DODGERS NOTEBOOK : GUTHRIE WARY OF GRIFFEY.Byline: Eric Noland Daily News Staff Writer From a distance, they are monitoring the remarkable April feats of Ken Griffey Ken Griffey may refer to:
Guthrie, Tom Candiotti Radinsky finished his career with a 42-25 record, a 3. are Dodgers relief pitchers with roots in the American League American League (AL) One of the two associations of professional baseball teams in the U.S. and Canada designated as major leagues; the other is the National League (NL). . Their prior encounters with the Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are a professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington. The Mariners are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Mariners have played in Safeco Field. center fielder produced a mixed bag of results, and none expresses the least surprise that Griffey has broken a major-league record by hitting 13 home runs (and counting?) in April. ``He hit a home run over the Hard Rock Cafe Hard Rock Cafe is a chain of casual dining restaurants. It was founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton, and their first Hard Rock Cafe opened near Hyde Park Corner in London, in a former Rolls Royce car dealerships showroom close to Hyde Park, where in 1979 they began to ,'' Candiotti said of Griffey's three-dinger night in Toronto's SkyDome last Friday. ``I've had lunch up there. I remember looking down at the field and thinking, `Man, who could hit it up here?' And that ball went over it. That's amazing.'' In this, the first season of interleague play, the Dodgers' strong pitching staff will square off against Griffey and the potent Mariners for two games in June and two more in August. Of his prior encounters, Radinsky said, ``I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what the stats are, but I don't think he likes to face me.'' Probably not. Griffey is 1 for 15 with six strikeouts against the lefty out of Simi Valley. Candiotti also has fared well: 4 for 18 (.22), no home runs, two strikeouts. And then there's Guthrie - a yield of 10 hits in 20 at-bats. The left-hander laughed and said, ``I played against him in A-ball (California League, 1988). My first few times, I did pretty well. Then, one day, I was 3-and-0 to him and hit him right between the shoulder blades. He thought I did it on purpose, I'm sure, but I didn't. ``Ever since then, he's just beaten the tar out of me. It woke him up. It was a pure mistake, but I know he thought I did it on purpose.'' Guthrie smiled at the memories and said, ``I throw a little differently now, so we'll see what happens.'' Bloom off the rose: The Dodgers took considerable delight in the fact their bullpen opened the season with a string of 32-1/3 innings without giving up an earned run. Lately, the scales have begun to tip precariously. Although the relief staff got a strong outing from Candiotti Sunday night against Florida, there have been blowups over the past week by Candiotti, Todd Worrell and Guthrie. The result is a yield of 12 earned runs over 16-2/3 innings - an ERA of 6.48. Feeling the pinch: As pinch hitters, Chip Hale and Wayne Kirby are not exactly carrying on the tradition of Dave Hansen and Jeff Treadway - much less Manny Mota. Kirby and Hale are a combined 1 for 19 in pinch situations this season. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion