Asked two weeks ago whether he could catch Mark McGwire in the chase for Roger Maris’ home run record, Sammy Sosa had a ready response.
“No, no, no, no,” Sosa said. “No, no, no, no. I mean, no, no, no.”
While Sosa’s lips may say “No, no, no,” his bat keeps saying “Yes, yes, yes.”
Sosa cranked out two more home runs Saturday night in the Cubs’ 9-4 victory over Philadelphia. He broke the major-league record for home runs in June with his 16th, put himself on a pace to surpass Maris’ mark of 61 and even pulled within four home runs of the Cardinals’ slugger, who has 33.
Suddenly, 61 home runs looks like a realistic goal for Sosa.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ll let you know at the end of the season.”
Not to be outdone, some kid pitcher who goes by the name of Kerry Wood hit his first major-league home run for the Cubs, slugging a first-pitch fastball into bush country in center field to give himself a 6-4 lead in the sixth and igniting chants of “Ker-ry, Ker-ry, Ker-ry” from the sellout crowd of 39,761. By the way, this Wood kid also struck out 11 while running his record to 7-3.
“Sammy was just showing me up,” Wood said with a smile.
For once, Wood had to take a back seat on a Cubs joyride as Sosa continued his long-distance-dialing binge. Sosa hit a towering two-run home run into the left-field bleachers off Phillies starter Matt Beech in the third, and belted a three-run shot off Toby Borland in the sixth that landed on the deck of a house across the street on Waveland Avenue.
That broke the major-league record for the month set by Babe Ruth in 1930 and tied by Bob Johnson in 1934, Maris in 1961 and Pedro Guerrero in 1985.
“Don’t compare me to Babe Ruth,” Sosa said. “God gave me the opportunity and the ability to be here at the right time at the right moment, just like He gave Baby Ruth when he was playing. I just hope I can keep doing what I’ve been doing, keep taking care of business.”
Sosa also broke Andre Dawson’s franchise record for homers in any month (15), and his five RBIs gave him 33 for the month, eclipsing Hack Wilson’s Cubs record for RBIs in any month (28).
“I’ve never seen anyone hit like this for power,” Cubs manager Jim Riggleman said.
Well . . . has anyone?
Sosa now has 29 home runs this season, putting him on a 64-homer pace. He began the month with 13 home runs to McGwire’s 27, but has stunned the baseball world with one of the most lethal displays of power hitting in major-league history–20 homers in 21 games.
With nine games left in June, Sosa needs two more to tie Rudy York’s 61-year-old record of 18 home runs in one calendar month, and just one more to tie Willie Mays’ 34-year-old National League record of 17 in a month.
The Phillies held a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the third and Wood was looking very mortal indeed. After seven straight starts of pitching in a zone of his own, Wood was coming off two ordinary outings against Minnesota and Milwaukee.
He struggled at first, giving up a two-out, two-run single to Beech in the second inning and back-to-back RBI doubles to Mike Lieberthal and Bobby Abreu in the third, both coming on two-strike pitches. But Wood settled down, shutting down the Phils in the next four innings and allowing four runs on nine hits with 11 strikeouts in a 7 1/3-inning stint.
Catcher Scott Servais told Wood to start throwing more fastballs, which turned his game around.
“I felt he wasn’t trusting his fastball enough,” Servais said. “Sometimes his breaking stuff is so good that he falls in love with it. I felt he was falling back into his comfort zone, throwing his slider too much. It happens to everyone.”
The Cubs pulled within a run on Sosa’s first home run in the third, and eventually grabbed the lead on a sacrifice fly by the ubiquitous Brant Brown in the fifth. Sosa’s second home, a monster shot that landed in a house party, gave Wood all the support he needed.
Riggleman removed Wood with a 9-4 lead after he reached 123 pitches in the seventh, receiving a lusty booing from the raucous crowd. Wood then was rewarded with a standing ovation as he left the mound.
Sosa had a chance to add to his record when he came to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the eighth. Borland induced Sosa to ground to second, but Sosa hustled down the line and reached when second baseman Mark Lewis juggled the ball.
Summer has finally arrived, and the question now is will Sammy Sosa ever cool off?
