A long glorious double-dip day at the ballpark is over and Ken Griffey Jr. has made his magnificent return to left field. OK, he played four innings tonight against the Padres — a 10-8 Mariners victory — and nobody got hurt.
Griffey actually looked fine. He circled a high fly near the left-field corner in the first inning and made a strong throw back to the infield, caught another fly hit right at him in the second and fielded two base hits to left.
How did it feel?
“Everything feels strange,” he said. “Just strange.”
Then he smiled and pointed out that he had played left field before and feigned surprise that anyone would be interested in how he played there tonight.
“So it was like riding a bike?” he was asked.
“Depends on what kind of bike,” Griffey answered.
Well, the wheels didn’t fall off in the field although Griffey did shatter two bats against Padres starter Cha Seung Baek (remember him, M’s fans?)
“That’s just old wood,” Griffey said. “You try to use up all your old wood. You don’t want to break your good stuff before opening day. You want to use last year’s models while your timing is still a little bit off. He threw me a pretty good cutter the second at-bat.”
“I did get good distance on the second one,” he added, talking about the barrel of the bat that sailed into right field. “That’s good strength.”
In all seriousness, Griffey says he already feels comfortable with center fielder Franklin Gutierrez, having spent considerable time breaking for fly balls during batting practice in order to gauge each other’s range. That’s the side of this game that most people don’t see, Griffey says.
“We have an understanding,” Griffey said, clowning again. “He has everything until I call it. I don’t seem to have a problem with that.”
Other highlights and lowlights from tonight’s game:
-Ryan Rowland-Smith not only struggled to get anyone out in the first inning, he hardly threw anything that the Padres didn’t hit hard. They got five hits and five runs in the first, including Brian Giles’ solo home run and a line drive by the first hitter, Scott Hairston, that nearly took Adrian Beltre’s head off at third base. “The good thing is he got up to 73 pitches,” manager Don Wakamatsu said.
-Mike Wilson hit a two-run home run, his second homer in his past two games./
-Shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt actually worked a full count before hitting a single in his second at-bat. Betancourt saw only six pitches in four at-bats the previous night, drawing criticism from Wakamatsu.
-Catcher Jeff Clement, who Wakamatsu said not only needs to hit but must also tighten up his play behind the plate in order to make the team, doubled but also struck out three times. There was one sequence in the third inning, when the Padres had the bases loaded, when Clement made two trips to the mound in order to make sure he and Rowland-Smith were on the same page.
-Russell Branyan not only continued to hit — he went 3-for-4 with a double — he also ran. Branyan took advantage of pitcher Mike DeMark’s slow move to the plate and stole both second and third base in the fifth inning, scoring when catcher Eliezer Alfonzo’s throw got away.
-Phillippe Aumont made his exhibition debut, being called in from the minor league camp to pitch one inning. He wasn’t sharp, allowing two hits, one run and hitting a batter.
-Shawn Kelley was impressive again, striking out two in the ninth.
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