Ken Griffey Jr. didn’t make the walk out to Monument Park yesterday, and has no plans to do so this weekend.
He won’t stop to smell the roses, because Griffey figures he will have to hold his nose.
“My favorite Yankee Stadium memory?” the Reds slugger said last night. “It’s leaving Yankee Stadium.”
Griffey is no fan of history, and no fan of the Yankees since Billy Martin, who has been dead for 17 years, yelled at a young Griffey while his dad, Ken Sr., was a member of the Bombers.
Once, Junior said he would never play for the Yankees for that reason alone.
“The Reds haven’t been here in 30 years,” he said before the Reds’ 4-2 victory last night. “For us it’s a road trip we have to make, not something to look forward to.”
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The Yankees’ Dan Giese makes his big-league starting debut today – drawing the assignment because of the injury to Chien-Ming Wang.
Giese hasn’t started since June 1, and that was in Triple-A Rochester. Then, he hurled one inning before getting taken out so he could relieve for the Yanks two days later. Since May 27, Giese has thrown more than 41 pitches only once, when he fired 65 out of the pen on June 3.
“We’ll watch him closely,” manager Joe Girardi said of the righty’s pitch count.
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The Yankees remembered Curt Schilling for his clutch pitching yesterday when it was announced that Schilling’s career could be over following shoulder surgery scheduled for this coming Monday.
“If he has pitched his last game, he goes out with a World Series victory,” said Johnny Damon, a teammate of Schilling on the 2004 World Series champion Red Sox. “He has three championship rings. He showed up in the postseason and was one of the better pitchers of our generation.”
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The Reds’ Adam Dunn – ripped on Toronto radio by Blue Jay GM J.P. Ricciardi – has yet to hear Ricciardi’s promised apology.
“I’ll probably see him in Toronto [where the Reds go after this weekend],” said Dunn, who paused then added, “Sorry doesn’t always fix things. He’s not criticizing me as a player. He is criticizing me as a person, that’s different.”
Ricciardi called Dunn “a lifetime .230, .240 hitter that strikes out a ton and hits home runs” and also said of Dunn, “Do you know that the guy really doesn’t like baseball all that much? Do you know the guy doesn’t have a passion to play the game that much?”
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Hideki Matsui returned to the Yankee lineup last night after missing the previous two games with a tender left knee that needed to be drained. He went 2-for-4 and lined out.
-With George A. King III
and Mark Hale