Sosa Slams 62nd In Cubs Win

When Sammy Sosa hit his 62nd home run last season, he got three curtain calls and was carried off the field. Wrigley Field was littered with debris, and his hometown of San Pedro de Macoris partied well into the night.

On Tuesday night, Sosa hit his 62nd homer for the second consecutive year, taking the lead from Mark McGwire and surpassing the number that was baseball's most mystical for 37 years. About 10,000 fans were in the stands at Veterans Stadium to see it, as the Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies 8-2.

"If a lot of people don't show up, I don't worry about that," said Sosa, who capped an emotional day that began with the scary news that his wife had been hospitalized in Chicago.

Anything seems possible for the two muscle-bound men who have pushed Roger Maris' magical No. 61 into the past.

"I didn't think I'd ever see it," said Mark Grace, who hit a two-run homer, his 16th. "The ones who did show up got a treat."

Sosa was in an 0-for-9 slump and was 8-for-40 in the past 11 games when he hit a two-run shot off rookie Anthony Shumaker in the ninth inning. He became the first player in history to surpass 61 homers in consecutive seasons.

"To tell you the truth, it wasn't a proud moment of mine," Shumaker said.

Sosa played after finding out that his wife had been hospitalized in Chicago following a mysterious reaction to prescription medication. He homered for the first time in 30 at-bats since hitting No. 61 on Sept. 19 against Milwaukee's Hideo Nomo

Sonia Sosa, 25, spent more than 12 hours in the hospital Tuesday. Sosa said his wife assured him she was OK and urged him not to leave the team.

"I'm a strong man," Sosa said. "I had to go out and do my job."

Sosa tied McGwire for the second-highest homer total in consecutive seasons, 128. McGwire, still at 61 home runs after St. Louis was rained out Tuesday night against San Diego, has the record with 131 homers the past two seasons.

McGwire also had 128 from 1997-98. Babe Ruth is next with 114 in 1927-28 and 113 in 1920-21.

But the paid attendance at the Vet was 16,106, and only about 14,000 were in the building when the game started. A few thousand headed for the exits after Sosa struck out in the seventh, thus missing his homer.

"Yeah, he hit 62, and he's a fabulous home-run hitter," Grace said. "The bar is raised to 70, though. He's got eight more to go. What they've done is incredible."

Steve Trachsel (8-17), who leads the majors in losses, pitched his fourth complete game of the year and won for the fourth time in five decisions. He allowed nine hits.

The Cubs got four runs in the third off Randy Wolf (6-9) with a two-run double from Shane Andrews and a two-run single by Benito Santiago.

Wolf allowed four runs and four hits in three innings, walking six and striking out six. He walked Sosa twice, on nine pitches.

"I wasn't intentionally walking him," Wolf said. "I just wasn't going to give him anything to hit."

Doug Glanville had two hits, leaving him one shy of becoming the first Phillies player with 200 hits since Pete Rose had 208 in 1979. Glanville tripled with one out in the third and scored his 100th run on Rob Ducey's sacrifice fly. Marlon Anderson had an RBI triple in the second.

While only a couple thousand fans watched Sosa take batting practice, Cubs hitting coach Billy Williams asked, "When do they open the gates in this place?" They were already open, but few had passed through.

A small contingent of Sosa fans jumped, sang and pounded drums in the right field bleachers on Hispanic Family Night as the last-place Cubs opened their final road trip of the season.

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