Sosa Ties a Record for August Homers

The Chicago Cub clubhouse was silent after the game. No music blaring, no chatter coming from the televisions. Anyone who spoke did it in a whisper.

“A game that goes on this long ... you could go around the room and everybody could kick themselves and say, ‘I had a chance to do something,”’ Kevin Tapani said after a disheartening 4-3 loss to the Florida Marlins on Tuesday night.

Everyone except maybe Sammy Sosa. Sosa hit his 52nd home run, but it wasn’t enough as Luis Castillo singled in the game-winning run in the 14th inning. The loss dropped the Cubs four games behind Houston in the NL Central.

“We beat ourselves,” Cub manager Don Baylor said. “You worry about Houston at another time. It was there for us to win tonight.”

Sosa got the Cubs off to a good start, tying Willie Mays’ NL record for home runs in August in his first at-bat. He hit a towering shot in the first inning, sending Ryan Dempster’s 2-1 pitch over the left-field fence for a two-run homer.

It was Sosa’s 17th homer this month, tying the mark set by Mays in 1965. The major league record for homers in August is 18, set by Detroit’s Rudy York in 1937. Sosa holds the major league mark for any month, hitting 20 in June 1998.

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Chasing History

Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa are in pursuit of Mark McGwire’s major league record 70 home runs, set in 1998:

HOME RUNS AFTER ...

132 GAMES

BARRY BONDS 2001: 56

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131 GAMES

SAMMY SOSA 2001: 52

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132 GAMES

MARK McGWIRE 1998: 53

Bonds update: The Giant outfielder walked twice and went 0-for-2.

Sosa update: The Cub outfielder homered in a loss to the Marlins.

Factoid: In 1998, McGwire hit his 56th homer in the Cardinals’ 139th game.