Sammy comes up empty
Cubs slam door on Sosa's 600 show; bullpen does the job for Marshall
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Slammin' Sammy spoke fondly and swung a big stick at the Cubs on Tuesday night.
What he hit with that stick was more reminiscent of Derrek Lee's swinging fist than the bat Sammy Sosa swung as a Cub for 13 seasons on the North Side. But the Slammin' Sammy Sideshow already has overshadowed this three-game series against the Texas Rangers, and that definitely was a familiar feeling for anyone around when Sosa was hitting a Cubs-record 545 home runs.
''I'm ready for the fight,'' Sosa said before facing the Cubs for the first time since his falling-out in 2004 and inglorious finish with the team in a February 2005 trade to Baltimore, ''and we'll see what happens.''
(AP)
(AP)
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''It's kind of -- not funny, not strange -- but maybe apropos that here the Cubbies are in town, and Sammy's going for his 600th home run,'' Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. ''He was an icon in [Chicago] for a long time and was well-liked and loved.''
The Cubs beat the Rangers 5-4 when the bullpen rescued starter Sean Marshall and retired all 15 batters it faced -- nine via strikeout, including five in three innings by Carlos Marmol.
But Sosa clearly was the focus as cameras flashed like it was the first pitch in October at Yankee Stadium every time Sosa recoiled for a pitch.
If intention meant anything, Sosa returned the value on almost every flash, swinging like he was trying to hit the ball to Waveland Avenue from Arlington, Texas -- and striking out twice against Marshall and again against Marmol in an 0-for-4 game.
''I guess that's about the only positive I can take out of this,'' said Marshall, who had said he didn't want to be the one to surrender No.600 to Sosa.
Sosa admitted it was ''kind of weird'' facing the Cubs but made it clear he wants to get the milestone in this series.
''It would be perfect,'' he said.
Perfect for the Cubs was that the only player left from the Sosa trade, Mike Fontenot, singled twice, walked, scored twice -- including the go-ahead run -- and has Piniella talking about moving him from ninth to second in the batting order and moving Felix Pie down.
''We don't know if we're going to do it, but it's something we're contemplating,'' Piniella said.
Even Fontenot, who said he's happy to bat anywhere he's asked, got caught up in the Sosa Show.
''It's pretty cool I get a chance to play against him,'' he said.
As for his relationship with Chicago and the Cubs, Sosa downplayed the controversial ending to 2004, when an unidentified player smashed his boombox with a bat and he ducked out of the final game.
''Chicago's great. They gave me so [much] joy, so many things,'' Sosa said, adding he has no hard feelings for anyone in the organization. ''It's still my city. No city is going to be like that. Now I'm here in Texas, and I have to be thinking about Texas right now. Texas is the one that stepped to the plate.''
Sosa, who signed with the Rangers after a year off, referred again Tuesday to a conversation he said he had this spring with Cubs president John McDonough about a possible return to Wrigley Field for a celebration of his Cubs career.
''That was nice,'' he said. ''I remember one time I had a little bit of a [conflict] with him, and I apologized a long time ago. We talked in spring training. That was great. I don't have nothing against nobody.''