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Griffey homers as White Sox rout Mariners

Aug 20, 2008 - 10:05 PM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Ken Griffey Jr. had no trouble fitting into the cleanup spot.

Griffey belted his 609th career homer Wednesday to tie Sammy Sosa for fifth place all-time, as the Chicago White Sox routed the Seattle Mariners, 15-3, to complete a three-game sweep.

Since being acquired from the Cincinnati Reds prior to the trade deadline, Griffey had hit either second, fifth, sixth or seventh in his first 13 games with the club. The future Hall of Famer was moved to fourth for the first time by fiery manager Ozzie Guillen on Wednesday.

Griffey has not been concerned where he bats.

"I knew what I was getting into when I came over here," he said. "These guys have done a great job to get where they're at. I knew I was going to be juggled around and that's fine with me."

Griffey paid an immediate dividend, delivering an RBI single as part of a six-run first inning. His first homer with his new team, a long two-run blast over the right field wall in the second, gave the White Sox an 8-0 advantage.

"It was just a matter of time. It took longer than would I would've hoped, but it's just one of those things," Griffey said.

Guillen found humor in Griffey's drought.

"It's about time. I was starting to think I was never going to see him hit a home run as a manager," Guillen said.

Alexei Ramirez capped the uprising in the first with a three-run homer, A.J. Pierzynski hit a three-run shot in fifth and Nick Swisher launched a solo blast in the sixth for the White Sox, who scored in each of the first six frames en route to building a 15-3 cushion. Chicago has hit at least four homers in three of its last four games.

"I think early in the season we were criticized because we weren't getting hits with guys on bases," Guillen said. "That's different now. We're driving in guys know when it counts."

The White Sox, who banged out 14 hits, outscored the woeful Mariners, 33-8, in the series.

"I wish we could've given them a little bit better competition," Mariners manager Jim Riggleman said,

Gavin Floyd (13-6) was the beneficiary of all the offense. The righthander went six innings and allowed three runs and six hits, walking two and striking out seven.

Raul Ibanez belted a two-run homer and added an RBI single and Ichiro Suzuki contributed three hits for the Mariners, who have lost six straight and 10 of their last 11 games.

Making his return to the rotation, R.A. Dickey (3-8) ensured the Mariners would cap their dismal eight-game road trip in embarrassing fashion. The knuckleballer gave up five hits and walked a batter as part of his awful first inning.

Dickey, who was relegated to the bullpen last week, was ripped for eight runs and six hits in two innings.

"If I was going to give up runs, I might as well save the pen. I was begging them to let me stay in the game," Dickey said.