CINCINNATI -- Ken Griffey Jr. took batting practice, ran in
the outfield and caught fly balls on Friday. The one thing he
didn't do was come off the disabled list.
The Cincinnati Reds outfielder was eligible to be activated
before a game against the Houston Astros, but didn't feel that an
inflamed tendon behind his right knee was back to full strength.
So, the wait goes on.
"When I come back, we don't want it to be one of those things
where we're trying to protect this or we're trying to protect
that," Griffey said, after an extended round of batting practice.
For their part, the Reds are willing to be patient with a
36-year-old outfielder who has a history of season-scuttling leg
injuries. Griffey is on the disabled list for the eighth time in
his seven seasons with Cincinnati.
Plus, Cincinnati has been on a roll without him. Since Griffey
hurt the tendon while chasing a fly ball in Chicago, the Reds have
gone 10-4 without him in the lineup. General manager Wayne Krivsky
said Friday the club doesn't want Griffey playing until he feels
fully healthy.
Krivsky thought Griffey would be ready to be activated for the
series against Houston, but agreed that it's better to be cautious.
"The last thing I want to do is put him in three days early and
he's out for two months," Krivsky said. "I'm not alarmed by it at
all."
Griffey plans to take batting practice and run again on
Saturday. The club then will decide what to do next. For now, no
one is willing to guess exactly when he might be back.
"I'm just seeing how he is," manager Jerry Narron said. "When
he's ready to go, we'll activate him. Whether it's Monday, Friday,
Wednesday -- we'll just see how he is."
When he went on the disabled list, Griffey said he still felt a
knot behind the knee, which a test determined was fluid that had
built up under a tendon. He said Friday that the inflammation is
gone, and he's trying to strengthen the muscles around the area
that was giving him problems.
"It's getting better," he said. "I just need to get
comfortable doing baseball activities. It's just a matter of
increasing the activities more and more each day."