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Sosa might define himself in '04

Sporting News, The, August 30, 2004 by Richard Justice

What the Cubs won't know for some time is whether they're witnessing the beginning of the end of Sammy Sosa's greatness or just a brief interruption.

The only thing they're really sure of is that Sosa is not a great player at the moment.

They know by the things they can measure. Entering the week, Sosa had batted .216 since the All-Star break. He was not among the National League's top 40 in RBIs or on-base percentage.

Once the cornerstone of everything the Cubs did, Sosa is playing in the offensive shadow of Aramis Ramirez, Derrek Lee, Nomar Garciaparra and Moises Alou. Sosa has had other slumps, and he seems confident he still can be the offensive force he once was.

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He's also 35 years old. He has had some injuries, and there are days when his bat looks slow.

Few things are sadder than watching a great player decline. The player is convinced he's a victim of circumstances and needs only the confidence of the manager and fans to get going again.

Some fans see Sosa for what he was instead of what he has become, and they cheer him wildly. Others boo.

Sosa's slump is magnified because the Cubs are in a tight race for the National League's wild-card berth. Hoping to get back to the playoffs, they're playing games that have postseason tension. And they're far from a great offensive team, meaning Sosa's at-bats are vital.

Manager Dusty Baker admitted he had thought about dropping Sosa from the No. 3 or No. 4 spot in the lineup but said his superstar was awfully sensitive about such things. Some wondered if this comment made Sosa something less than the ideal team player. Baker defends Sosa on this point.

"If you didn't have a certain amount of stubbornness, you wouldn't have made it to this point of greatness in the first place," Baker says. "How many people along the way have said, 'You can't hit like that, or 'you can't do that'?"

Finally, last week, Sosa asked Baker to drop him. For now, Sosa is hitting fifth, the first time in a decade he has batted anywhere except third or fourth.

The Cubs might soon find out how much Sosa has left because Garciaparra and Alou are hitting just ahead of him and Ramirez is behind him in the sixth spot.

Regardless of what Sosa might have felt inside, he took the high road in his public remarks.

"Whatever is best for the team, I don't mind doing it" he told reporters. "I will hit fifth for the rest of the year or whatever he (Baker) wants."

Sosa acknowledged that a whirlwind of media debate plus a smattering of boos at Wrigley Field contributed to his decision. He said he told Baker: "If this makes it easy for you, I don't mind."

Baker has dealt with hundreds of players over the years. He said Sosa is the first to volunteer to move down in the batting order. "That's a noble thing for the team," the manager says.

For Sosa, the past two seasons surely have been difficult. In 2003, he had modest (for him, anyway) home run and RBI totals of 40 and 103 and was found using a corked bat. He once nearly rivaled Ernie Banks as Mr. Cub, helping bring fans to Wrigley Field in huge numbers. Wins and losses sometimes appeared to matter less to fans than the thrill of seeing Sammy hit another moonshot homer.

The identity of the club has changed in recent years. Mark Prior joined Kerry Wood at the top of the rotation in 2002, and Baker, one of baseball's high-profile managers, arrived last year. Future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, originally a Cub, rejoined the team as a free agent this spring. And then Garciaparra came aboard at the trading deadline. All of a sudden, Sosa seemed like a bit player in a drama dominated by other stars.

Some have speculated about why Sosa was driven to use a corked bat. That incident came when he was in a slump, but also at a time when Prior, Wood and Baker were getting all the headlines.

Did Sosa think he needed a corked bat to show his 500-homer prowess again? Did he need to remind fans that the Cubs still were his team?

The truth is, the Cubs are not his team, and they're not likely to ever be again, at least not as long as the club has Prior, Wood and Maddux heading up the pitching staff.

Don't be too quick to judge Sosa, though. Given the same circumstances, other players might respond just as Sosa has reacted. Swallowing a large chunk of his ego has to be more difficult than anyone will know.

No matter how he feels inside, Sosa has continued to do and say all the right things. He's still taking that trademark sprint out to right field, and he's still playing the game with passion and joy.

Maybe, in the end, he'll end up revealing more good things about himself than he ever did while he was hitting 66 home runs.

It has rained heavily on the Astros' plans for a parade

They were the hot story of spring training and a preseason favorite of many prognosticators. This was the year the Astros finally would get their parade.

Instead, after an offseason in which their front office did almost everything right, the Astros' season again has come undone.

Sosa might define himself in '04

Sporting News, The, August 30, 2004 by Richard Justice

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