BRADENTON, Fla. -- Pokey Reese hadn't seen the article yet. He might have been the only one on the planet.

The day after his comments criticizing former teammate Ken Griffey Jr. were splashed across the nation's sports sections, the Pittsburgh second baseman decided to see what all the fuss was about.

"Do you have it?" Reese asked of the article after he had finished Thursday's rain-shortened workout at the team's Pirate City training complex. "Let me check it out."

Reese, who played with Griffey in Cincinnati in 2000 and 2001, tugged one of his trademark cornrows as he read The Cincinnati Enquirer story, which quoted him as saying the Reds had a different set of standards for Junior that destroyed clubhouse harmony. When he was done reading, he sighed and handed it back with a crooked smile.

"Well, that's what I said," Reese admitted, matter-of-factly. "I don't have any problem with Junior. I just wish he would've stepped up and been a leader for us, because we desperately needed one."

Reese bent to lace up his shoes before snatching the article back. "But that," he said, tapping a paragraph with his index finger, "I didn't say that." He was referring to a line indicating that Reese thought the Reds changed for the worse after Griffey arrived in 2000.

"All I said was that we had leadership in 1999, when Greg Vaughn was still here," said Reese, who saw the slugger leave for Tampa Bay as a free agent after that season. "And after that, we had nothing. You can take that however you want." Reese also implied to The Enquirer that Griffey routinely skipped out on batting practice and stretching exercises.

	Pokey Reese Second baseman Pittsburgh Pirates Profile
	2001 SEASON STATISTICS GM HR RBI R SB AVG 133 9 40 50 25 .224

Griffey initially shrugged off Reese's barbs, saying, "He can say what he wants. As long as it doesn't hurt my family, it's cool." But the Reds star also lit into Reese, pointing out that he finished last season while the infielder was on the shelf with a sore shoulder.

Reese, who rehashed the issue with an incredulous, "I-can't-believe-this-is-still-news-two-days-later" look, is ready to move on. After batting .224 last season (his lowest since his 1997 rookie campaign) and suffering through a nomadic offseason that saw him traded to Colorado and Boston before finally signing with Pittsburgh, he's just happy to play some games. And the 28-year-old is especially happy to return to second base -- his natural position -- after spending most of last season at shortstop.

In fact, the way Reese gushes about his new surroundings, you'd think the Bucs were reigning world champs. "It's so much looser in this clubhouse," Reese said, gesturing at a group that lost 100 games in 2001. "I've already got more guys I can talk and joke with than I did back in Cincinnati."

In fact, Pokey's only got one complaint.

"I've got to stop talking to the media so much," says Reese, who, despite standing by his Griffey comments also thinks they were sensationalized in the article. "But if I do that, people are going to think I'm a jerk."

But Pokey, surely all media aren't out to get you, are they?

"Well, then, I've got to sort out my friends and enemies," he replied.

Andy Latack is a senior researcher for ESPN The Magazine.