(seriously, if there was even the smallest probability of seeing a banner this wretched, who can blame Griffey for staying indoors?)
Mariners OF Milton Bradley found himself in the spotlight last week after leaving the ballpark midway thru during a Seattle loss. How were we to know at the time another M’s veteran had already established a precedent for checking out early? In 2009, Ken Griffey Jr. “helped build camaraderie in the Seattle clubhouse,” writes The Tacoma News Tribune’s Larry LaRue, but this spring the banged-up Junior is guilty of texting, watching TV, and most damning of all, taking a nap.
Last week, when some members of the press corps asked manager Don Wakamatsu why he hadn™t used Griffey as a pinch hitter for Rob Johnson late in a game, Wakamatsu was vague.
Two Mariners players, however, weren™t. Both are younger players, fond of Griffey. Neither had an ax to grind.
So why didn™t Wakamatsu go to Junior off the bench?
œHe was asleep in the clubhouse, one player said. œHe™d gone back about the fifth inning to get a jacket and didn™t come back. I went back in about the seventh inning “ and he was in his chair, sound asleep.
The other player, who knows Griffey a little better, tried to rationalize.
œHe doesn™t sleep well at night, he™s away from his family, he™s comfortable in the clubhouse, he said. œThey could have awakened him ¦