AUGUST 26, 1998
11, e ^ortbnA t t u t n w f
Page B2
Mark McGwire, Count'em For Homerun #53!
PIT T SB U R G H —M ark McGwire
is hitting hom e runs so fast, h e ’s
rew riting history w ith alm ost every
prodigious sw ing o f his bat.
M cG w ire hit his 53rd hom er —
moments after Sammy Sosa hit No. 50
in Chicago — to becom e the first
National L eaguer to hit that m any in
49 years Sunday as St. Louis lost 4-3
to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
M cGwire becam e just the third NL
player to hit as m any as 53 hom ers in
a season, joining the P ira te s’ Ralph
K iner (54 in 1949) and the Chicago
Cubs ’ Hack W ilson, who hit a league-
record 56 hom ers in 1930.
M cGwire, who broke B abe R uth’s
record for hom ers over three con
secutive seasons w ith a tape-m ea
sure hom er Saturday, hit a 2-2 pitch
from Ricardo Rincon deep into the
left-field seats w ith two outs in the
eighth inning.
The high drive initially looked like
it might reach the seldom -reached
upper deck, and the estim ate o f 393
feet seem ed to be w ay off.
McGwire ’ s sixth hom er in five day s
left him eight short o f tying Roger
M aris’ record o f 61 in 1961 w ith 32
gam es to play, and it rated him the
rarest o f ovations — a curtain call on
the road.
“They kept clapping for about a
that sniff,” C ardinals m anager Tony
La R ussa said. “ L ast y ear, w e had
on e p lan n ed , w e w ent ag ain st it,
and it w o rk ed o u t ag ain st him an d
minute, so I ducked m y head out and
gave them a w ave,” M cG w ire said. “I
hope the Pirates d id n ’t m ind. 1 w ish
everybody in baseball could feel the
reception I’m getting.”
M cGwire acknow ledged after hit
ting his 50th last w eek he has a legiti
m ate shot at b aseball’s m ost storied
record, but he w ishes people w ould
quit conceding it to him.
“I ’m not close to it yet,” he said.
“ It’s a long w ays aw ay.”
Still, Pirates starter Jason Schm idt
says every opposing pitcher realizes
he might soon be in the record books,
ag ain st u s.”
M c G w ir e ’s tim in g S u n d a y
c o u ld n ’t h av e been m o re p erfect.
Sosa, ch asin g M cG w ire an d M aris,
had co n n e cted on his 5 0th in C h i
c a g o lit e r a ll y m in u te s b e f o r e
M c G w ire’s shot.
" R e a lly , th a t’s re a lly c o o l,”
M cG w ire said.
M cG w ire’s hom er w as the 4 40th
hom e run o f his ca reer, the 22nd
m o st in m a jo r leag u e h isto ry , an d
left him tw o hom ers b eh in d D ave
K in g m an , his fav o rite p lay er as a
y o u n g ste r.
Before hom ering, M cG w ire, w ho
h elp ed lure the P ira te s’ first c o n
se c u tiv e re g u la r-se a so n se llo u ts
sin ce they m oved into T hree R iv
ers S tad iu m in 1970, g ro u n d ed out,
w alk ed tw ice and d o u b led ah ead o f
R on G a n t’s ru n -sc o rin g g ro u n d er
too.
“ Jon L ieber and I were talking about
that,” Schmidt said. “W e’re part o f
history. This will be w ith us for the
rest o f our lives, but I d o n ’t care. H e’s
such a great guy, everybody is ex
cited.”
Except the fans w ho bought tick
ets for M onday afternoon’s gam e in
Pittsburgh. M cGw ire plans to take
the day off, the second game he would
skip o ff in a four-day span.
M cGwire said the day offhas been
planned for a week, and he probably
will skip only one m ore gam e the rest
in the fifth.
T h at w as one o f the few ru n n ers
the C a rd in als m an ag ed to get h o m e
as th ey stran d ed 14 — at least tw o
ru n n ers in ev ery in n in g from the
seco n d th ro u g h the seventh.
L a R u ssa ’s strateg y o f b attin g
h is p itc h e r eig h th to p ro v id e m o re
o f the season.
“W e get together and rate w h at’s
happening at the tim e, how the gam es
are going, what the w eather’s like, all
p ro tectio n in fro n t o f M cG w ire I-
b ack fired as K ent M e rc k er (8-11 )
struck o ut w ith tw o ru n n ers on
and tw o o u ts in b o th the second
and fifth innings.
