The Wrigley whiff:
Sosa's home runs
come with a price
By Rick Morrissey
Chicago Tribune (KRT)
CHICAGO — It's a picture-perfect
Sunday at Wrigley Field, the wind blow
ing out, clouds moseying across a blue
sky and Sammy Sosa stepping to the
plate. We're all here for the same thing.
Sosa digs in hard with his right foot
to anchor his stance jumps out of the
box takes a few wicked practice cuts
and then steps back in to face Colorado
pitcher foe Kennedy in the first inning.
There are any number of possibili
ties, but let's face it, there are only two
that are worthy of the man: The home
run or the strikeout — the Herculean
show of strength or the Greek tragedy.
They're a package deal with Sammy
the Showman. For every one home
run, there are about four strikeouts
that range in aesthetic value from ugly
to breathtaking.
"I don't like (strikeouts)
because when you strike
out, you don't have a
chance. I remember Hank
Aaron saying that in his
whole career he never
struck out 100 times
in a season."
Dusty Baker
Chicago Cubs manager
So you wait for two options. You
wait for the Sosa hop after he hits the
ball, the hop that tells you he knows he
has hit it hard enough for a home run.
And you wait for the slow walk back to
the dugout after a Sosa strikeout, the
walk of atonement, the walk that tells
you he has been very naughty.
Big swing by Sosa early in the
count against Kennedy. Big miss by
Sosa. Big, guttural "oooooh" from a
crowd braced for something magnif
icent. Instead, Sosa walks. Big deal.
That's not going to cut it on the emo
tion meter, but it will do for a team
starving for baserunners.
Sosa had struck out three times
Saturday, giving him 2,002 for his ca
reer and elevating him to a place
among the strikeout gods. He joins
Reggie Jackson (2,597) and Andres
Galarraga as the only players in ma
jor-league history to have 2,000 or
more strikeouts. He also homered
Saturday to give him 547 career
home runs, one fewer than Mike
Schmidt, who is ninth all-time. This
is the Essential Sosa.
And that's why we're here Sunday.
To either get chills from a homer or
windbum from a strikeout.
Sosa would prefer that his 2,002
strikeouts tiptoe away. He's a proud
man. But the strikeouts are as much of
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what he is as the home runs. He al
ways has wanted to be bigger than life.
You don't go from being a guy who
steals 36 bases in a season to a guy
who hits 66 home runs without mak
ing a conscious effort.
He doesn't like to discuss his short
comings, but he wouldn't be the
home-run hitter he is if he didn't
make those huge hacks at the ball.
He's not the only one striking out, just
the most obvious. Few players seem
willing to shorten their swing with
two strikes these days.
"I don't know if they know how,"
Cubs manager Dusty Baker says. "And
there's no penalty. Back in our day,
you struck out too much, there was
somebody just as good (who) was go
ing to take your job because he didn't
strike out as much."
Yeah, but that's everybody else.
There's an entertainment value to
Sosa that isn't there with anybody
else, not even Barry Bonds, who, by
the way, has struck out only 1,393
times in his career.
Power hitters receive absolution for
their strikeouts because that's part of
what they do, the big lugs. But Baker
believes we've gone soft on strikeouts
as a society. Then again, Corey Patter
son leads the Cubs in strikeouts and
hasn't lost his No. 2 spot in the bat
ting order. He looked positively ill
while whiffing three times Sunday.
"I don't like (strikeouts) because
when you strike out, you don't have a
chance," Baker said. "I remember
Hank Aaron saying that in his whole
career he never struck out 100 times in
a season. And he was in an era when
they had Koufax, Drysdale, Marichal,
Gibson, Fergie, Seaver, Koosman.
Phey had some strikeout dudes."
Sosa grounds out in the third. Bor
ing, dude.
In the seventh inning, Sosa lets two
fastballs go by for strikes. Very un
Sammy-like. Here comes a juicy pitch
from reliever Tim Harikkala, and
you're sure that big home-run swing
will follow. But the ball tails away
from Sosa, and he has to lunge at
strike three. Not your classic tomadic
swing from Sammy, but the walk of
atonement doesn't care about the
quality of the strikeout.
Sosa ends up striking out twice in a
game delayed three times by rain. Pat
terson gets a measure of redemption
by knocking in the winning run in the
13th for a 5-4 Cubs victory.
Afterward, Sosa's strikeout count is
off limits for discussion.
"I don't want to talk about that," he
says.
He's at 2,004 now. Somewhere,
Mr. October is getting nervous.
© 2004, Chicago Tribune. Distributed by
Knight Ridder/Tribune Information
Services. His opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald.
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