If you’re throwing a birthday party, sure, you can invite 150 people, and it’ll be an awesome, raucous event. Or you can invite 15 people–people who actually care that it’s your birthday. It might be low-key, but it has a little more meaning.

Last night, just 11,692 showed up for the Mariners game against the Orioles. It was the lowest crowd in Safeco Field history–the lowest since July 1995. These were the diehards: Season ticket holders, people who never turn down a free M’s ticket, visitors to town who’ll go see any baseball team, no matter how mediocre.

Even before Justin Smoak’s three-run homer turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 win, the diehards showed their stripes. Erik Bedard got a standing ovation when he left the game, after allowing two runs in 6 and 1/3 innings. Then, when Smoak’s homer brought the crowd to its feet, the diehards stayed standing, stayed cheering, until Smoak came out of the dugout for a curtain call.

Contrast this with Saturday, when four different fans ran on the field during play, including a streaker. Even more people were ejected from the stadium for extreme drunkenness.

Sounds like it was a pretty fun party, but it wasn’t as much about baseball as it was about getting shitfaced on a holiday weekend.

Haven’t been a lot of fun parties at Safeco this year. All ten of the lowest crowds in the stadium’s history have occurred this season. So if you’re the type of person who likes a big birthday, stay away from Safeco except for those weekend games against popular teams, when the vino will flow, and you might see a naked dude. But if you want to join a crowd of dedicated baseball fans cheering on a surprisingly competitive team (the Mariners are just a half-game out of first place in the AL West), come on out to the park.