Ken Griffey Jr. became the sixth player in MLB history to hit 600 home runs in a career. Congratulations Junior!!

After a brief one week hiatus, I am back for another Grumble. I apologize to my loyal readers, but I was simply too excited about the Sex and the City premiere that there was no time to write an article amidst the multiple viewings the first few days of its run (yes I am kidding).

A heat wave has enveloped New York City, so naturally, I did what anyone does in 95 degree heat on Sunday: woke up at 8:00 AM, and ran a 5K race for charity. The amount of sweat produced by the participants must have matched the water in the Hudson River. Unfortunately for us suffering Mets fans, that heat wave has not latched onto the Mets, as they just completed a four game series against the Padres, where they lost three straight games by the score of 2-1, and then blew a late lead to finish off a wonderful West Coast road trip. I keep expecting the Mets to get hot at some point, but watching them on a day-to-day basis, it seems less and less likely that a heat wave is coming any time soon.

10 years ago, most people assumed that when Ken Griffey Jr. finally hit his 600^th home run, it would be a mere blip on the radar screen on his way to breaking Hank Aaron's career home run record. Unfortunately, we all know the story of Griffey's injuries which derailed his career. Last night, Griffey finally jacked that 600^th off of Mark Hendrickson. Griffey still remains one of the best players of this generation, and still has one of the more enjoyable swings in the game. Congratulations to Junior on this momentous milestone.

On Saturday, Jonathan Sanchez put together his fifth straight quality start. Since a rough outing against the Phillies in early May, Sanchez has gone 3-1 (the Giants won the fifth start in which he did not get a decision), tossing 33 innings, with an earned run average of 2.18, to go along with 29 strikeouts. He still has some control issues, what with his 38 walks in 75 innings this year, but Sanchez looks like another solid weapon in the Giants rotation, together with Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain, who can compensate for their “ace,” Barry Zito.

After suffering from his second concussion of the season, Ryan Church pinch hit for a few games, and then took several games off, as he struggled to get his bearings. Now, after playing a few games, Church appears to still be suffering from the after effects of the concussions, and has been placed on the disabled list. He has been, by far, the Mets most consistent hitter this year. With the Mets struggling a bit at the plate, the absence of Church could prove to be a serious problem. In his absence, look for Endy Chavez to get an increased role.

In other injury news, Rickie Weeks was also placed on the disabled list with a sprained knee. It is never encouraging when the prognosis is “he'll be out for a while.” The only plus side is that he will not need surgery, but it looks like another season where the high promise of Weeks will go unfulfilled due to injuries. In his absence, it looks as if Craig Counsell will get a lot of at bats, along with Joe Dillon. It is possible that young speedster Hernan Iribarren may see some time as well. None are strong fantasy options for the time being, especially with Weeks' long term status unknown.

And finally this week, we will take a look at the Milwaukee Brewers minor league system, if only because of the gaudy numbers two of their top prospects, Mat Gamel and Matt LaPorta, have compiled for AA Huntsville thus far. LaPorta, the 1B/OF has a .293 batting average, with 16 home runs, and 52 runs batted in, to go along with a .406 on base percentage through the first 63 games of the season. He has been completely overshadowed by Gamel, however, who is batting .378 with 14 home runs, and 58 runs batted in, along with an obscene .445 on base percentage. Although it is a nice problem to have these monster bats, they are both supposedly butchers with the glove. It will be interesting to see what the Brewers do in 2009 and beyond, with all these huge bats.

That will do it for now. See you next time.