Ken Griffey

Ken Griffey Jr. was sick yesterday, keeping him out of the Reds' lineup on the night picked to honor his 600th home run. Manager Dusty Baker said Griffey became ill on Monday, the team's day off, and wasn't feeling much better, though he did pinch-hit, striking out in the ninth inning of the Reds' 3-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers last night. Griffey, who reached the milestone June 9 in Florida, was on the field with his family for video highlights of his career. Former home run king Hank Aaron was part of the video tribute.

If you thought getting rid of Ron Gant was the biggest cost cutback ordered by Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott, think again. The penurious Reds have canceled a SportsTicker service that supplies updates on other major-league games for the scoreboard in Riverfront Stadium. The service costs $350 a month. Scores from other games were not shown during the Reds' first five home games, and fans had to listen to their radios or wait until they got home to find out how the Reds' rivals had done.

Lou Piniella of Seattle, Tony Muser of Kansas City, Dusty Baker of San Francisco and Bruce Bochy of San Diego yesterday were named coaches for the July 10 All-Star Game at Safeco Field in Seattle. The 2004 All-Star Game has been awarded to Houston, the third time the Astros will play host since joining the National League in 1962. Pedro Martinez might miss more than tomorrow night's start for the Boston Red Sox with a sore pitching shoulder and might end up on the disabled list for the third consecutive season.

Infielder Pokey Reese thinks the special treatment that Ken Griffey Jr. gets from the Cincinnati Reds' front office hurts the chemistry in the clubhouse. Reese, now playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates, said clubhouse spirit and discipline declined after the Reds lost Greg Vaughn to free agency and traded for Griffey in 2000. "Junior's going to be Junior," Reese was quoted as saying in yesterday's editions of the Cincinnati Enquirer. "He's going to do his thing, and they are not going to say anything.

Jimy Williams didn't know about Uncle Freddie's phone call. The Houston Astros manager decided to pitch to slumping Ken Griffey Jr. with the game on the line last night, and paid for it. Griffey's slump-busting double sent the host Cincinnati Reds to a 7-4 victory. Before Griffey came to bat with the score tied and two outs in the sixth, Ken Griffey Sr. relayed a batting tip to his son through a relative sitting in the front row. Uncle Freddie passed it along and Griffey immediately put it to use. "He said I wasn't using my hands," he said.

Hector Carrasco doesn't care that his latest demotion to the minors lasted only hours. The Cincinnati Reds reliever wants out. Carrasco, 27, has been one of the busiest and most effective relievers on the Reds staff. He's 1-1 with a 2.18 earned run average in 29 appearances. But the Reds still have an option on him. When they needed a spot for Felix Rodriguez, who had to be promoted Saturday because of a clause in his contract, the Reds optioned Carrasco to triple-A Indianapolis.

Thanks to the acquisition of Ken Griffey Jr., the Cincinnait Reds broke the major-league road attendance record previously held by the 1993 Braves. They've played in front of 37 sellout crowds and a total of 2,968,541 fans, 24,000 more than the Braves with one sellout to go today. The sellout of 47,099 yesterday was the 36th at St. Louis' Busch Stadium this season. Chicago's Mike Sirotka had hoped his next session in the bullpen would be a warmup for his start in Game 1 of the AL playoffs.

Ken Griffey Jr. took advantage of homerless nights by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa to tighten the season home-run race. Griffey hit his American League-leading 41st home run last night for the Seattle Mariners against the visiting Cleveland Indians. The teams were tied at 6-6 after 16 innings. Griffey tied Sosa, the Chicago Cubs' slugging rightfielder, for second in the majors behind St. Louis first baseman McGwire, who has 45. All three lead the chase to eclipse the single-season record of 61, set by Roger Maris in 1961.

Seattle Mariners centerfielder Ken Griffey hit three home runs in a game for the first time and tied a career high with six RBI, powering host Seattle past the New York Yankees last night, 10-4. Griffey set a team record by scoring five runs, and went 4-for-4 with a walk. Griffey hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning, a three-run drive in the sixth and a solo shot in the eighth. He also singled. Last Tuesday, Griffey became the seventh-youngest player in major league history to reach 200 homers.

After seven weeks on the disabled list, Ken Griffey Jr. was back in center field for the Cincinnati Reds last night. Griffey, who tore a tendon in his right knee April 7, started and batted third against the Atlanta Braves. He hit .273 with one home run and three RBIs in the seven games before the injury. "It's been tough," he said before the game. "The only thing I really know is baseball and playing baseball. " The plan for now is for Griffey to play every other day to slowly work himself back into game shape.

