Griffey Is Still Out of a Zone

It was one of those moments that Kevin Costner makes baseball movies about--two out, game on the line, bases loaded and the best player in the game stepping up to the plate.

Ken Griffey Jr. and his new Cincinnati Red teammates couldn’t have asked for a better situation as spoilers in the Dodgers’ home opener Friday afternoon.

“That’s a nice sight, but all of us have got to contribute,” Red Manager Jack McKeon said in the visitors’ clubhouse after the game. “We can’t just sit back and say, ‘Hey, one guy’s going to be the savior for us.’ Everybody’s got to contribute. We can’t put it all on Griff’s shoulders.”

True enough, Griffey chased a shoulder-high outside fastball from Dodger reliever Terry Adams, striking out and ending the seventh-inning threat. The Dodgers were holding a precarious 2-1 lead at the time.

While Griffey’s strikeout deflated the Reds, it pumped up the Dodgers, who went on to score six runs in the home half of the inning to pull away for the 8-1 victory.

“It was a situation where you’re going to go up there and swing the bat, and I just chased a bad pitch out of the zone,” said Griffey, who went 0 for 3, including grounding into a first-inning double play, with a walk. “Sometimes it’s like that.”

It has been like that frequently thus far for Griffey in a Red uniform.

A slow start--he began the year batting .055 (one for 18) with three runs batted in--resulted in the unthinkable in his new home when he was booed at Cinergy Field last week.

He snapped out of his funk a bit and began Friday’s game batting .216 with three home runs and 14 RBIs, including a grand slam Tuesday at Coors Field against the Colorado Rockies.

But Friday, courtesy of 53,223 at Dodger Stadium, a smattering of boos during pregame introductions turned into a full-fledged and readily recognizable anti-Griffey chant out of the left-field pavilion in the fifth inning.

One of the most popular players in the game, getting a hearty Bronx cheer, in Chavez Ravine?

Griffey’s pristine image took a hit after he held the Seattle Mariners hostage this off-season, forcing a one-sided trade Feb. 10.

In Griffey, the Reds received a member of baseball’s All-Century Team and the player of the decade for the 1990s, as voted by major leaguers. The Mariners, meanwhile, got right-handed pitchers Brett Tomko and Jake Meyer, outfielder Mike Cameron and infielder Antonio Perez.

Red second baseman Pokey Reese, the player the Mariners coveted most in initial trade talks, was on second base when Griffey strode to the plate with the bases loaded in the seventh.

“Without a doubt, that’s the situation we want to be in with the big guy up there,” said Reese, the Reds’ leadoff man who went four for four with a walk yet failed to score. “You know, he’s struggling right now, but that’s the game of baseball. He’ll get it going and when he does, look out.

“These guys are going to break out and I can’t wait to see it. We just didn’t get the runs in. He’ll get it going, believe me.”

Griffey insists he’s comfortable in his new surroundings.

“I’m just going to go up there and do what I have to,” he said. “It was just a bad swing. Sometimes you leave guys on base and that’s frustrating.

“Some days are good and some days are bad. You just battle through it.”