By John Erardi
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Saturday's game

Reds left fielder Adam Dunn wasn't surprised when he looked down at the warning track at Great American Ball Park where his friend and teammate, Ken Griffey Jr. lay, and then heard the words from the left-center field stands above.

"There's a lot of stupid people in this world," Dunn said. "Unfortunately, there were a couple of them out there (Saturday)."

Dunn wouldn't even repeat the words he heard from these so-called fans.

"The guy's laying there hurting as bad as you can hurt, and you have stupid people up there yelling," Dunn said. "It's a joke."

A sad sidelight to Griffey's snake-bitten tenure with the Reds is that some fans don't differentiate all-out play in the outfield from an occasional jog to first base when Griffey hits a routine grounder.

Griffey is sidelined indefinitely with a dislocated shoulder.

"A ball's hit in the air, he thinks he's going to catch it," Reds shortstop Barry Larkin said. "He puts his health at risk - at times he's crashed into walls, broken his wrist. Skinned up his arms. You look at his body, he's got burn marks everywhere from the daggone carpet. It's just the way he plays. He plays hard. He goes after it.

"And that's our job."

Dunn and the rest of Griffey's teammates - who are accustomed to seeing players get hurt - were nonetheless incredulous that Griffey had gotten hurt so early in the year.

Everybody on the team - and most everybody in the city and the rest of the baseball world - felt this was going to be Junior's bust-out year as a Red.

"He was finally healthy, feeling good, and he was happy," Dunn said. "I know how tough this is going to be on him."

Right fielder Austin Kearns added: "You could see it was a different Junior this year in spring training. You could see it just the way he came in, was playing, going about his business and having a good time."

"You hate to see it," Larkin said. "He's had so many injuries the past (two) seasons. It's just a shame."

Manager Bob Boone said Griffey only knows one way in the outfield: full throttle.

Boone compared his center fielder to a thoroughbred who has a couple of bow tendons snap in his legs, but is still out there pushing.

"The guys in this clubhouse, we feel like you can't replace him, he's the centerpiece of our team," third baseman Aaron Boone said. "(But) we'll try to see if we can carry it for him. He's a teammate we care a lot about. He lays it all out there for you."

"We don't have anybody else who brings what he has to the table: hitting, fielding, everything," Kearns said. "He does everything as good as anybody ever will."

The Reds clubhouse, a close-knit bunch as apt to laugh at trouble as pay attention to it, was clearly shaken.

"For him to go out like that ... was just (more) bad luck," Dunn said.

The big Texan is close to Griffey; a lot of it dating back to the way Griffey took him under his wing in the 2001 season.

Griffey has continued to needle him daily about his robust size, while also inviting him over to his house to play video games and yuk it up.

"I enjoy his company, just being around him every day he's a lot of fun," Dunn said.

"He'll battle through this."

Dunn sounded hopeful; his face said otherwise. He knew it was a devastating injury to the Reds in what is already a star-crossed season in a brand new ballpark.

Whole lot of hurt

Ken Griffey Jr. hit 40 home runs, drove in 118 runs and scored 100 runs in his first Reds season in 2000. But it has been one injury after another since then. So when Griffey went down in a heap on the warning track in left-center field at Great American Ball Park Saturday in the eighth inning on a diving try for a deep drive, one couldn't help but flash back to the past two seasons:

2001: While rounding third base March 26 vs. the Kansas City Royals in spring training, Griffey suffered a partial tear of the left hamstring. His was 0-for-12 in his first 16 at-bats before going on the disabled list April 29. His season totals were 22 HR and 65 RBI in 364 at-bats.

2002: On April 7 - the sixth game of the new year - Griffey tore the patellar tendon in his right knee during a run-down between third base and home. On June 25, he tore his right hamstring. In 70 games, he had eight HR and 23 RBI in 197 at-bats.

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E-mail jerardi@enquirer.com