Still slammin'
Sosa slugs mammoth shot in Cubs' win over Athletics
Posted: Monday March 15, 1999 09:05 PM
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Sammy Sosa's secret: "I just try to make contact." AP |
MESA, Ariz. (AP) -- Sammy Sosa hit
one that just kept going Monday.
Over the left-field fence at HoHoKam Park, about 360 feet away.
Over the 50-foot-high scoreboard, about 30 more feet back.
Over the back wall of the ballpark, about 10 feet behind the board.
Over four full rows of cars in the parking lot.
This is Arizona, where balls rifle through the thin Sonoran Desert air.
But by any stretch, this was a moonshot, a 450-foot-plus bomb of a home run
that tied him for the spring training lead at five with -- you guessed it
-- Mark
McGwire.
Left fielder Tim
Raines turned to the crowd on the berm behind the fence and started
laughing. Then he shrugged his shoulders, as in: "What was I supposed to
do?"
"When I hit the ball, I don't look how far it's going to go," Sosa said
after homering twice and driving in four runs in the Chicago Cubs' 10-7 win
over the Oakland
Athletics. "I just let you people do that. I just try to make contact."
Jose
Hernandez hit a pair of two-run homers off loser Kenny Rogers.
Sosa followed Hernandez's first-inning homer with a solo shot to
left-center.
Hernandez homered off Rogers again in the third, and Sosa hit his monster
shot off Gil
Heredia in the fourth, a three-run drive that made it 10-2. After
blowing his traditional kiss in honor of his mother, Sosa bowed to the
fans, a habit he picked up during last year's All-Star tour of Japan. He
says he intends to bow after each home run this season.
"We got some balls up, and the Cubs didn't miss them," A's manager Art
Howe said. "Right-handed hitters had a field day today with the wind
blowing to left field. They capitalized on every mistake."
After thrilling the nation with their historic home-run race last summer,
won by McGwire 70-66, the pair are dueling again this spring. McGwire and
Sosa were tied at 3 before McGwire hit a pair against the Los Angeles Dodgers on
Sunday.
"Yeah, but this is spring training," Sosa said. "Ain't no competition.
We're just going out trying to do our jobs and make fans happy."
Rogers was tagged for six runs and eight hits in three innings. He's lost
both his starts this spring, allowing nine earned runs in five innings, a
16.20 ERA.
"Everybody goes through this," he said. "I feel like right now, my
location, it's not very good." Notes: Results of Kerry
Wood's MRI exam won't be available until Tuesday. ... Miguel Tejada hit a
two-run homer off Terry Adams in
the eighth and Domingo
Cedeno hit a two-run homer off Ray King in the ninth. ... Ben Grieve
was 4-for-5 with an RBI. ... Winner Steve
Trachsel allowed two runs and five hits in three innings.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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