Sosa Concedes Home Run Title to McGwire

Sammy Sosa verbally conceded his historic chase with Mark McGwire Tuesday, saying, “He’s going to finish with more home runs than me.”

And this was before Sosa went homerless in five plate appearances and hitless in four at-bats here.

While the Chicago Cubs broke out of their weekend funk--pulling back into a tie for the National League wild card playoff spot with a 5-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers--their famous slugger did not.

In five times to the plate against an array of no-name Brewer pitchers--a team against which he has 10 homers this year --his slump worsened to 0 for 21 since hitting his 63rd in San Diego last week.

This is not an election, and your concession means nothing if you are still swinging for the fences like Sosa, yet he admitted afterward that he has personally reached a season low point.

“Everything they are pitching me is right there, and I’m just missing,” he said. “I haven’t missed those pitches all year.”

While Sosa says he is confident he will break out of it--”I know everyday I’m not going to stink”--time is running out.

He has only four games remaining. This means, at a minimum, he must hit two homers in those games to tie McGwire at 65 homers if McGwire does not go deep again in five remaining game.

After the series finale against the Brewers here today, the Cubs’ final three games are against Houston in the Astrodome, where Sosa has hit only one homer this season.

“My situation is to forget about the home run chase,” Sosa said. “I have to think about us winning.”

That part was the only thing that went right Tuesday for a player whose mind was filled with worries about his hurricane-battered native Dominican Republic. “I pray nothing happens there,” he said.

In the second inning, he was nearly injured during a home plate collision with Brewer catcher Bobby Hughes. Sosa smacked his groin against Hughes’ shin guard and remained on the ground for several minutes, writhing in pain. But he eventually walked from the field and was able to jog--however gingerly--to right field in the bottom of the second.

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Next Series For Dodgers

WHO: Milwaukee Brewers

WHERE: Dodgers Stadium

WHEN: Thursday, 7 p.m.; Saturday, 7 p.m.; Sunday, 1 p.m.