Northwest Sports: In the Morning

Griffey's 600th!!! He hits it off of ex-Mt. Vernon star (and former NBAer) Mark Hendrickson, and I gain some small measure of revenge for Hendrickson's 16-point, 11-rebound performance that knocked my Garfield Bulldogs out of the 1992 state AA basketball tournament. Yay Griffey!

Everyone is writing about Griffey today--two of the best pieces I've seen come from Joe Posnanski (this one is required), and a look at Griffey's very first spring from Tim Kurkjian. Says former M's catcher Scott Bradley in the Kurkjian piece: "When he came to camp in 1989, he had no chance to make the team. But he got a lot of at-bats early that spring because a lot of veterans don't like to play a lot early. After 20 games, he wasn't just the best player on our team, he was the best player in the league that spring. The Mariners basically said, 'We don't want this to happen, we don't want to rush him, we don't want him to make the team.' So they started running him out there against every elite pitcher, against all the nastiest left-handers they could find in hopes that he would stop hitting, and they could send him out. It never happened."

The Times is on it with a full list of Griffey's home runs, a Griffey photo gallery, and Larry Stone's list of Griffey's top home runs.

Lookout Landing sings the praises of Miguel Cairo, sort-of: "I think every single one of us understands that Miguel Cairo blows, but yet he's managed to win us over because he provides easy material, because he's not Richie Sexson, and because he does things like lay down squeeze bunts and make unfathomably awesome throws from first base to get lead runners whose easy advance we'd already conceded. While the Mariners are terrible, they've had a few exciting moments every now and then, and Cairo's been in the middle of quite a few of them."

Here's Richie Sexson's comical relay "throw" from yesterday's game:

The Seahawks are trying out new blocking schemes, says Rob Sims: "Last year, we did a lot of man-on-man stuff. This year, we're doing more zone stuff, and that's what (the players) wanted to do last year anyway." This from Scott M. Johnson of the Kitsap Sun.

Husky recruiting shenanigans: Some dude committs to Wazzu, and the next day gets what he calls "a lecture" from UW coach Chris Tormey.

Times and networks for the seven 2008 Husky football games that will definitely be on TV.

Ryan Plackemeier tore his pec lifting weights. Ouch. He'll have surgery today...but here's what I'm wondering--what the hell does a punter need good pecs for?

The Sonics will be allowed to present evidence of their attempts to get a new arena, and about the "Machiavellian scheme" they charge that the city's engaged in, writes Jim Brunner. In another ruling, Sherman Alexie will be allowed to testify.

Jerryd Bayless, Eric Gordon, and Brook Lopez, among others, will work out for the Sonics this week.

And here's why I'm buying the new iPhone--real-time baseball highlights: