A reporter from The (Tacoma) News Tribune last weekend ran a story that claimed, according to two unnamed players, Seattle Mariners veteran outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. was asleep during the eighth inning of Saturday's game, and not available to pinch hit.
The story created quite a stir, and on Tuesday, a disgruntled Griffey met with reporters. He said he wasn't asleep during the eighth inning and was available to pinch hit. When asked if he was asleep at any point during the game, Griffey didn't answer.
Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu backed up his player, saying he wasn't asleep and that he chose not to use him in that situation, but this doesn't bode well for the clubhouse.
"I'm just hoping that whoever said it will be man enough to come to me," Griffey said.
Absolutely. Look, Griffey is batting around the Mendoza line, and he hasn't hit a home run this season. Still, he's being paid handsomely to be a part of this team, and sleeping on the job should not be tolerated.
But he's being treated unfairly here. Firstly, what kind of shoddy reporting is this? As a reporter, I wouldn't write the story if I couldn't unveil the sources. But in this day and age of "gotcha" journalism, where getting out a juicy story first is the name of the game, it's just par for the course. Shame on you.
Josh Krueger told me this morning that he felt bad for the reporter, saying he's now being shunned by the rest of the team. Well, you create a rift like this in a clubhouse, without naming the sources, and you expect other guys to talk to you? You made your bed, my friend.
Secondly, who are these players who would tell this to a reporter, but can't go to their teammate to confront him? Seems like the chicken way out, if you ask me.
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The reporter was kind of stupid on a few levels.
For one, is a player sleeping during a game really news? I would be surprised if this didn't happen regularly in clubhouses across MLB. Baseball players are, by far, the most detached pro athletes when it comes to interacting with the rest of the team. When pitchers leave the game, they head to the clubhouse to shower up and ice and never return to the dugout. Position players head back to the clubhouse during games all the time. Sometimes they come back, sometimes not. So why is it a story that Griffey was napping? Hey, he's old. Old people need their rest.
But instead of being mad at the reporter, Mariners players should be mad at their idiot teammates who spilled the beans in the first place. And I don't want to hear any garbage, like I heard from Scott this morning, about how they don't know who said what because this reporter didn't reveal his sources. It's a small clubhouse. Figure it out and deal with the Chatty Cathys accordingly.
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