Homestretch
With three games left, Cubs head to Houston
Posted: Thursday September 24, 1998 04:27 PM
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Mark Grace and Sammy Sosa will lead the Cubs in the playoff race AP |
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Forget Sammy Sosa's
concession speech to Mark McGwire
the other night. With two monstrous swings of his new lucky bat, Sosa made
sure this is one race that's going right to the end.
Sosa hit two solo home runs Wednesday to break out of an 0-for-21
slump and tie McGwire at 65. Now the Sosa Home Run Tour moves to Houston,
which gave up three homers to Sosa in a week last month.
"The two home runs that I hit, it is a good sign. I feel great," he
said. "I had great concentration at the home plate and I was being really
patient. When I'm like that, I have more opportunity, more chances to make
much better contact."
Sosa and the Chicago
Cubs have three games left, a weekend series against the Astros that
starts Friday. McGwire has four games against Montreal in St. Louis, where
he has a Busch Stadium record 33 home runs.
Two of Sosa's three homers against the Astros have come against Jose Lima, who is
scheduled to pitch Friday. But let McGwire swing for the fences, Sosa said.
He's more worried about beating the Astros and winning the NL wild
card.
"When you're trying to go to the playoffs, you're never thinking about
home runs," he said. "We need to go to Houston and remember only one thing,
the last three days we're going to find out if we're going to make it, yes
or no."
Sosa has said all season that making the playoffs means more to him
than the home run title. And there's an added urgency to that quest now
with the Cubs and the New
York Mets tied in the NL wild-card race.
Brant
Brown dropped what would have been the final out Wednesday, allowing
three runners to score, as the Milwaukee Brewers
rallied from seven runs down for an 8-7 victory. Chicago caught a break
when Montreal beat the Mets, but San Francisco won and began the day just 1
1/2 games behind Chicago and New York.
"Maybe it's a rallying point," said Rod Beck, who
loaded the bases with one out in the ninth. "Everybody loves Brant. Let's
gather together. That one's gone. Let's become tighter-knit and say, 'Hey,
this is our family and we're going to take care of our own.' Then you go to
work."
The Giants have four games left, while the Cubs and Mets each have
three.
"That's our last chances," Sosa said. "We believe in ourselves and no
matter who's up there, we're trying to win. When you have that in yourself
and you believe in yourself, I don't think anything can go wrong with
you."
Sosa's final three games certainly can't be much worse than his recent
slump. He was hitless after his grand slam in San Diego last week that gave
him No. 63, and he said he couldn't remember feeling worse at the plate all
season.
Superstitious even when things are going well, Sosa tried everything.
On Tuesday night, he switched bats three times in hopes of changing his
karma. Nothing. He finally found a lucky bat Wednesday.
"Today I used one -- the good one," he said.
And he hopes it will carry him through the weekend and into the
playoffs. After that, Sosa can finally go home, relax and absorb all that
he's accomplished this season. "If I make it to the playoffs, yes,"
he said. "But if I don't, I got to go home and sing the blues."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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