It’s less than two hours before the Mariners’ first intrasquad game, and there’s a buzz in the clubhouse even for this. Most of it, of course, is coming from Ken Griffey Jr., who walked around chattering nonstop about whatever and whoever came to mind.
To Jason Vargas, the left-hander who’ll start one of the squads and probably will face Griffey, who’ll bat fourth.
“Vargas! None of that inside bull——!” Griffey shouted. “I want four fastballs, outer half.”
Vargas smiled as he walked by, with a “Yeah, right” look on his face.
Griffey next made his way toward manager Don Wakamatsu, urging him to go easy on any daring baserunning the first time out. Wak also gave him a “Yeah, right” look.
Griffey’s mouth stopped only when Ichiro Suzuki entered the clubhouse in street clothes that came from a street far different from any around Peoria. There’s no way to aptly describe the outfit — jeans with the cuffs rolled up, multi-colored shoes, backward cap, sunglasses and a jacket that brings back the good old days of disco.
Griffey stung Ichiro only a little over that — “The socks, you can wear with anything” — then he turned to a writer and said, “It’s still way better than what you’re wearing.”
And finally, in an effort to make everyone feel involved in today’s intrasquad game, pitching coach Rick Adair had a special assignment for Felix Hernandez and Erik Bedard. Actually, he hung special jerseys in their lockers, making it clear what their assignments would be.
A white cardboard square was taped to the back of each jersey with “BB” scrawled in blue ink.
“Hey,” Adair said, “we need batboys.”
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