Sosa goes home run happy, but Cubs get swept

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Sosa goes home run happy, but Cubs get swept!

August 21, 2000 -- It's the same old story with the same sad ending.

Dominican slugger, Sammy Sosa, went into Bank One ballpark in Arizona this past weekend and gave baseball fans a home run show by slamming four home runs against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The sad part -- the Cubs lost all three games to the Diamondbacks.

Sammy Sosa now leads the Major Leagues with 42 home runs and has gone into a home run explosion the past few weeks, driving in runs, getting clutch hits and looking like the MVP of 1998 that he was. The only problem is his teammates are swinging invisible bats.

Has Sosa become the only offense on the team?

A startling statistic shows that entering Saturday night's game at Arizona, Sosa's Cub teammates has homered five times since Aug. 8. Sosa alone has six home runs in his last six games and the Cubs won only one of those games.

"I don't think this is overshadowing anything," Cubs manager Don Baylor said. "The other guys can join in if they'd like."

Could join in! Why isn't Baylor getting on the rest of the team like he was getting on Sosa in the first half of the season?

In a miserable 11-2 loss to the Diamondbacks on Friday night, Sosa collected three of his team's six hits against Curt Schilling and produced both runs with solo blasts, his 39th and 40th. His second homer came in the ninth inning with his teammates in full sleepwalk mode.

"I can only take care of what Sammy Sosa can do," Sosa said.

He took Randy Johnson deep in the third inning on Sunday, a three-run blast that put the Cubs ahead 4-0. Johnson tried to get a first-pitch fastball inside, but Sosa hit a line shot (#42) into the left-field seats. The outcome -- Cubs lose 10-4

"I never give up," Sosa said. "No matter what the situation, there are people watching you, so I play hard every day. I have to earn my respect."

Sosa is an awesome player who is dearly loved by many in Chicago, but he should break his love affair with Chicago and go to a team who knows how to win.

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