Homer

CINCINNATI -- Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 599th home run, leaving him one shy of a seldom-reached mark, and Jay Bruce extended his amazing weeklong debut with a 10th-inning homer that lifted the Cincinnati Reds to an 8-7 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Saturday. With his next homer, Griffey will join Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Sammy Sosa at 600. Bruce's first big league homer off Manny Acosta (3-2) dealt another crushing road defeat to the Braves, who couldn't hold a one-run lead entering the ninth.

Third baseman Bill Bluhm hit a solo homer in the second inning and a three-run homer in the third inning to lift College of the Canyons to a 10-4 non-conference win at home over Moorpark College Friday. Bluhm's season total of 10 home runs ties the school record set by Keith Ritchea in 1981 and gives him 16 for his career--also a school record. Bluhm also had a single to finish the day 3 for 3 with 4 runs batted in.

Ken Garcia hit two home runs and Dann Howitt and Bob Mellano had one each as Cal State Fullerton beat Arizona, 9-6, in a nonconference baseball game at Sancet Field Saturday. Howitt's homer, his second of the season, off Wildcat starter Gilbert Heredia (1-1) tied the score at 1-1 in the fourth inning. Garcia led off the fifth with his first homer of the year and he added another solo shot in the eighth inning to make it 9-2. Mellano's three-run homer in the fifth was his first of the season.

Ken Griffey Jr. hit two home runs and drove in three runs and Randy Johnson won his American League debut as the Seattle Mariners beat the New York Yankees, 3-2, Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium. Griffey hit a solo homer into the upper deck in right field in the second inning and hit a two-run shot into the lower deck in right in the sixth. As a kid, Griffey used to play catch in the outfield at Yankee Stadium and then watch his father, Ken Griffey, play with New York. "He once hit the upper deck," the younger Griffey said.

There was a time when all you had to do to experience the saga of the Trojan War -- the epic conflict which spawned both "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" -- was to plop down in front of a solitary, possibly blind storyteller. Then someone committed Homer's words to the written page and, more recently, the video screen, removing the story's immediacy. But now two Brits are reclaiming the story's oral tradition. "We discovered, to our eternal surprise, there is a great groundswell of interest for theatrical retellings of 'The Odyssey,' " says actor Daniel Morden, who is reviving one of the oldest performing arts along with storyteller Hugh Lupton.

Earlier this week, sitting outside in the early afternoon quiet of San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, Jack Clark talked about the home run. Not the one against the Dodgers that won a pennant for the St. Louis Cardinals, or the ones that won any number of big games for the San Francisco Giants, but one he held much closer to his heart. His first homer as a Padre. The one he didn't have yet. "You're in the game a long time, you aren't supposed to feel pressure, but you do," he was saying.

at Detroit 6, Tampa Bay 2: Brandon Inge homered and scored twice and rookie Rick Porcello (11-8) won for the first time since Aug. 6. at New York 5, Chicago 2 (10 innings): Robinson Cano hit a three-run homer with two outs in the 10th inning. at Baltimore 13, Cleveland 4: Rookie Matt Wieters had three hits and a career-high four RBIs, and Nick Markakis and Felix Pie homered. at Minnesota 3, Texas 2: Rookie Brian Duensing struck out eight in seven innings and the Twins won for the eighth time in their last 10 games.

Kevin Mitchell's hitting flurry continued Tuesday night when the San Francisco Giants third baseman hit three home runs in a doubleheader against the Cincinnati Reds. Mitchell, who leads the major leagues with 22 homers and 61 runs batted in, has hit seven homers in his last six games. Mitchell led off the ninth inning with his second solo home run of the game to give the Giants and pitcher Rick Reuschel a 3-2 victory over the Reds and a split of the doubleheader at Cincinnati.

The Angels' offensive drought had reached such epic proportions this week that hitters repeatedly brought their irritation back to the bench, a habit that Manager Mike Scioscia addressed Thursday in Chicago during a postgame meeting. There were nothing but high-fives and smiles in the dugout in the 10th inning Friday at Oakland-Alameda Coliseum after light-hitting Erick Aybar smoked a leadoff homer to lift the Angels to a 6-5 victory over the Oakland Athletics. Aybar's homer, which cleared the right-field wall on a 2-and-0 pitch from reliever Andrew Bailey, ended the Angels' four-game losing streak and momentarily softened the blow of division rival Texas' acquisition of Seattle ace Cliff Lee earlier in the day. "He has some pop in that little body of his," Angels center fielder Torii Hunter said of Aybar, whose homer was his third of the season.

at San Diego 4, Chicago 1: Rookie Kyle Blanks hit a three-run homer with two out in the ninth inning for the Padres, who scored four times off Cubs closer Kevin Gregg. at Atlanta 9, Arizona 4: Ryan Church hit a three-run double in a six-run third inning for the Braves. Tommy Hanson (8-4) gave up six hits, no walks and two runs in six innings for his third straight win. at Pittsburgh 9, Milwaukee 5: Andy LaRoche, Garrett Jones and Ronny Cedeno homered and the Pirates won for only the second time in their last 14 games.