On the long way home from Troy, Odysseus and his men made an early stop among a people who greeted them warmly and offered them the lotus, the native delicacy. But those who tasted this fruit lost their memory–and all desire to continue the journey. Odysseus had to force these men back aboard the ships and tie them down before he could push on.
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The main attraction was Sammy Sosa, who’d hit a dry patch as he tried to become the first player ever to hit 50 homers five times and, coincidentally, reach the monumental figure of 500 for his career. He sat on 48 and 498 at the start of the day and–obviously pressing and swinging at bad pitches–had not homered in more than a week. The last homer had come against the Pirates, however–a good omen, as was the weather. A heavy morning rain washed out batting practice, but by game time the skies had cleared to reveal a glorious fall day. There wasn’t a cloud to be seen, only a steamy, pale quality to the light as one looked off into the distance, and a brown haze along the horizon. It was 78 degrees at Kerry Wood’s first pitch, with the wind wafting straight out to center–ideal hitting conditions.
That didn’t seem to fluster Wood, who looked determined to finish ahead of the league after entering the game at 11-11, the victim of several bull-pen collapses during the season. Kicking high, knee against chest, and striding purposefully straight down the mound–to keep from throwing across his body–he displayed an exploding curveball early. He threw one that made Jack Wilson hit the ground–only to watch the ball dip across the plate for a called strike. Wilson got back up and singled to center, but Wood got out of the inning with a 3-6-3 double play smoothly turned by Hee Seop Choi, the mammoth Korean first baseman freshly arrived from the minors.
Yet the Cubs’ lead likely meant no bottom of the ninth. So this would probably be Sosa’s last chance when he came to the plate against Pittsburgh reliever Al Reyes in the seventh, again with Hill on base thanks to a leadoff double. Boos greeted ball one and intensified when Sosa received a little chin music from a high, tight fastball for ball two. Reyes went to 3-0 before working back. Sosa fouled off a plum pitch, missed a high fastball, and waved through another for strike three. Fans cheered him regardless, and Sosa walked back to the steps in the middle of the dugout as if to soak it in. Again Choi walked, and when Echevarria blooped a single to center, a ball misjudged by Rob Mackowiak, Choi huffed all the way home behind Hill to score and make it 7-1.
Next year indeed looks more optimistic. Hill hit over .300 for most of September, and I like how both he and Choi know how to take a pitch–something they can teach Corey Patterson by example, one hopes. I like the idea of platooning Choi with Julio Zuleta, especially if Moises Alou can return to form and protect Sosa by hitting in the cleanup spot. The starting pitching is young and strong, and other teams have recently shown that the bull pen is an easy fix with some astute free-agent signings. Cruz would certainly seem to have the stuff to duplicate what the young Eric Gagne did this year with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Bellhorn is serviceable at third, but could be upgraded if the Trib opens its hefty pocketbook; the same goes for catcher, where Todd Hundley is less than serviceable but could play a role if the team gets a dependable backstop in the meantime.
