Griffey Denies Absence Was Protest

Ken Griffey Jr. was back in the Cincinnati Reds’ lineup Thursday night and answering questions about his absence a day earlier.

Griffey denied he removed himself from the second game of a series against the St. Louis Cardinals at St. Louis to protest coverage on ESPN, which telecast Wednesday’s game.

Griffey said the real reasons were a stomachache and headache, and he also denied reports that he called ESPN.

“I can’t lie . . . I made all those calls. Yeah, right! I have no idea what ESPN’s number is, let alone call ESPN,” Griffey said.

If there were a problem, Griffey said, he’d let his agent deal with it.

“I have no control over what ESPN shows or doesn’t show,” he said.

Griffey said the only ESPN reporter he regularly speaks to is Harold Reynolds, a former Seattle Mariner teammate. Griffey said “98%” of what they discuss is banter of the sort teammates would have.

“The only conversations I have had with Harold, I said they show me mess up and then show somebody making a great catch right after that,” Griffey said. “That’s been going on for years, that’s the way it’s always been.”

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The New York Met fan who threw John Rocker’s baseball back onto the field has been exonerated.

In a statement touching on baseball tradition, Queens District Atty. Richard Brown said that Gregory Sweeney of Brooklyn did nothing illegal during Sunday’s game between the Mets and Atlanta Braves.

Brown said Sweeney, 26, will not be prosecuted on a reckless endangerment charge.

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Dwight Gooden will make another comeback with the New York Yankees, and this time it will come against the Mets. Gooden will start Saturday at Shea Stadium against the Mets in the first game of a two-stadium, day-night doubleheader. . . . Pitching coach Pete Vuckovich of the Pittsburgh Pirates was suspended three games for making contact with an umpire during a game against the Mets on June 23. Vuckovich, who also was fined an undisclosed amount, bumped umpire John Hirschbeck during a second-inning argument over a balk called on Pirate pitcher Bronson Arroyo. . . . Outfielder Moises Alou of the Houston Astros is no longer ruling out waiving his no-trade clause. Alou said the Astros asked him last week if he’d accept a trade and he declined. But now has decided to consider offers. The trading deadline is July 31.