You can't fool all the people all the time

Peter Magowan, Brian Sabean and the Mays Field scalpers are about to eat some humble pie because people won't show up to see a lousy team, particularly one that has no real stars. The only good part of this is that fans will be able to get far more decent seats than in the past and not have to deal with the always-annoying scalpers. Tom Fitzgerald of the San Francisco Chronicle lays out what's about to happen:

-- Based on sales so far, Baer said, the team is "trending" to get to 3 million in total attendance, which would be a drop of more than 200,000 from last year. In terms of single-game tickets, he would say only that more than 150,000 have been sold. More than 200,000 were sold at this point last year. "In total tickets sold, we're in the 2.3-to-2.4 (million) range," Baer said, "and that's more than many teams sell in their season, much less before the first game."

-- Some of those tickets are being sold at a deep discount. At Costco, fans can buy a four-ticket gift card that they then exchange elsewhere for actual tickets. Customers can purchase four upper-deck tickets to any one game in April or May - with the exception of Opening Day - for $50. At the nearly full sales stand at a Costco in Concord, it appeared there were more than enough gift cards to go around.

-- The average selling price for a Giants ticket on StubHub is $61, down from $68 at this time last year. The number of tickets changing hands is down 15 percent, and the overall volume sales are down 25 percent, he said.

-- In the offseason, many people - mainly with outfield seats - were practically giving away their "charter seat licenses" on resale Web sites in their efforts to sell their season tickets. The licenses, costing thousands of dollars, helped finance construction of the park. The licenses gave patrons access to the best seats and so-called "price protection" against yearly ticket hikes.