BY TONI GINNETTI

A strained calf kept Milton Bradley out of the Seattle lineup Friday night in what would have been his first appearance in Chicago since September when he was suspended and sent home by the Cubs. Since that time and the troublesome months that preceded it, the temperamental outfielder has had little to say about the 2009 season. When he has talked, it has been with disdain about his time here.

He chastised the Cubs and its management during spring training in a television interview with ESPN and a New York Times story. On Friday--in the clubhouse where Cubs manager Lou Piniella called him out and sent him home during the Cubs-White Sox series--Bradley again had few charitable words for the city.

``I really don't care,'' he said when asked what reception he thought he would have here. ``I'm not playing tonight anyway. My calf isn't right. It is what it is.

``Just move on,'' he said of his thoughts about the city, adding ``God bless Seattle.''

He said ``the people, and the media'' were better in his new city ``because I've never had 10 people with a camera in my face in Seattle. This is about baseball. That's what we're trying to do. It's not about everything else. In Seattle, they care about winning baseball.
``Personally, I didn't mention anywhere else, but for me, Seattle works for me.

``I don't have to do anything--just be myself. That's the main thing. Everywhere else, people want you to be someone else. I'm going to be me. Nothing you ever say or do is going to change what I do. When I make up my mind what I'm going to do, that's what I do, so that's what I've been doing for 32 years. I'll do it for another 32 years if I live that long.''