Sosa Fans Three Times as Cubs Lose an Edge

As Sammy Sosa stepped to the plate in the seventh inning, the numbers on a Waveland Avenue rooftop changed from “63” to “64.”

Sorry, folks. No. 64 is only wishful thinking for now.

“Not every day is going to be a good day for me,” Sosa said. “If I was Superman, I’d hit a home run every day. But I’m a human being.”

Very human. Sosa went 0 for 4 Saturday, striking out three times and grounding into a double play to end the game, in the Chicago Cubs’ 7-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. The loss dropped the Cubs into a tie for the National League wild-card lead with the New York Mets, who defeated the Florida Marlins, 4-3.

Sosa is 0 for 12 since hitting a grand slam Wednesday in San Diego that gave him No. 63. He remained one home run behind Mark McGwire in the chase for the single-season record.

Jon Nunnally homered twice and drove in four runs for the Reds, and Jason Bere (2-2) gave up two hits over eight innings and had two pickoffs.

After Lance Johnson led off the game with a single, Chicago didn’t get another hit until the sixth inning.

“That was a pretty bad effort all the way around,” the Cubs’ Mark Grace said. “This is not the time to come out flat; we’ve got to make it happen. You can’t be making mistakes that we made today.”

Fans were hoping for a three-day party to celebrate Sosa’s amazing season and the Cubs’ surprising success.

The Cubs flew Sosa’s mother and his siblings in from the Dominican Republic, and Roger Maris’ children were at Saturday’s game. Sosa met with them briefly after the game, and they’ll be there again today for the Cubs’ pregame celebration for Sosa.

“I wish we could have been here for [Sosa’s] 61st and 62nd. I wanted to be a part of that as well,” Randy Maris said. “But nobody knew Sammy was going to go and hit four home runs just like that. He just went crazy on us.”