Sammy shut out again
Cubs lose 7-3 to Reds, fall 1 game back in wild-card race
Posted: Sunday September 20, 1998 10:41 PM
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Slumping Sammy: Sosa is hitless in his last four games -- his longest stretch of the season AP |
CHICAGO (AP) -- A home run would have been the perfect way to cap off Sammy Sosa's
special day.
His family, his friends, the bigwigs of major league baseball and
dignitaries from his homeland all came to Wrigley Field on Sunday to honor
his remarkable season. He even took a lap around the ball park to say
thanks.
But once the pregame bash was over, Sosa didn't come close to hitting
the ball out of the park.
He couldn't shake his hitting slump, either. He went 0-for-5 against the
Cincinnati Reds on
Sunday, extending his four-game skid to 0-for-17 with six strikeouts.
As if that wasn't enough to spoil the party, the Chicago Cubs slipped one
game behind the New York
Mets for the NL wild card with a 7-3 loss to the Reds.
"This is not the first time it's happened to me. I've been 0-for-50
before. They don't give me nothing to hit, they pitched me real well and
nothing you can do about it," Sosa said, though he admitted he was pressing
in front of the most important people in his life.
Sosa is stuck at 63 homers, two behind St. Louis' Mark McGwire,
who hit No. 65 in Milwaukee on Sunday.
"I'm a human being. I knew I had people from country here," Sosa said.
"I'd probably say, `Yes, I tried to do too much.' I had my family out
there and I tried to impress. Maybe that's one reason I was out of control
swinging at bad pitches out of the strike zone."
It's not as if conditions weren't right for homers. With the wind
blowing out, Cincinnati's Bret Boone hit
three of them. Boone hit a solo homer in the fourth, a three-run shot in
the fifth and a controversial two-run drive in the eighth that the Cubs
argued was to the foul side of the left-field pole. Boone has 23 homers for
the season.
After Boone's third homer put the Reds up 7-2, fans littered the field
with debris to dispute third-base umpire Harry Wendelstedt's call. Cubs
manager Jim Riggleman was ejected after vigorously arguing, and TV replays
were inconclusive
Four batters later, the fans were still booing and they ridiculed
Wendelstedt by making the home run signal on every foul ball.
"It doesn't matter where it lands on the street, it's when it leaves the
park. It was a curving ball. It was inside the foul pole and that's all
there is to it," Wendelstedt said.
"I saw it clearly. When it left the park, it was a fair ball."
Boone still wasn't sure, even after the game.
"When I hit it, I was 20 or 30 feet down the line. I knew it was right
on the edge and I didn't know if it was fair or foul," Boone said. "I still
don't. I saw the umpire signal home run and I ran around the bases as fast
as I could.
"I don't look it as stealing the show from Sammy. I couldn't even
imagine what it's like to look up the board and see 60 homers next to your
name, much less 63 or 64. It's an awesome thing for the game."
With the wind blowing out at 17 mph, Sosa popped up in the first, struck
out in the third on a 3-2 pitch from Pete Harnisch
and reached on an error in the fifth of the rain-delayed game. Facing
reliever Gabe Miller in the seventh, he struck out swinging again, and
popped up to end the game.
"I did get some goose bumps warming up out there. Sammy ran by me and
gave me a little gesture and I returned it," Harnisch said.
"But once the game starts, it's all behind you. Everyone has their own
way of pitching to Sammy. He's had an unbelievable year. I'm a big fan."
After a 64-minute rain delay, the Cubs took a 1-0 lead in the third. Mark Grace hit a
grounder to first baseman Sean Casey, but his high throw caused Harnisch to
miss the bag as he raced to cover and Lance Johnson
scored.
Tapani (19-8), foiled in his bid for a 20th win, allowed nine hits and
five runs in 4 2-3 innings, including Boone's first two homers.
Harnisch (13-7) allowed seven hits in six innings for his fifth win in
six decisions.
Lance Johnson's first homer of the season and first since last Sept. 21
cut the lead to 5-2 in the seventh. Glenallen
Hill hit his eighth homer in the eighth to make it 7-3.
But Sosa couldn't go deep on the final regular-season game at Wrigley.
"People keep telling me about pressure, but anybody can have a bad game.
I'm for 0-for-17," Sosa said. "All year I've been doing my job. I am a
human being. What happened today can happen to anybody."
Notes: It was the Reds' first three-game sweep at Wrigley since
August 1989 -- the last season the Cubs made the playoffs. ... Reds
shortstop Barry
Larkin was a late scratch because of a sore ankle. ... The Cubs
finished 50-31 at home. That's their most wins at home since 1984 when they
were 51-29. ... A crowd of 40,117 gave the Cubs 2,583,444 for the season,
the second highest in club history. The biggest home draw came in 1993 --
2,653,763. ... The family of Roger Maris led the seventh-inning stretch
singing of "Take Me Out To The Ball Game." ... Michael Jordan watched the
game in a sky box with Scottie Pippen. ... Reggie
Sanders, who made a leaping catch into the ivy to rob Grace of a hit in
the seventh, left the game with a bruised back.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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