Griffey not in starting lineup tonight

[stevekun]

PHILADELPHIA (TICKER) —Cincinnati Reds outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. is not in the starting lineup for Monday’s series opener against the Philadelphia Phillies.

According to Reds manager Dusty Baker, Griffey was scratched due to “general soreness.” Baker did not say if Griffey would be available to pinch hit.

“That’s why we took him out of the game yesterday,” Baker said. “He was ailing a little bit. That’s the time you don’t want to take a chance.

“If you start favoring something, then you end up blowing something out, so we’ll try to spot him. He wants to play every day.”

On Saturday at Great American Ballpark, the 38-year-old Griffey hit his 599th career home run against the Atlanta Braves.

Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Sammy Sosa are the only players in baseball history to surpass 600 homers.

[Homer Bailey]

That's too bad because he eats Kendrick alive.

[bgwilly31]

So who does that add into our lineup.

Freel? A little bit more speed and better defensively but i would say not quite the same hitter as griffey even the way he is hitting right now.

[757690]

Dusty added Freel in CF. I would have rather he put Janish at short and Hairston in Center, but who knows.

[BLEEDS]

Freel 2nd, then JB, BP, Dunn, EE, Votto

PEACE

-BLEEDS

[bgwilly31]

is that official^

[BLEEDS]

is that official^

It's an educated guess...

PEACE

-BLEEDS

[Homer Bailey]

Its right:

Hairston SS
Freel CF
Bruce RF
Phillips 2B
Dunn LF
EE 3B
Votto 1B
I forget catcher... probably Ross

[Kingspoint]

Best lineup I've see all year.

The only way it could be better was if Keppinger was leading off and playing SS.

Just wondering though how much defensively Keppinger will be effected by his injury. I would think it would take another month after he's activated for him to be back to where he was defensively. He might get quite a few starts at non-SS positions until he gets back.

I can't see any way that the REDS will lose tonight. They'd really have to have a half-a-dozen mental mistakes for the momentum to stop when you add in this excellent lineup.

[Kingspoint]

Dusty added Freel in CF. I would have rather he put Janish at short and Hairston in Center, but who knows.

I'd rather have that, too.