I don't know if my thoughts are right or not but I think the Pirates may have so many give aways just to get butts in the seats.* I also believe the Pirates have access to better corporate partners for the give away ... PNC, Zambelli, Waste Management, Comcast, BCBS, PPG, etc. We get American U and Miller Lite, an occasional PNC and GEICO. Too bad the DoD and Justice can't have give aways. We could have a Joe Biden bobble head night.
* http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance
The Nats could hardly give tickets away last September in the middle of a pennant race, holding off the Braves, so we're hardly in the range of the Red Sox or Phillies with a sell out streak.
As far as corporate partners, we have plenty of large companies based here and plenty of disposable income that advertisers want to target.
