While Albert Belle is hitting home runs like Sammy Sosa in June, Sosa has gone 23 at-bats without a home run since smacking No. 35 in Milwaukee Friday night.
That’s not normally a big deal for Sosa, who is known as a streaky home-run hitter. He’s still on pace to hit 60 homers, but with Mark McGwire and Ken Griffey Jr. seemingly starting to pull away in the chase for Roger Maris’ all-time home run record of 61, Sosa is still stuck on 35.
He was 0 for 4 Wednesday night with three strikeouts.
“I’m not Superman, I’m a human being,” Sosa said, repeating one of his favorite lines. “I don’t worry about what other people think.”
Sosa obviously knows how many home runs McGwire and Griffey have hit. A five-game homerless streak is no cause for concern, unless he plans on catching the two leaders in the chase for 61.
“I don’t worry about Griffey and I don’t worry about McGwire,” he said. “I’m not Griffey and I’m not McGwire.”
Although St. Louis manager Tony La Russa sits McGwire on rare occasions, don’t look for Riggleman to give Sosa any time off. When he recently told Sosa that he may find a day for him to take off, Sosa replied: “Yeah, Thursday.”
Thursday is an off-day anyway before the series in Florida. Sosa’s reply meant that he wasn’t looking for any time off. Riggleman was asked how he’d feel if he sat Sosa for a day and he wound up missing the home run record by only one homer.
“What if McGwire missed it by one homer,” Riggleman replied. “Did Roger Maris ever miss a day (in ’61)? You can’t factor in missing a day. Maybe he would hit more home runs after the day off. It’s all hypothetical.”
Both Time and Newsweek magazine were in town to do features on Sammy Sosa for their upcoming issues.
Not so wild: The Cubs began Wednesday night’s action only a half game behind wild-card leading San Francisco. This means nothing to Riggleman or the players, who are not concentrating on the wild card race.
“A month ago when we were tied for first they realized we were playing pretty good baseball, but that didn’t mean they were ordering rings or anything,” Riggleman said. “You can’t look 2 1/2 months down the road yet.”
No comment: General Manager Ed Lynch’s response to radio rumors that he has spoken to Seattle about acquiring Randy Johnson? No response at all. Lynch blew off the question and walked away as though it had never been asked.
Orie watch: When Brant Brown comes off the disabled list this weekend, someone will have to go from the roster to Triple-A Iowa. Since Jose Hernandez has moved back to third, the likely choice would be Kevin Orie, who is 7 for 37 since being recalled from Iowa June 26. Riggleman said when Orie was in Triple-A that he wouldn’t be brought up to sit on the bench. Now he may have no choice.
“I said I didn’t want him to sit,” Riggleman said. “I didn’t say that he wouldn’t (sit). It’s not my preference.”
But Hernandez is in a mini-slump himself. He’s hitting .120 (3 for 25) since the All-Star break.
Cubs files: Lance Johnson returned to the starting lineup for the first time since April 27 and went 0 for 4 to watch his average drop to .105. . . . Rod Beck is fifth in the National League in converting save opportunities with an 86.2 percentage (25 for 29). That’s a little over his career average of 85.2 percent.
