Ken Griffey Jr. spoke to the media after the Mariners'
loss to the Indians Tuesday, "tearing into the front office"
of the Mariners, according to Bob Finnegan of the SEATTLE
TIMES. Griffey spoke about the Mariners' exhibition game
Monday night against the Southern League All-Stars in
Zebulon, NC, and "blamed" the loss to the Indians on GM
Woody Woodward for booking the exhibition trip. Griffey:
"We got in [to NC] at 2 a.m. Monday after leaving Seattle,
played at 7 Monday night and got in here [to Cleveland] at 2
a.m.. ... Who do you blame? What do you think? Who set it
up?" Woodward: "No one likes these exhibitions. But we do
have commitments to our minor leagues." Griffey: "I will
never play in another one of those again." More Griffey:
"It's a first-rate club, and it's going to go to waste with
this front office." Woodward: "I'm not sure what Junior
means. Who does he think got those first-rate players
there?" (SEATTLE TIMES, 7/23).
REAX: In Raleigh, Barry Saunders wrote under the header
"Big-leaguer Whining is Bush League." Saunders: "The
Mariners ostensibly wanted the day off so they could rest up
for the stretch drive to the playoffs. Uh, fellas: There
are still 70 games left in the regular season. ... When they
fold down the stretch and Griffey starts his one-homer-a-
month pace -- oops, he's already done that -- well, they can
blame it on their forced march to Zebulon" (Raleigh NEWS &
OBSERVER, 7/24). CBS SportsLine's Mike Lurie: "Ken Griffey
Jr.'s heart is in the right place. So is his mind. His
mouth is way off-track, though. And its misplaced direction
makes Griffey sound more like a whining mogul than the
player who truly cares about putting the Seattle Mariners in
the World Series for the first time" (CBS SportsLine, 7/23).
