| Griffey Jr. Hits 600 |
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Congratulations Ken Griffey Jr. The original “Kid” hit his 600th home run Monday using his picture-perfect swing to smack a Mark Hendrickson offering deep to right field in his first at-bat. He becomes just the sixth person to reach the milestone in major league history, and might be the first player to do so without artificial help since Willie Mays. Griffey has been plagued by injuries in recent years, or else he might have been joining the 700 club instead and could possibly be chasing down the all-time record held by Bonds, and he has never once been linked to baseball’s steroid scandal. With or without performing enhancing drugs, Griffey has been one of the best players of this or any generation by any measure. His accomplishments prove that success can be achieved naturally in baseball, and he has remained beloved by fans everywhere (he is on-track to be voted as a starter to the All-Star game). • Now that Griffey has hit 600 he might not be long for Cincinnati but pitcher Edinson Volquez should be around for a very long time. He has been probably the best pitcher in baseball so far, but he gave up three earned runs for the first time all season to the Marlins all in the 5th inning. He still picked up a quality start and a win lasting six innings and striking out five to push his record to 9-2. His world-leading ERA rose to 1.56. • Jerry Hairston Jr. has been fantastic filling in at shortstop since mid-May. He may have been the Reds’ best hitter since then batting .336 with 15 runs and 14 stolen bases. Hairston fractured a finger however sliding on a stolen base and will miss 2-4 weeks. Paul Janish will be the fourth starting shortstop in Cincinnati so far this season. Jeff Keppinger, who had started before Hairston, is set to go on a rehab assignment and could be back by next week. • Hendrickson has turned back into a pumpkin. The tall soft-tossing lefty has given up 24 earned runs over his last four starts lasting just 17 innings. His ERA has jumped over two runs from 3.74 to 5.76 over that span. Have to say I told you so. • Jose Guillen continues to single-handedly destroy the Yankees. Over the four-game series he went 9-16 with 2 doubles, 4 home runs, and 10 RBI including the game-winner round tripper on Monday. He called out his teammates and organization earlier showing the type of behavior that has caused a talent like him to have moved to 10 different teams in his 12 year career. He also showed why teams keep signing him by absolutely crushing the ball against Yankee pitching. • Twins’ centerfielder Carlos Gomez has been surprisingly good with the bat collecting hits in all but seven games since way back on April 24. He has also shown some pretty good pop with 11 doubles and 5 home runs. Gomez’s main calling card was supposed to be his speed however, and he lived up to it early on in the season with 17 stolen bases. He hasn’t swiped a bag since May 25 however and was caught for the eighth time against the White Sox. Gomez has shown flashed great talent, but he still has a lot to work on as he also has struck out in nearly a quarter of his at-bats as well (62 K’s in 248 ABs). • Lefty Zach Duke won his fourth game of the year beating Randy Johnson and the Diamondbacks 5-3. It was his second straight solid outing going six strong allowing just two earned runs on five hits, two walks, and five strikeouts. He dropped his ERA to 4.10 and would almost be truly fantasy relevant if not for the sky-high 1.52 WHIP. His K:BB ratio is just 30:24 this season severely limiting his fantasy value. • Indians versus Tigers was supposed to be the battle for the AL Central, but they are currently trying to see who finishes just in front of Kansas City in the division. Cleveland came out on top 8-2 scoring all of its runs in the first two innings all off of starter Dontrelle Willis. Cliff Lee ran his record to 10-1 pitching five innings including 1 frame after a rain delay. • The Mariners and Blue Jays were locked in a terrific pitching duel with Seattle coming out on top 3-2 in 10 innings. Ten combined relievers were used in the game with J.J. Putz the last notching his seventh save of the year. Toronto’s Vernon Wells batted cleanup in his third game back from the DL and went 0-5. Alexis Rios ran his hit streak to 10-games and stole his 15th base of the year. Both players are buy-low candidates as neither has hit for much power so far but have shown signs of being ready to bust out offensively. • It was over almost before it started for Joe Saunders. He gave up three consecutive home runs to the Rays in the second inning Monday and ended up allowing eight earned in just 4.2 innings. Tampa ended up with 13 runs on 18 hits with each starter getting at least one hit. Six different players had multi-hit games highlighted by a 4-4 performance by catcher Dioner Navarro. On the bright side for the Angels, both Vlad Guerrero and Gary Matthews Jr. went 4-4. • Somehow Ray Durham has managed a very solid season at the plate. He will turn 37 in November, and can no longer run or hit for power, but a line of .305/.390/.427 is terrific production from second base. He can’t field his position anymore but that is besides the point. Durham went 1-4 with a walk and 2 runs in a 3-2 win over Washington Monday. Matt Cain won for just the third time for the Giants striking out 8 in 6.1 innings.
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Jonathan Lee AccuScore Analyst
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