If Griffey wasn't Griffey...

If Griffey wasn't Griffey, how would we react to what he has done in the first 35 games? What we have, name or not, is a player who is hitting .212/.343/.365 with 3 hrs and 7 RBIs. To top it off, we are asking this player to be our DH against right handed pitchers. Take the name and fanfare out of this equation, and he isn't much different the Vidro at this point. Granted, he still has much more power potential then Vidro did, but if you look at what he has done so far, it seems to be his name that is bringing him along, not his bat.

Take for example the Texas game on Wednesday, when he was up with runners on third and first with one out, against a left handed pitcher. There is absolutely no reason why he should have had a bat in his hand with the right handed Mike Sweeney sitting on the bench. If Griffey wasn't Griffey, he would have been pinch hit for in that situation. What happened? Griffey ended up hitting into a rally killing 1-6-3 double play. I don't know if I can necessarily blame Wak, he didn't want to take out one of the best hitters of all time in a key RBI situation. Fair enough. But if Griffey wasn't Griffey, Wak pulls the trigger and puts in Sweeney.

I'm not here to smear the greatest Mariner of all time though. If Ichiro wasn't Ichiro, wouldn't he be hitting in the third hole instead of lead off? He doesn't walk (so he really shouldn't lead off), he gets hits consistently, and more often then not, hits well with runners in scoring position. The only problem is, he doesn't feel like he is anything but a leadoff hitter, and as a result, doesn't want to hit higher in the order. Apparently, what Ichiro wants, Ichiro gets. Just look how long he stayed in center field.

If Griffey wasn't Griffey, and Ichiro wasn't Ichiro, we could have a chance at having a much better, more sound line up. But instead we have a guy who gets 200 hits a year and doesn't walk, leading off, and a DH who hits third and probably won't get much higher then 20 hrs for the whole year. The fact is, they are who they are, and that alone puts butts in the seats. I think the main question is, if we keep free falling like we are, will that be enough come August?