Still Chasing, They Meet in St. Louis

In the sauna that was Busch Stadium Sunday, Mark McGwire smoked three line drives, came up empty, and now baseball’s memorable home run race gets up-close and personal.

“It’s going to be electrifying, it’s going to be exciting,” McGwire said in anticipation of a two-game series with Sammy Sosa and the Chicago Cubs that begins here today.

“If you can’t be looking forward to these two games, then your heart is not beating,” McGwire added after going hitless in four plate appearances as his St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Cincinnati Reds, 5-2, before a crowd of 47,904, most of whom seemed sure that McGwire had tied Roger Maris’ single-season record of 61 homers only to have his sixth-inning drive into the lower level seats in left field hook about 10 feet foul.

Did he think it had a chance?

“On contact, yes,” McGwire said, “but as it got deeper into the outfield, no.”

So McGwire is still at 60 and Sosa at 58, and among those whose heart is beating in anticipation is commissioner Bud Selig, who said that the tension when McGwire batted Sunday was “mind-boggling, almost suffocating.”

Euphoric over the McGwire-Sosa impact on attendance, ratings and interest, Selig described the home run duel as enthralling and captivating.

He said that recent polls and focus group studies conducted by baseball show that it has been a huge factor in the game’s ongoing recovery.

“It’s a great human experience,” Selig said. “These two players have captured the nation’s fancy. We’ve never seen anything like it for day-to-day drama.”

Now, Selig added, the Cubs and Cardinals renew a rivalry comparable to the Dodgers-Giants, Yankees-Red Sox and Packers-Bears, with the McGwire and Sosa competition adding the ultimate frosting.

“It’s so good it’s hard to believe,” Selig said. “There’s no way you could plan a schedule to play out like this, no way you could orchestrate it.”

Adding significantly to the mix is that the Cubs lead the National League wild-card race by a game over the New York Mets.

The importance of the two games may affect the way Sosa and McGwire are pitched.

“I think they’ll be pitched so tough that it will be hard for either one to hit the ball out,” said the Cardinals’ Delino DeShields.

McGwire has hit five homers against the Cubs this year while Sosa has hit three against the Cardinals.

Darren Oliver, who pitches for St. Louis today, said he did not intend to pitch around Sosa as an aid to McGwire in the home run race.

“People forget that the Cubs are in the wild-card race,” he said. “We hope to be spoilers. I’ll be trying to win the game. The way I pitch Sosa will depend on the situation.”

Increased pressure for the pitchers?

“Probably less,” he said. “Nobody cares what anyone does except Mark and Sammy. A pitcher could throw a no hitter and it would be a small line at the end of the story . . . ‘And did you know . . .’ ”

The Reds had pitched McGwire cautiously in previous series this year, but they challenged him in the three weekend games. He went one for 10 with six strikeouts and two walks.

Against starter Brett Tomko Sunday, McGwire hit a line drive on which shortstop Barry Larkin made a diving catch in the first inning, walked on four pitches in the fourth and hit that foul drive in the sixth before striking out. John Hudek was on the mound in the eighth when McGwire hit a rocket up the middle, but Bret Boone was shifted behind second base and made a crawling stop on the grass, throwing McGwire out at first.

Hudek felt fortunate that: 1) McGwire didn’t get the ball elevated and 2) that he wasn’t decapitated by the line drive.

“That’s the quickest I’ve moved on the mound in a long time,” he said. “Most of the time you throw your glove up for protection, but that ball was by me before I could get my glove up.

“Make a pitch like that to a hitter like that and you’re asking for trouble.”

It was 98 degrees when the game started Sunday.

Will Sosa and McGwire heat it up?

“I don’t know how it could be any more intense than it has been, but this is what everyone has been waiting to see,” said the Cardinals’ Tom Lampkin. “It should be fun and exciting.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

THE SERIES

Chicago Cubs at St. Louis

TODAY

* Time: 11 a.m.

* TV: ESPN

* Pitchers: Mike Morgan (0-0) vs. Darren Oliver (2-2)

TUESDAY

* 5 p.m, ESPN

*

COVERAGE

* SAMMY SOSA

He misses a big chance in the 10th inning and the Cubs lose to Pittsburgh, 4-3. C6

*

* MARIS FAMILY

A trying day as they arrive in St. Louis to witness history. C6