Ken Griffey Jr. writhes on the ground as Griffey Sr.looks on. (AP photos) | ZOOM |

        BASEBALL CITY, Fla. - When your star center fielder with the tender hamstring crumbles in pain rounding third, it's easy to imagine the season blowing up before it ever starts. That's what the Reds feared when Ken Griffey Jr. went down Monday in a 3-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals.

        “It was pretty scary,” manager Bob Boone said.

        Said Griffey: “I thought, "Oh, no, here we go again.'”

        It wasn't as bad as it looked: Griffey has a strained left hamstring and is listed as day-to-day. With Opening Day less than a week away, that's not good, but it could have been devastating.

        Griffey partially tore his left hamstring Sept. 11, allowing him only a handful of pinch-hit appearances thereafter. This injury is in a different spot.

Griffey is helped off the field by Deion Sanders and Jason LaRue. (AP photos) | ZOOM |

        “That's very good,” assistant trainer Mark Mann said. “We didn't find a tear.”

        Griffey will be examined today by team medical director Tim Kremchek.

        Neither Mann nor Griffey would give an estimate when he'll return.

        “It isn't like last year,” Griffey said. “Last year, I was in a lot more pain.”

        Griffey had been troubled by the old injury this spring. He missed four games (March 4-7) before returning as a pinch hitter. He re turned to the starting lineup March 10.

        Griffey's foot slipped slightly before he went down. He was trying to score from second on Alex Ochoa's single in the sixth. He was in obvious pain. Boone and Griffey's father, Ken Sr., immediately surrounded him. Jason LaRue and Deion Sanders helped him off the field.

        But he left the stadium walking, albeit with a limp.

        Boone said he hasn't thought about what he would do if Griffey's out for an extended period.

        Michael Tucker is the fourth outfielder, and he can play center.

        “We just acquired another center fielder, too,” Boone said, referring to Ruben Rivera.

        Griffey's injury Monday on top of last year's problems will have the Reds cautious.

        “We tried to baby it as much as we could,” Boone said. “We were pretty comfortable with it (recently). It's something he's probably going to have to work hard on as long as he's in baseball.”

Cinergy Field makeover: Stadium becomes ballpark Griffey in doubt for Opening Day Knee no problem for Boone Dessens ready to go Game report: Royals 3, Reds 2

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