Reds Blow Out Sosa’s Candle

Leave it to Dmitri Young, Barry Larkin and the Cincinnati Reds to spoil Sammy Sosa and the Chicago Cubs’ party.

“Not every day I’m going to go up and hit a home run,” said Sosa, who went hitless in four at-bats in Chicago’s 6-4 loss to the Reds on Friday at Chicago. “If it were that easy, I’d have 100 home runs right now.”

With Sosa back at Wrigley for the first time since he hit home runs No. 61 and 62 last Sunday, the entire weekend was supposed to be one big, long party for Sosa and long-suffering Cubs fans.

Sosa’s mother, a brother and two sisters arrived Thursday night from the Dominican Republic. He has 40 family members and friends in town, and 13 people are staying at his apartment.

His son Michael--named after the NBA Bulls’ Michael Jordan--had his first birthday Friday and the Cubs have a big party planned Sunday for Sosa.

But Young and Larkin each drove in two runs and got four hits, and Young made a diving catch that kept the Cubs from tying the game in the sixth inning.

“We played the way we were supposed to play, but they played much more better,” said Sosa, whose Cubs still hold a one-game lead in the NL wild-card race. “We’re not out yet. We’ve got a lot of opportunities and chances. We’ve got to forget about what happened today and come out tomorrow and do it.”