CLEVELAND — The Indians owned the worst attendance in major league baseball last year, and they are leading the pack again in 2011.
Of the 15 teams that opened the season at home, Cleveland ranked last in attendance with an average of 17,331 fans over its first four games through Tuesday.
That’s dubiously close to the 17,435 fans the Indians averaged through 80 home dates (one doubleheader) last year.
“If I spend five minutes worrying about that, that’s five minutes I’m not going to spend on trying to make this team better and bring people to the ballpark,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “The fan base is there. I see it every time I walk the streets. Do I want to see it packed every day? Of course. If we win, they’ll come.
“My job is to make these guys as good as possible to bring people to the park, but that’s not my main concern.”
Cold weather and low expectations for a team coming off consecutive 90-loss seasons are just two of the factors contributing to the low attendance for the Indians, who drew less than 10,000 fans to three of their first four home dates and set a record-low mark at Jacobs/Progressive Field with 8,726 fans Sunday.
Indians players are trying not to notice the small crowds.
“This is the time of year that we just focus on playing the game,” Indians outfielder Travis Buck said. “Obviously the economy has hit the city of Cleveland pretty hard, and we just hope, if they’re not here, they’re cheering us on on the TV.”
Setup Sipp?
Though Acta has yet to designate a setup man, left-hander Tony Sipp handled the role in Cleveland’s first two wins Sunday and Tuesday.
“It’s more a matchup situation until more of the season plays out,” Acta said. “If Tony runs away with it, then fine.”
Sipp was a key late-inning reliever for Cleveland last year but was inconsistent in 70 games (2-2, 4.14 ERA). He was one of the Indians’ best out of the bullpen this spring and has carried that into the regular season, where he didn’t allow a run or hit with two strikeouts over his first two appearances.
“He showed up in camp this year in a lot better playing condition,” Acta said of the 6-foot, 190-pound Sipp. “He had a goal in mind to basically just pitch down in the strike zone, and he’s been doing that since spring training. You can tell the difference.”
Acta said the other lefty in the bullpen, Rafael Perez, would be used mainly as a situational reliever.
Wounded Wahoos
Grady Sizemore (microfracture surgery left knee) and reliever Joe Smith (strained abdominal) are scheduled to begin minor league rehab assignments tonight for Double-A Akron, which opens its season at home against Binghamton.
Sizemore is expected to play seven innings in center field, while Smith is expected to pitch an inning.
Pronk progress
Travis Hafner finished strong last year and he’s starting strong this season.
Hafner, who posted the AL’s fourth-highest second-half batting average (.329) in 2010, entered Wednesday hitting .375 (6-for-16) with a home run, double and two RBIs in four games.
Roundin’ third
Three upcoming Indians games — Friday at Seattle (10:10 p.m.), Saturday at Seattle (9:10 p.m.) and April 13 at the Los Angeles Angels (7:05 p.m.) — have been moved from WTAM 1100-AM to WMMS 100.7-FM due to conflicts with the Cavaliers.
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.