THERE IS still no sign of Theo Epstein in Chicago. It has been more than a week since word leaked that Epstein was headed to Chicago to join the Cubs after 9 years with the Boston Red Sox. It may take even longer for an official announcement. Major League Baseball prohibits major news announcements during the World Series, which kicks off tomorrow in St. Louis as the Cardinals host the Texas Rangers in Game 1. A person familiar with the negotiations has told the Associated Press Epstein agreed to a contract with the Cubs with a year left on his general manager contract in Boston.

JOE DiMAGGIO knew when it was time. He told reporters during 1951 spring training that it would be his final season. No. 5 had lost 3 prime years to WW2 and the Yankees had made him baseball's first $100,000 player. But his final years were weighted by a succession of injuries and illness. There was a poignant moment of foreshadowing the final day of the 1949 season, the Yankees playing the Red Sox and the winner going to the World Series. With the Yankees leading comfortably in the ninth, the great centerfielder failed to catch a routine - for him - fly that went for a two-run triple.

Ken Griffey Jr. was sick yesterday, keeping him out of the Reds' lineup on the night picked to honor his 600th home run. Manager Dusty Baker said Griffey became ill on Monday, the team's day off, and wasn't feeling much better, though he did pinch-hit, striking out in the ninth inning of the Reds' 3-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers last night. Griffey, who reached the milestone June 9 in Florida, was on the field with his family for video highlights of his career. Former home run king Hank Aaron was part of the video tribute.

Joe Nuxhall, the youngest major leaguer at age 15 and later a beloved broadcaster as "the ol' left-hander" in Cincinnati, has died. He was 79. Nuxhall died Thursday night while in the hospital for treatment of pneumonia, the team said. He was awaiting surgery to insert a pacemaker, and had been slowed by a recurrence of cancer since September. Brought up by Cincinnati to pitch during World War II - just out of junior-high classes, he unraveled at the sight of Stan Musial in the on-deck circle - Nuxhall worked more than six decades for the Reds.

Now that his hand is fully healed, Ken Griffey Jr. is climbing the home run list again. Griffey hit his 569th career homer yesterday, a two-run shot that tied him for ninth place on the career list and helped the Cincinnati Reds get a breakthrough 9-5 victory over the visiting Houston Astros. Houston won the first three games of the series. Pitcher Woody Williams and the Astros make themselves at home when they come here. Williams called a vendor over to the dugout and bought four bags of peanuts during the first inning, sharing them with teammates.

Ken Griffey Jr. is finally saying what broke his throwing hand. Wrestling with his kids. The Cincinnati Reds centerfielder said he was wrestling with his daughter and two younger sons on his yacht in the Bahamas in December when the oldest jumped and knocked him off balance. He landed awkwardly on his left hand. "It was nothing that could violate my contract," he said after reporting early for training camp this weekend. "It was dad being dad. " Griffey said the hand feels fine and he expects to be ready to go for spring training.

One of the sadder developments of Major League Baseball in the 2000s is how the ascent of Ken Griffey Jr. to the ranks of the true greats has slowed to worse than a crawl. Once the presumptive heir to Henry Aaron's home-run record, Griffey - "Junior," "The Kid" - was the player once thought the most likely to carry the game into this century on the magnificent twin forces of his talent and his personality. Yet as we approach 2007, Griffey is in danger of once again receding to the backwaters of baseball's consciousness by yet another confounding injury.

Ken Griffey Jr. moved closer to rarified territory, but his milestone came in a losing cause. Griffey hit his 550th home run, but the host Cincinnati Reds fell, 9-8, to the Kansas City Royals last night. Emil Brown drove in four runs to lead Kansas City's comeback, and Matt Stairs hit a two-run homer in the ninth that gave the Royals a rare road victory. Griffey's two-run shot in the third inning moved him into a tie with two cornerstones of the Big Red Machine. The homer was Griffey's 152nd since he rejoined his hometown team in 2000, matching Pete Rose and Joe Morgan for 12th place on the Reds' career list.

Many of the fans who entered Citizens Bank Park last night were surprised and disappointed that Cincinnati centerfielder Ken Griffey Jr. - who needs one home run to reach the 500 mark - was not in the Reds' starting lineup. But Jim Thome's 400th career home run in the first inning helped make up for it. "We thought we had a chance to see something special - Griffey hit his 500th and Thome his 400th," said Andrew Rinaldi, a 40-year-old Upper Darby resident who said he was "agitated" that Griffey didn't take batting practice.

Jimy Williams didn't know about Uncle Freddie's phone call. The Houston Astros manager decided to pitch to slumping Ken Griffey Jr. with the game on the line last night, and paid for it. Griffey's slump-busting double sent the host Cincinnati Reds to a 7-4 victory. Before Griffey came to bat with the score tied and two outs in the sixth, Ken Griffey Sr. relayed a batting tip to his son through a relative sitting in the front row. Uncle Freddie passed it along and Griffey immediately put it to use. "He said I wasn't using my hands," he said.