MILWAUKEE — Ken Griffey Jr. seemed surprised that his comments to foxsports.com, published Monday, had much of an impact. “I've been saying the same thing since April,” he said. “It's a national story because it's got my name on it. It's nothing new.”

        In the article, Griffey said: “I felt like calling Johnnie Cochran and saying, "Hey, come defend me. I'm on trial.' That's how I felt. I felt like I was on trial. Everything I did was brought up.”

        Griffey seemed unaffected by the controversy he caused with his comments. He joked with his teammates around the batting cage before Tuesday night's game against the Milwaukee Brewers.

        “I play better when I stir things up,” he said.

        Griffey has stirred things up a number of times this year. He has continually complained this year about how he has been portrayed in the national media. He believes he was wrongly accused of forcing the Seattle Mariners to trade him to Cincinnati. He believes the national media, ESPN in particular, prefers to show him in a negative light. He's particularly miffed the trade the sent him from Seattle to Cin cinnati is the reason the Mariners are better and the Reds are worse.

        “It's kind of tough when you've got the media on you and you come to the ballpark and you have fans yelling things that are really off the wall,” Griffey was quoted as saying.

        Griffey has taken exception to some of the things that have been written and said about him in the Cincinnati media and the treatment by fans at Cinergy.

        But he said: “This isn't about Cincinnati.”

        The article by foxsports.com portrayed him as unhappy. So is he unhappy playing in Cincinnati?

        “Does it matter?” he said. “Tell me why it matters what I think?”

        Griffey says fans in Cincinnati, and in general, are only concerned about how he performs on the field.

        “They don't care if I'm happy or not,” Griffey said. “If I do what I'm supposed to do on the field, no one but my family cares if I'm happy.”

        Griffey, for the most part, has done what he's supposed to do.

        He's among the league leaders in home runs (34), RBI (100) and walks (84). But his average only recently has gone above .250.

        “They say, "He's struggling. Look at his average,'” Griffey said. “They don't say, "He's in the top 10 in this or that.'”

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