Sosa Stays At 62 As Cubs Fall

The crowd stood and cheered every time Sammy Sosa came to the plate, and cheered all four times he struck out.

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Sosa struck out four times for the first time this year, cooling off following an amazing weekend in Chicago during which he tied McGwire with his 62nd homer. Ken Caminiti's home run in the eighth inning gave the Padres a 4-3 win over the Cubs Monday night.

The Padres (95-56) pulled within a game of Atlanta and Houston (96-55) for the NL's best record. The Cubs' loss handed the Astros the NL Central title -- Houston lost 7-4 in 13 innings to New York, which pulled even with the Cubs in the NL wild-card race.

Flashbulbs popped and the crowd and the crowd of 50,384 stood and cheered each time Sosa came to bat. He struck out looking at a fastball from left-hander Sterling Hitchcock in the second inning, then went down swinging three times, all on split-fingered fastballs. Hitchcock fanned him twice more and Dan Miceli (10-4) once. Sosa has struck out a major league-leading 156 times.

Sosa said he fouled off the only two good pitches he got all night.

"I don't remember the last time I had a game like that," Sosa said. "They pitched me real well. Pretty much they pitched me away about the whole game."

Sosa said the crowd reaction "feels great, but it feels bad when you strike out four times."

Hitchcock said the fan reaction wafine with him, except for the PA system playing merengue music when Sosa came up.

"What he's done has been pretty remarkable for a season," Hitchcock said. "With he and Mac at 62 homers and we've still got two weeks left in the season, it's been phenomenal. I understand the crowd. Maybe playing his music for him when he come up to bat was a little extreme for us, but it's exciting. It's fun."

Hitchcock admitted to getting a little more pumped than normal.

Sammy Sosa didn't get the victory he wanted, and the fans didn't get the homer they wanted. (AP)

"I just went after him like I go after him any other time," said Hitchcock, who's held Sosa to 2-for-14 (.143) lifetime, with no homers. "I've given up enough homers this year that it's really not on my mind."

Caminiti homered to left off Matt Karchner (3-1), his 29th, leading off the eighth. It was the fourth homer of the game, all solo shots.

Greg Vaughn hit his 49th for the Padres. For Chicago, Glenallen Hill homered following Sosa's strikeout in the second inning, and Jose Hernandez hit a solo shot in the eighth to tie the game at 3.

Sosa came in on a tear, having hit four homers in three games, including Nos. 61 and 62 Sunday to catch McGwire in the race for the most glamorous record in all of sports.

Trevor Hoffman pitched the ninth for the major-league-leading 50th save, making him the fourth pitcher in history to reach 50 saves.

Sosa was honored before game time, receiving a standing ovation from the crowd and a handshake from City Councilman Byron Wear, who serves as deputy mayor. Padres players Ken Caminiti and Quilvio Veras, who were warming up nearby, stopped and clapped.

When he came to bat in the second, he got an extended introduction, an the announcer asked the fans to "please give a San Diego welcome to No. 21 ... Sammy Sosa."

After Sosa struck out in the second, Hill homered deep into the left field seats, his seventh and the 28th allowed by Hitchcock this year.

Vaughn tied the game at 1-1 when he homered to left off Mark Clark leading off the fourth, extending the Padres' single-season homer record and his personal-best. Vaughn is poised to join Sosa, McGwire and Ken Griffey Jr., who already have given baseball three 50-homer players in a season for the first time.

Scott Servais singled with two out in the seventh to give the Cubs a 2-1 lead. The Padres jumped ahead in their half of the seventh on Quilvio Veras' RBI groundout and Tony Gwynn's RBI double.

Cubs center fielder Lance Johnson cut down Steve Finley at the plate to end the second.

Hitchcock allowed four hits and two runs in seven innings, with seven strikeouts and three walks. Clark allowed three runs and seven hits in 6 2-3 innings.

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