Flash player is required to view weather conditions. Download

site web  

SEATTLE — The Kid can rise to an occasion, like John Wayne on a white stallion, like Clint Eastwood in a Dodge Charger, like Will Smith on a flood-lit sound stage.

Ken Griffey Jr., as if on cue from the 46,064 fans in Safeco Field who Sunday came to witness his brilliance, ripped two home runs and the crowd roared, as if the fans didn't care that the homers came against their team and those home runs might beat them.

Alas, neither the Seattle Mariners nor the Cincinnati Reds have a sense of the dramatic.

The Mariners scored two runs off Bronson Arroyo in the sixth to tie it, then used a suicide squeeze bunt in the seventh for the run they needed to score a 3-2 victory.

And what did the weekend love-a-thon produce? Griffey made the fans a promise: "I owe it to the fans and to myself to retire as a Mariner. Every athlete wants to finish with the team with which he started."

"That may be a few years down the road, because a lot of things can happen, but this weekend was so special and I think I'd like to end my career in a Mariners uniform, back with my original team."

Griffey said they could have avoided playing Sunday's game because his former teammate, Jay Buhner told him Thursday exactly what would happen: "With your luck, you'll hit two homers and you'll lose the game, 3-2."

Griffey also made a diving, rolling catch in the second, taking an eight-inch divot, and scrambled to his feet to complete a double play. He nearly didn't have a chance to make that play because he was the designated hitter on manager Jerry Narron's original lineup.

Griffey went to Narron and said, "I'd like to go out there (in the field) because it wouldn't be fair for the people of Seattle for me to just DH."

It was not a fun day for Arroyo, who dipped to 2-9 despite pitching well enough to win — three runs and 10 hits over seven innings.

Griffey homered in the first, although nobody seemed to know it. Left fielder Willie Bloomquist leaped at the wall and it appeared he might have snagged it. Griffey stopped between first and second and looked around.

"The second base umpire didn't give a home run signal, but there were two outs and nobody was running off the field," Griffey said. "Weird. Finally, the umpire said, 'Let's go, home run.' "

The second one left no doubts — a deep shot in the fifth to make it 2-0 and it moved Griffey past Mark McGwire into seventh on the all-time list with 584.

"I wasn't trying to hit home runs — oh, I did the first day (single, fielder's choice, three strikeouts)," he said. "You play long enough, you hit a few out, you catch some people. All the home runs Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa hit in the late 1990s is why baseball is where it is right now."

Griffey caught the last out hit by a Seattle player, Yuniesky Betancourt, and the fans gave him one last standing ovation as he trotted off the field. As he stepped on third base, he waved to his adoring public and they roared again.

"I turned and waved, my way of saying thank you for coming out and supporting me," he said. "It was every inning I ran out there because they thought it was my last time here. I wish it could be like that all the time."

Too bad he didn't bat in the ninth inning. He might have left one final lasting and indelible memory.

"We didn't capitalize early when we could have scored some runs and didn't," said Narron, referring to David Ross striking out with two on in the second and Josh Hamilton popping up with the bases load in the third.

"I thought Bronson Arroyo pitched as well as he has all year," Narron added. "He made one mistake to Ben Broussard, but worked out of a couple of jams."

Broussard, drafted No. 2 by the Reds in 1999, crushed a two-run, two-out double in the sixth to tie it, 2-2.

"Broussard fought me hard all day," said Arroyo. "I've faced them a lot and I've had good success (1-0, 0.53 in three appearances against the Mariners). I threw a heater (fastball) and he hit it well."

Betancourt led the seventh with a double and reached third with a nifty fadeway slide when Jamie Burke bunted and Arroyo threw to third.

"That nice slide put my back against the wall," Arroyo said. "First and third, no outs, pretty tough to get out of that without giving up a run."

Seattle manager Mike Hargrove hadn't employed the suicide squeeze all year, but he did it at this point with Bloomquist. He bunted and Betancourt scored the winning run, sliding home as Arroyo fielded the bunt.

"I felt a lot better today, like I had normal stuff," Arroyo said. "I worked out in a different manner, had some different nutrients and supplements and I felt like I had command of the game, doing the things I should be doing out there."

Nevertheless, Griffey's day was spoiled.

"It was awesome for Griffey," said Arroyo. "To hit two home runs to cap off a nice three days for him, that was great."

Or, as Narron said, "You'd like to see us win a ball game on a day like Griffey had."