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La vida Sosa Slammin' Sammy dethrones Griffey as Derby champ
ATLANTA -- Sammy Sosa, who has endured a turbulent first half, put on incredible display of power Monday night, thrilling fans with a series of mammoth long balls to win the Home Run Derby at Turner Field.
Sosa beat Ken Griffey Jr. 9-2 in the finals, ending Junior's two-year reign as Derby champ. Slammin' Sammy left the yard on 26 of his 56 swings, which included a pair of 508-foot shots -- one to the 755 Club in the left-field upper deck and one that came to rest atop the second green batter's backdrop in straightaway center, below the scoreboard. "I came here to put on a show. I didn't necessarily come here to get the win, but I guess I got the win," Sosa said. With injuries to Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds and Manny Ramirez, there wasn't nearly the drama of last year, when Griffey won but McGwire conquered the Green Monster at Fenway Park, with hundreds of fans filling Lansdowne Street to catch the balls. Before Monday's competition, scalpers were dumping tickets with $50 face value for $10 each. "Mark McGwire is one of the guys everybody is looking at," Sosa said. "Because he was not here today, I came here to represent him." What started off as a listless, humid night sparked up immediately when Sosa started swinging. No other player totaled more than 12. "Sammy made it look easy," said Griffey, who has won the derby three times overall. "When people in the first couple of rows of the upper deck are looking up, that's power. I didn't hear 'oohs' and 'aahs' for my wallscrapers. I heard them for Sammy's upper-deck shots."
In the semifinals, Sosa beat Boston's Carl Everett 11-6 and Griffey topped Toronto's Carlos Delgado 2-1. Griffey and Sosa tied 2-2 in the first round of the finals, which was split into two rounds with each player allowed five non-homer swings each. Sosa, practicing his swing in the runway between rounds, then went ahead with a 429-foot homer to left, took a pitch, and connected on four straight swings -- hard, long shots of 476, 488, 477 and 443 feet. He added two mores, at 460 feet and 508, while fans in the crowd of 50,118 stood clapping, chanting his name and bowing, much like the Wrigley Field bleacher bums pay homage to him back home in Chicago. After Sosa finished, he high-fived Griffey and both players hugged. Sosa thanked his pitcher, Chino Cadahia, the Atlanta Braves' minor league field coordinator. "He used to be my manager when I was in the minor leagues in Texas [Gastonia in 1987]. He knows where I like the ball," Sosa said. "He was throwing me some cookies today. I have to thank him for that." Griffey, who won the titles in 1994 at Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium, 1998 at Denver's Coors Field and last year, then failed to homer in five straight swings. Last year, Sosa bombed out at Fenway, hitting just one home run. "I came here the last three years, and I didn't do anything," he said. "I came here today with a different plan. I went up there trying to give myself an opportunity. I took a few pitches." For a night, Sosa put aside his contract squabble with the Cubs, who wouldn't extend his contract and then, at the request of their star, tried to trade him to the New York Yankees. "I don't want to talk about a contract right now because I want to wait until the year's over and relax," Sosa said. "Whatever happens from there, happens. I would love to stay in Chicago. This is the city I want to stay with. But if it doesn't work out, you know, if I have to go, I don't have a choice." He didn't know if his performance would cause Cubs president Andy MacPhail and general manager Ed Lynch to give him the extension he wants. "One thing is for sure," Sosa said. "They were watching tonight."
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