Batting practice session with Senior pays off for Junior

[CincyRedsFan30]

Griffey, Dunn power Reds past Phillies
Batting practice session with Senior pays off for Junior in 12-4 victory

By Hal McCoy

Dayton Daily News

PHILADELPHIA | So truly, Father Knows Best, especially in the baseball-famous Griffey family. Pop Griffey knows Junior Griffey's swing, inside-and-out, upside and downside.

On Saturday morning, Ken Griffey Sr. planned to leave Philadelphia and fly to Dayton to scout the Class A Dragons for the parent Cincinnati Reds for a few days.

Ken Griffey Jr. put the trip on hold two days because he had others plans, preferring that dad conduct a batting practice/swing critique for him and his buddy, Adam Dunn.

The Dragons must fend for themselves for now.

The deed was done early Saturday, at 2 o'clock, and on Saturday night Griffey and Dunn were the main operatives during a six-run seventh inning that lifted the Reds past the Philadelphia Phillies, 12-4, in Citizens Bank Park.

Griffey whip-lashed a three-run home run off relief pitcher Ryan Madson, pushing the Reds from 4-3 behind to 6-4 ahead.

Dunn followed with his 11th homer to go with a home run hit earlier in the game by Jason LaRue as the Reds turned into the Cincinnati Power Company on this night.

The Reds, who inexplicably lead the league in doubles with 87, added six to their collection by six different hitters — Ryan Freel, Felipe Lopez, Joe Randa, Griffey, Austin Kearns and D'Angelo Jimenez.

The 12 runs were a season's high, as were the 17 hits, three each by Freel, Lopez and Kearns.

But it was Griffey's home run that torched the team's 10-run deluge in the seventh and eighth innings.

It was his fifth homer this season, 506th of his career and Madson was the 320th different pitcher to feel the sting of Griffey Power.

Griffey had hit safely in 15 of 17 games (.333, four homers, 14 RBI) before Saturday, so why the need for Daddy Dearest?

Well, Daddy Dearest was on the phone with Junior before he began a 13-game hitting streak.

"We talked about 45 minutes," said Senior. "He was struggling and I not only talked technically but I told him to relax, see it and hit it. I told him to play like he did when he was younger, relax and enjoy himself."

Senior notices that Junior has more drive in his legs these days and said, "He got jammed on that home run and hit it on the label."

Junior confirmed it, displaying the bat with a white mark inches above the label.

"He knows my swing better than anybody," said Griffey, Jr. "But he nearly killed my knuckles today with that turbo-cutter he throws that dives into my body. One pitch would have gone through my legs if I hadn't swung at it."

Griffey Sr. is still in Philadelphia and, in fact, will throw batting practice to Junior and Dunn early this morning, then report to Dayton Monday.

"He knows Junior's swing and he knows my swing," said Dunn. "Plus he throws left-handed. I was pulling off the ball against lefties, still am, but at least I got a hold of that one.

"Batting coach Chris Chambliss is great with this, doesn't mind Senior helping out," said Dunn. "A lot of batting coaches resent us getting help from outside sources."

Reds starter Aaron Harang gave up four runs and eight hits in the first four innings, three runs coming on Bobby Abreu's homer in the third.

From the fifth through the eighth, Harang gave up no runs on three hits, ankle-tying the Phillies so that the Reds could swing pole-axes at Madson in the seventh and Geoff Geary in the eighth.

Harang could have pitched the team's first complete game, but manager Dave Miley thought 119 pitches in eight innings was more than enough.

And when it was over, while Griffey Jr. and Dunn dressed, Griffey Sr. stuck his head in the clubhouse door and said, "Let's go. We have 10:30 reservations at The Charter House."

[BigRedMachine]

Anyway that the offense can get going is great for the Reds. With the complete lack of pitching lately the more runs the better. It would be great to see both Jr and Dunn continue to produce big and see just what the numbers will be like at the end of the season. Big ups from a member of the Big Red Machine of the 70s.