When Friday’s game started, there were some unfilled spaces in the left-field bleachers, in the stands and on the rooftops overlooking Wrigley Field. But in the right-field bleachers, no room whatsoever.
Why was that?
Sammy was back.
His fans gave Sammy Sosa a standing ovation to welcome him back from the disabled list. They applauded when he caught his first fly ball.
They even cheered when he picked up a routine single by Jeff Bagwell in the Houston first and flipped it back to the infield.
But there weren’t a lot of Sosa moments to cheer after that. Sosa struck out swinging in each of this three at-bats against Houston starter Wade Miller and finished his day with a foul pop to the catcher to end the game.
“My timing’s not there yet, but this was the first game,” Sosa said. Miller “was dealing today–he pitched me well. It felt a little different because you don’t have your timing. I give myself a few more games.”
Sosa acknowledged that sitting at home and watching games on television was “driving me crazy,” which raised the question of what he said in moments of exasperation.
“You don’t want to know,” he said, laughing. “I’m not used to that, sitting at home, seeing that hanging breaking pitch.”
Tip-top
He declared his body felt 100 percent and that he had been working on his legs. That’s a concern of manager Dusty Baker, who is wary of Sosa straining his hamstring or knee if he favors his right big toe, from which his toenail was surgically removed.
Sosa was at Wrigley Field on Thursday to do some hitting and running in a simulated game, batting against Mark Guthrie and running the bases to test his toe. Guthrie remains on the DL with elbow tendinitis.
“You try to simulate as much as possible, but it’s tough to simulate 94-95 [m.p.h. on pitches]. He hadn’t seen fastballs in three weeks,” Baker said.
The Cubs were 10-7 in Sosa’s absence, but they know they’re a better team with him in the lineup.
“Me back is going to have a big impact,” Sosa said.
Sosa, who rarely wants an inning off, let alone more than two weeks, conceded he might take off “an inning or two” in games when his presence no longer would be a factor.
But he appreciated playing even more after making his first trip to the disabled list since 1996, when a fractured hand cost him the last month of the season and a shot at 50 homers.
“I’ll never take anything for granted,” Sosa said.
Left-hander Phil Norton was optioned to Triple-A Iowa to make room for Sosa on the roster. To make room for Sosa in the lineup, Corey Patterson moved from third to fifth in the order for the first time this season and Hee Seop Choi dropped to sixth.
Trade winds
Arizona beat the Cubs to Boston third baseman Shea Hillenbrand when the Red Sox dealt him to the Diamondbacks for pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim. Boston wanted more than the Cubs were willing to give.
“We were in the running,” Baker confirmed. “Hillenbrand was one of the two or three guys we were really trying to get. I guess Boston wanted Kim more than anybody we have [to offer]. I talked to [general manager] Jim Hendry and he said they wanted us to throw in [Carlos] Zambrano or somebody. That was a little too steep for us.”
Baker said the Cubs weren’t out of the trade market.
“It all depends on if somebody’s willing to deal with us and what their asking price is,” he said.
“You don’t want to strengthen yourself in one position and weaken yourself in another. You want to keep what you have and maintain that strength and try to strengthen the area that’s a question, which right now is third base.”