O v ersh ad o w e d by M c G w ire ’s
run on b a s e b a ll’s m o st sto ried
record w ere F ernando T a tis’ 5-for-
S d a y fo rS t. L ouis and th e P ira te s’
season h ig h -ty in g se v en th co n
secutive v icto ry .
S ch m id t sa id h e is to o m u ch o f
a c o m p e tito r to p itc h a ro u n d
M cG w ire, ev en though th e Pirates
have w alk ed h im 10 tim es o v er the
last tw o w eek en d s.
T he C a rd in als h av e 13 h o m ers
in seven gam es ag a in st th e P i
rates, tw o by M c G w ir e .. . .
M cG w ire has w alk ed 10 tim es
in five g am es ag a in st P ittsb u rg h
o ver the last tw o w ee k en d s and is
w ithin 33 w alk s o f ty in g B abe
Ruth’s record o f 170 w alks in 1923.
M cG w ire has 163 h o m ers o v er
the last th ree seaso n s, tw o m ore
than R uth h it from 1 9 2 6 -2 8 —
M c G w ire’s 111 h o m ers the last
tw o y ears are th e m ost in h isto ry
by a rig h th a n d ed b a t t e r . . . .
F or the seco n d day in a row , )
M cG w ire d id n ’t take b attin g prac- /v/ark McGwire
tice.
T
M oon W in s debut for Seah aw ks
So that’s what was missing.
Inconsistent and not quite convinc
ing in their first three preseason games,
the Seattle Seahawks were none o f the
former and a whole lot o f the latter in
Saturday night’s preseason trashing o f
the Arizona Cardinals in Tempe, where
the temperature at kickoff was 106 de
grees.
The reason: Warren Moon, who was
almost as hot as the weather.
Making his summer debut after miss-
ing 25 days in a contract holdout Moon,
41. made this quarterbacking stufflook a
lot like the old line about riding abicycle.
Moon completed 8 o f 15 passes for 202
yards, including TD strikes of55 yards to
James McKmght and 69 yards to Joey
Galloway as the Seahawks rolled up 31
first-halfpoints.
What gives? This game can’t be as
easy as Moon makes it look, can it?
“I don’t know if it’s easy, but it’s
natural forme,” Moon said. “Ijust look at
it as being natural. Those (six) practices
this week really helped me as far as getting
my sliarpness back and seeing things
that you need to see. When you recog
nize the things you need to see, then your
natural ability is going to take over."
His best throw was one even his
teammates didn’tthinkM wn could make.
It was the 69-yarder to Galloway, who
blew past Cardinals free safety Kwamie
Lassiter and comeiback J.J. McCleskey.
“Isaw Joey takeoffandl thought, ‘Oh
man. Joey’s just outrun another quarter
b a c k .g u a rd Pete Kendall said. “There
aren’tmany in the league whocan get him
that ball, but Warren did. He hit Joey in
stead.
P u n ctu a tin g his final ro u n d w ith
an ea g le 3 o n the 17th hole, Singh
won th e S p rin t In tern atio n al on
S unday fo r his seco n d title in as
m any w eek s
S ingh, 35, sh ared the first-ro u n d
lead w ith Jim C a rte r and w as the
outright leader after the seco n d and
th ird rounds. T he n ew ly cro w n ed
PG A ch am p io n beg an th e final day
w ith 33 p o in ts and a narrow 1 -point
lead u n d er the m o d ified S tab le fo rd
scoring system u sed in th is event.
He n ev er re lin q u ish e d th a t ad v a n
tage.
T he n ativ e o f F iji b ird ie d five
holes on his fro n t n in e, in c re asin g
his p o in t total to 43 for a 7 -p o in t
lead o v er W illie W ood at the turn.
H is p o te n tia l ru n aw ay d id n ’t m a te
rialize , h o w ev e r, an d th e v icto ry
w a sn ’t clin c h e d u n til eig h t h o le s
liter.
8 /g
U pset
in t h e L ittle League
stride."
It just goes to show that Moon —
evenat41 .especially at4 1 — isnotjust
another quarterback.
‘ ‘ That pass was Exhibit9,000, right
there,” Kendall said....
With Moon finally in camp and
picking up where he left off during his
record-setting season last year, the
only decision is whetherFriesz orKitna
W IL L IA M SPO R T, Pa. — M ike
E rick so n h it tw o ho m e ru n s and
reliev er J e ff D uda d id n ’t g iv e up a
h it o v er th ree in n in g s as L an g ley ,
C anada, b eat G u adalupe, M exico,
4-3 M o nday to h an d the d e fe n d
ing ch a m p io n its second loss o f
the L ittle L eag u e W orld S eries.
