We may have gotten what we paid for ...

... but, at least we stayed until the end.

My brother and I spent our Labor Day afternoon at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, watching the division-leading Cleveland Indians continue their winning streak against the Twins. (Our tickets were free.)

There were no big blowout innings for the Indians' offense in Cleveland's 5-0 win; the visitors scored one run in each of the first three innings plus one more each in the fifth and seventh innings. It was fine not to have to witness any three-run homers by the Indians' Travis Hafner or Victor Martinez; still, the totals left us feeling deflated as much as if Cleveland had scored all of its runs at once.

True-blue, diehard fans that we are, we stayed until the end (which was capped by a strikeout for Twins DH - why? - Rondell White). We knew that many other attendees would leave in advance, the way that things were going, so we weren't worried about overcrowded hallways at the end.

But the crazy thing about many of the fans leaving early was this: You gotta figure that most of them had been pulling for the Twins today. Yet, some left in the middle of the eighth (after the Twins defense held Cleveland scoreless for a half-inning) and others left in the middle of the ninth (another fruitless inning for Cleveland's offense). The Twins defense had not gone as long as two consecutive innings of allowing the Indians scoreless until the eighth and ninth stanzas.

Now, if the Indians had added to their total in either the eighth or the ninth, I could have understood Twins fans leaving the stadium before their team came back to bat. But why wouldn't those fans be fair and stick around to see the Twins take their "fair ups," especially when the Twins defense had managed to hold the Indians scoreless in those particular innings?

Don't get me wrong. Plenty of fans were leaving after seven full innings (when Cleveland had reached what would be its full run total of 5) and many more left after eight full innings. But for Twins fans to be leaving in the middle of the eighth or ninth? It just seemed odd.