Was Ken Griffey Hr. Asleep At The Ballpark?

Ken Griffey Jr. of the Seattle Mariners was supposedly asleep during a game which is the reason he wasn't used to punch hit. On Saturday, the Mariners played the Anaheim Angels and lost 3-4. It has been denied by Griffey and Mariners' manager Don Wakamatsu . If the reports were false, hopefully the source didn’t get a cash til payday loan for the erroneous info.

Asleep at the game is Ken Griffey Jr.

On Saturday, the Seattle Mariners were playing the second of a three-game series against the Anaheim Angels, and supposedly Ken Griffey Jr. went into the locker room around the fifth inning An anonymous source says he was found two innings later within the clubhouse, asleep. The original story ran Monday in the Tacoma Tribune and was written by Larry LaRue, quoting two anonymous Mariners players as his sources. The mariners, Ken Griffey Jr., and Wakamatsu deny it.

Other people slept watching the game

Wakamatsu denied that it happened, and he has told the press the reason Griffey did not pinch hit was because he was not picked to pinch hit, as outlined by MLB.com. The Mariners lost anyway so apparently it didn't make a difference. They also lost to the Angels in the game before that. The game in question, on Saturday, May 8, was the closest loss of the 3 game series, 3-4. The game before was a 0-8 shutout, but the Mariners really fought back impressively on Sunday, May 9, in Anaheim, winning with 8-1. The Mariners are now 13 – 19 for the season, which is not their best but not their worst either.

Calls for the slugger to retire

Ken Griffey Jr. isn't young. He’s 40 years old, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s done for, or that he can’t contribute. (Take a look at Brett Favre that came within one game of the Super Bowl just late year.) This last year he had an average of .214 with 57 RBIs and 44 home runs. This year he has averaged .200 with 5 RBIs and 5 runs. That isn't bad so maybe calls for retirement are a bit premature.

Sources for the article

MLB.com

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100511&content_id=9965914&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb