Ken Griffey Jr. arrived in Flushing still basking in the afterglow of his milestone career 500th home run in Sunday’s win. The Mets saw to it that he didn’t get another longball or another victory last night, holding Junior conspicuously quiet in a 7-4 win.
His relationship with New Yorkers has been lukewarm, and last night only 19,301 showed up to watch – booing on three at-bats and roaring when he fanned on his fifth. Many were still mad over his rejection of a trade to the Mets, but he says the club has only itself to blame.
The Mets decided not to make a play for the oft-injured star this offseason. And in December, 1999, he rejected a potential move to Shea when the Mets pressured him and reportedly gave him just moments to accept or decline.
“They gave me 15 minutes to decide on my future. That’s not enough time. That’s disrespectful,” Griffey said. “I wanted to consider my family, so it was an easy decision. If you’re going to give me that much time, then you really don’t want me.”
The fans’ reactions showed that underneath their bile, they wanted him. If true, that could be as costly a 15 minutes as the Mets have spent. Despite his modest 1-for-5 evening, Griffey has 19 home runs and 54 RBIs, and has reclaimed his place as one of the sport’s brightest stars. At five years and $66.5 million, he’s a bargain.
While Matt Ginter struggled against most of the Reds, he kept Griffey in check. Griffey grounded to first in the first inning, singled past a diving Eric Valent in the third – scoring on Jason LaRue’s bloop single – and hit into a 1-3 groundout in the fourth.
“You’d better keep it low and away against him. If you don’t, he’ll sure hit it a long way,” Ginter said.
Griffey fared no better against the pen, grounding out in the sixth and fanning on Braden Looper’s 1-2 changeup to lead off the ninth, drawing loud applause.
Still, it couldn’t detract from Sunday. After being limited to just 43 homers in an injury-riddled three years – he hit 40 in seven of the eight years before that – 500 has to taste even sweeter to Griffey, who arrived in the clubhouse to see 500 Nike-sent congratulatory balloons.
He says what rejuvenated his passion for the game wasn’t the chase for that milestone, but watching the love his son has for his games.
“What really helped me this offseason was my son is playing football and basketball, and seeing the feeling he has for his sports, how he comes off the court mad when something happens, how he smiles when he hits a jumper,” Griffey said. “Just the joy he has for the game, that’s what helped me this year getting that back.”