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Brett Tomko
Page 2 staff

He's more than a part of a trivia answer. He's Mariners relief pitcher Brett Tomko, who came to Seattle last year with Mike Cameron, Antonio Perez and Jake Meyer from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for Ken Griffey Jr.


	For $2 million, Brett Tomko will give you naked self-portraits.

So, Page 2 asked Tomko, 10 burning questions that others wouldn't dare to ask.

1. Page 2: When you meet people for the first time, do you occasionally say, "By the way, I'm the guy the Mariners traded Ken Griffey Jr. to get"?
Tomko: I never bring it up unless they bring it up first. It's usually more a situation where they recognize the name and go, "Weren't you included in the trade for Ken Griffey?"

2. What are you more likely to see, Bigfoot or the high strike called?
Tomko: That's funny. I'm a firm believer in Bigfoot. Actually, I was just talking about that with my brother the other day. He told me I'm crazy, but I believe there's a Bigfoot out there somewhere. I think there's a Loch Ness Monster, too. He says I'm going to get abducted by aliens. I hope not. I'd rather meet up with Bigfoot.

2a. Yeah, you never hear about Bigfoot probing people.
Tomko: Exactly. I've seen some high strikes called but not a lot. I hope I see a high strike before I see Bigfoot.

3. Do you have any naked photos of Ichiro?


	Ken Griffey Jr., the guy the Mariners traded to get Tomko.

Tomko: No.

3a. Do you want to buy some? No, seriously, how much would you have to get before you would take a photo of a teammate in the buff and sell it?
Tomko: I'll tell you what, if I were Ichiro, I'd do it myself and sell the photo. I'd just take the picture and make a couple million.

4. So how much would it take for you to take the photo?
Tomko: I can't say. Some guys already got banged in the kangaroo court for saying they would do it.

5. Angelina Jolie is filming a movie in which she dates the Mariners second baseman. If she dated the Mariners swingman between the rotation and the bullpen, who should play you?
Tomko: That's tough. I don't know.


	Ralph Fiennes

6. From a certain angle, you look a little like Ralph Fiennes.
Tomko: Who's he?

6a. He was the camp commandant in "Schindler's List" and the guy in "The English Patient."
Tomko: Yeah, he's got that English nose. Let me think about that.

6b. What's your favorite baseball movie?
Tomko: Easy, "The Natural." It just came out on DVD and I bought it the first day it went on sale. I've seen it twice on DVD already. I've probably seen it 40 or 50 times -- I used to watch it all the time. I can recite lines verbatim. I like the train scene where he strikes out the Whammer.

7. What's your favorite ballpark?
Tomko: Favorite to pitch in or favorite to go to? My favorite place to pitch is Dodger Stadium. I'm from Southern California and I just get a great feeling when I'm there, a lot of good memories.

I like going to Wrigley Field. My favorite thing to do when we were at Wrigley was to go out early before anyone got there, when the only people there were people working on the field. I would run between the foul poles past the ivy. That was great.

8. In which bullpen do the fans get on you worst?


	Brett Tomko just needs to travel across town to find Bigfoot, aka Squatch.

Tomko: I've never warmed up in Boston but New York is pretty bad. I had people flipping me off there. I turned around to look at them and they were flipping me off and I didn't even do anything.

9. Is it true that you guys are in first place because Alex Rodriguez is no longer sucking all the air out of the clubhouse?
Tomko: I don't know about that. I think we're in first because we have a good bunch of guys and everyone contributes. We're not counting on one player, we're counting on all nine. There's a lot to be said for camaraderie and team chemistry.

10. You have one last meal on Earth. How many In-n-Out Burgers could you eat?
Tomko: That's a great question. I could eat 10, maybe 15. I'm usually a two-burger guy so I don't think 10 would be a problem. If it was my last meal, I bet I could eat 20. If it was my last meal, I would eat until my body couldn't take any more in.

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