Griffey Belts Two, Grabs Lead At 55 Mariners Clinch Tie For A.L. West Title With 4-2 Win In Oakland
Even after hitting his 54th and 55th homers of the season, pulling within six of baseball’s cherished record with five games left, Ken Griffey Jr. considers himself a longshot to match the mark.
Griffey overtook Mark McGwire for the major league home run lead as the Seattle Mariners clinched a tie for the A.L. West title by defeating the Oakland Athletics 4-2 Monday night.
Griffey has the seventh-highest homer total in major league history, trailing only Roger Maris (61 in 1961), Babe Ruth (60 in 1927), Ruth (59 in 1921), Jimmie Foxx (58 in 1932), Hank Greenberg (58 in 1938) and Hack Wilson (56 in 1930).
Griffey’s 55 homers are the most in the major leagues since Maris set the record. His final five games are at Seattle’s Kingdome, but he says the odds against him are tremendous.
“Oh, yeah, real long,” said Griffey, who has five homers and nine RBIs the last seven games. “There are going to have to be two or three multihomer games.”
Joey Cora added a two-run homer as the Mariners increased their division lead to 5-1/2 games over Anaheim.
The three homers give Seattle 257, tying the major league mark set by Baltimore last year. The Mariners, who hit 245 in 1996, became the first team to top 500 homers in consecutive seasons.
Griffey’s 54th in the fourth was a line drive into the right-field corner. Oakland manager Art Howe argued for several minutes that the ball landed foul. TV replays were inconclusive. There was no question about the 55th, a solo blast over the center-field fence in the fifth estimated at 425 feet.
Seattle manager Lou Piniella said 55 homers in a season is a staggering total, and that Griffey’s chances of catching Maris are neither enhanced nor hurt by the Mariners finishing at home.
“He’s getting within range now,” Piniella said. “I think Junior can hit them anywhere if he’s got his swing going the right way. I don’t think the ballpark makes any difference to him.”
Griffey, who has eight multihomer games this season and 29 in his career, has 293 career homers. Both Monday were solo shots off A’s starter Eric Ludwick (1-4).
“I admire what he does,” Ludwick said, “but I don’t like to be the one that he’s doing the admiring off of.”
xxxx Going for it all The Mariners, looking to clinch the West Division, are at home tonight against the Angels. Fox Sports Northwest and fX are carrying the game, beginning at 7.