Tuesday, April 02, 2002
Cubs' struggles don't worry Sosa
By Michael Perry mperry@enquirer.com
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Sammy Sosa wasn't overly concerned. It was just one loss in a 162-game season. He smiled. He joked. And he perhaps spoke for the Chicago Cubs after Monday's 5-4 Opening Day loss to the Reds when he said: “No panic.”
“I think we did a tremendous job today. If today was the last game, we're talking about something else. But we've got 161 more. I mean, come on. We've got a long way to go.”
The Cubs did a lot right Monday. They battled back from a two-run deficit to tie the score in the eighth inning.
They had runners in scoring position in seven of nine innings.
But Chicago also stranded 14 runners, and reliever Jeff Fassero, who picked up the loss, hit three Reds batters over the last two innings (he had hit only two the previous two seasons, totaling 120 games).
“I'm trying to figure out why I was so wild,” Fassero said. “I knew from pitch one that I felt wrong. I was fighting something. I'm not exactly sure what it was.”
His final hit batter may have cost the Cubs the game. With one out in the ninth, Barry Larkin walked and Ken Griffey Jr. singled for the Reds. Then Fassero hit Sean Casey in the head, loading the bases.
Aaron Boone drove in the winning run with a fly ball to right field. Larkin slid to the plate ahead of Sosa's throw, which was not handled by catcher Robert Machado, anyway.
“It was a great throw,” Sosa said. “If he catches it, maybe we have a chance. I'm not blaming nobody. Lark is a good runner.”
Sosa was upbeat before and after the game, saying this is the best offensive team he's been on in Chicago.
He is hitting ahead of Fred McGriff, who was traded to the Cubs in July, and Moises Alou, who was signed as a free agent in December but did not play Monday because of a strained calf.
Those additions give the Cubs hope that they can challenge Houston and St. Louis in the National League Central Division. Chicago finished 88-74 last season and in third place, five games behind the Cardinals.
“We've got to put last year in the past,” Sosa said. “This is a new year. Hopefully, with the team that we have and the potential that we have, we can go out there and show the whole world we are a great team.”
Sosa said he isn't worried about his numbers, which have been astounding over the last four seasons.
He has hit 66, 63, 50 and 64 home runs since the 1998 season.
During that time, he has had 158, 141, 138 and 160 RBI and scored 134, 114, 106 and 146 runs.
Griffey, 32, has 460 career home runs, 23rd on baseball's all-time list. Sosa, 33, has 450 and is 25th.
Griffey is the youngest player is reach 350, 400 and 450. The race is on to No.500.
“I just want to continue the same thing that I've been doing, go out there and play hard 162 games,” Sosa said. “If I do that, the numbers are going to be there, so I don't really worry about that. I just want to be ag gressive and win.”
Sosa went 1-for-4 with a walk Monday. His only hit came when he beat out an infield grounder to Boone at third base. Boone got him back later when he snagged a hard, driving grounder by Sosa with a runner on third base in the eighth inning.
“That was a great play,” Sosa said. “I hit the ball really hard. He was there at the right time. I thought it was a base hit.
“That's part of the game. Not every time we're going to go out there, we're going to come through. It was a great chance today. I'll take that any time.”
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Cubs' struggles don't worry Sosa
