Marty Brennaman and Ken Griffey Jr. engaged in a brief but spirited verbal clash before Wednesday night's game, an incident stemming from the radio announcer's on-air criticism of the center fielder's performance.

        During Sunday's first inning, Brennaman observed that Griffey ran slowly from the batter's box on a base hit. Griffey wound up with a single on a ball that Brennaman thought should have been a double. When the next batter, Dante Bichette, singled, Brennaman pointed out that Griffey would have scored if he had been running as he should.

        Wednesday, Griffey informed Brennaman in the Reds clubhouse that his sore hamstring muscles prevented him from running full-speed constantly. “The fact that you were in the lineup said that you're healthy enough to play,” Brennaman said.

        The pair fired pointed remarks at each other as Griffey headed toward the field for batting practice. Late in the exchange, Brennaman told Griffey, “I was here before you and I'll be here after you.”

        Said Griffey, “No wonder none of the players want to talk to you.”

        “That's fine,” Brennaman said.

        Immediately after the argument, Brennaman heard Aaron Boone make a remark about him from the player's lounge. Brennaman approached the injured third baseman and demanded that he be addressed face to face. They talked and later ironed out their differences.

        The Brennaman-Griffey confrontation was heated without being vicious or violent, which meant that it was the sort of thing that happens in clubhouses — and offices or corporate boardrooms — all the time. It just happened to involve two of the organization's biggest personalities, who just happened to air their differences in front of the entire crew of Reds beat reporters.

        There was an indication that this might not have been a fight to the death but instead an oral joust that could continue through the years, playfully or angrily.

        Griffey re-entered the clubhouse and asked Brennaman, referring to the year he became a Reds broadcaster, “Seventy-four?” After Brennaman nodded, Griffey said, “Well, I was here in '73.” That was a reference to Ken Griffey Sr.'s rookie year with the Reds.

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