D uda h eld G u ad alu p e sc o re
less in the final th ree in n in g s o f
the rain -d elay e d gam e, strik in g
out eig h t b a tte rs — in c lu d in g all
th ree in the sixth.
E rick so n w ent 2 -fo r-3 , an d one
o f his h o m e runs b ro k e a 3-3 tie in
the fifth inning.
Jo rg e T re v in o hit a tw o -ru n
hom er for G uad alu p e.
G u a d a l u p ^ w h o lost 6-1 to
is No. 2.
K ash im a, J a p B L o n S u n d ay , is
now 0-2 in pool plat L angley is 1-
L an g ley took A f l f e t - i n n i n g
lead b eh in d badt4o-J)aC k hom e
runs by E ric k s o n J I t\*te-run shot,
and sta rtin g p itc h er S ean S argent.
B ut G u ad a lu p e startin g p itc h er
D aniel B aca se ttle d d o w n , s trik
ing out K arl R eddick w ith the b ases
lo ad ed to end the threat. H e w o u ld
retire 11 o f the next 12 b atters as his
team m ates rallied on offense.
In the bottom o f the first, S argent
w alked C arlos G arza, w ho cam e
hom e on a p assed ball. In the se c
ond, T re v in o ’s tw o -ru n h o m er tied
the gam e 3-3.
B aca gave up ju s t tw o h its after
the first inning — b u t on e w as the
gam e-deciding hom er by E rickson.
G uadalupe is trying to rep eat the
feat o f the last M exican team to w in
the W orld Series, M onterrey, w hich
w on b ack -to -b ack ch am p io n sh ip s
in 1957-58.
A C anadian team has n ev er w on
the W orld Series.
In later gam es M onday, it w as:
Jenison, M icfv |d ^ G reen v ille,N .C .;
D h ah ran r
A r a b ia , v s.
Kashiifcu, Jàpan’ andT -yFrc ss- , Ca
C a-
lif.,v s.< o m s.R iv e r,N .J.
M i n t h r e a l f i n e f w t y f n d a y ’s
.A k i
-
g a n ^ l the fitSL-ga amie w as h alted
JflL
for an hour.
»
Warren Moon
PGA
C A S T L E R O C K , C olo. — N urs
ing a slim lead, all V ijay Singh
w anted do w n the stretch w as one
more b irdie. H e got an ea g le in
he
W ith a 1-p o in t lead o v er b oth
W ood and defending cham pion Phil
M ickelso n , S ingh p la y ed the 492-
y ard , par-5 17th h o le perfectly .
H e d rille d a 3 -w o o d 306 y ard s
uphill to the middle o f the fairway, then
hit an 8-iron to the back fringe. His
downhill, curving putt from about 25
feet found the cup for a 5-point eagle,
increasing his point total to 47.
“I made some really nice putts the
first nine holes, and I think that was the
key to my victory,” Singh said. “ I was
very confident after the ninth hole that
I was going to win.
“I knew sooner or later I w as going
to make a birdie somewhere dow n the
stretch. All I needed was one more
birdie to seal things up.
“Give credit to Willie. He stuck in
there and made some birdies, and it
was a really close match until I was
lucky to make eagle on 17 that turned
everything around."
W ood and Mickelson tied for sec
ond at 41, and Tiger Woods, who
fashioned four eagles in the first three
rounds but none on Sunday, finished
at 38. Rocco M ediate was next at 37.
S in g h ’s early birdie barrage gave
him a seem ingly com fortable lead.
B ut after S in g h ’s p o o r drive on No.
10 and subsequent bogey, W ood
ran in birdie putts at the 11 th and 12th
holes, and the lead w as trim m ed to
tw o points.
W ood three-putted the 14th to fall
another point behind, b ut the d i
m inutive O klahom an sank a 15-foot
birdie putt at No. 16 to cut the deficit
to 1.
The 17th hole is a birdie and eagle
opportunity for m ost players, but
W ood’s lack o f length hurt him there.
His drive found the right rough, and his
second shot, a long iron, was short o f
the green. He pitched to 20 feet but
tw o-putted for a disappointing par.
Singh’s eagle seconds earlier al
ready had decided it.
W ood, 37, owns just one victory in
his 14 full seasons on the PGA Tour.
“I played well, but V ijay’s eagle on
17 ju st shut the door on me. He has
always driven the ball well. Now h e’s
putting really good," W ood said.
c
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