be the team the Reds are chasing in the National League Central, but the Reds welcomed them to town. Why?

"We're expecting over 100,000 for the first three games of the series," Reds chief operating officer John Allen said Friday.

The Astros - with the addition of future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens - are one of the best draws in the National League.

If Allen had his choice, Clemens would be pitching Monday night. The smallest crowd of the four-game series is projected for that night.

Clemens starts tonight, and the Reds expect the game to sell out. Only about 4,500 tickets remained Friday.

The Reds have not had a sellout since drawing 42,122 on Opening Day.

Entering Friday, the Reds had drawn 442,354 for 18 dates - an average of 24,575. After 18 dates last season, the club had drawn 457,282 - an average of 25,405.

So attendance is down slightly, but not as much as the Reds anticipated. They drew 2,355,258 last year. But a lot of that was because it was the first year in Great American Ball Park.

With the novelty factor gone and the team picked to finish down in the standings, the Reds projected a significant dropoff - much more than the 3.3 percent they've seen.

"We're pleased," Allen said. "There are a lot of factors in that. The team's playing very well - above what the fans expected. We've had decent opponents. The (Chicago) Cubs and the (San Francisco) Giants have been in. You can't point to any one thing."

Winning is a big factor. After the Reds took two straight from the Cubs in the opening series, they had a walk-up crowd of 9,461 for a Friday night game with Pittsburgh.

Allen is counting on the ballpark experience to keep the fans coming back.

"A lot of people don't know about all the stuff that's new for this year," Allen said. "Hopefully they'll find the experience entertaining."

E-mail jfay@enquirer.com