HOMERS HEATING UP

A week ago, Sammy Sosa was asked about home runs. About a lack of them, actually.

Because with balls flying out of parks like crazy this season--it’s officially the Year of the Grand Slam--he and Mark McGwire weren’t hitting their share.

“I know Mark and I have started a little bit slowly, but that’s the way we started last year,” Sosa said. “The numbers are going to be there at the end.”

How right he was.

On Monday, Sosa hit two home runs. On Wednesday, Sosa and McGwire both homered. On Thursday, they did it again.

“All I know is it’s a long season, a marathon,” McGwire said, “and I’m ready for that journey.”

And next weekend, the two sluggers who thrilled the nation in 1998 meet for the first time in 1999. Three games at Wrigley Field, Big Mac vs. Slammin’ Sammy.

Really, it was just a matter of time before they got into the swing. Home runs are up 16 percent from last year’s bombardment, and there is no reason to think McGwire and Sosa won’t start catching up to Ken Griffey Jr., Jose Canseco and the other early leaders.

Did anyone think Jay Bell (13 for Arizona) and David Bell (12 for Seattle) would outhomer McGwire and Sosa?

“I can’t exactly explain what’s happened this year,” said Jay Bell, whose career homer high is 21.

Especially when it comes to grand slams.

On Thursday night, Robin Ventura of the New York Mets became the first player to hit slams in both games of a doubleheader.

Earlier this year, Fernando Tatis of St. Louis became the first player to hit two slams in the same inning. Nomar Garciaparra of Boston also hit two slams in a game.

“It seems like there have been a ton of grand slams this season,” said Mets star Mike Piazza, who hit four of them last year.

In the first 37 days of the season, there were 31 slams--exactly the same total as last year. But in the last week or so, they’ve been coming even more frequently.

No matter how many runners are on base, however, Sosa and McGwire are marked men.

“I’m not going to lie to you. They’ve been pitching me and Mark a little bit different,” Sosa said. “Probably the pressure has been too much for him and myself.”

The Chicago Cubs star had 13 homers going into the weekend, compared with McGwire’s 10 for St. Louis.

Through the same number of games last year, there was no hint of the historic race that would develop--McGwire had 15, Sosa had seven.

McGwire, of course, finished with a record 70 and Sosa hit 66. Which is not to say that any fewer will make it a poor season.

“If I hit 30 or 40 home runs this year, it’s still a great year,” Sosa said. “Forty home runs is a great year for anybody.

“I mean, if you go to your back yard and find 40 rocks and you start throwing them--one, two, three--until you get to 40, that’s a lot,” he said. “You know what I mean?”

As for big numbers, McGwire rocked his 467th home run Thursday in San Diego.

“It’s not going to be easy from here on out, the rest of my career,” McGwire said.

“They make some good pitches on me and sometimes I swing at bad pitches,” he said. “But that’s why there are six months in the season. I don’t think everybody looks good every month.”

Then again, Cardinals batting coach Mike Easler predicted McGwire would break loose.

“He’s going to hit a barrage, brother, you wait. He’s going to get a streak, and you can kind of see it coming,” Easler said.

“I feel sorry for him and Sosa. The world expects that every time they come up they hit a bomb.”