SOSA STUNS CRITICS WITH SOMETHING MEANINGFUL

Comiskey Park never looked better than it did on what felt like the first official night of Chicago’s summer. Comiskey goes from Wrigley’s ugly stepsister to an underrated one-night Cinderella when you pack it with 44,140 in baseball weather. Forgive me, but I really like this place.

Friday night, Comiskey was more spectacular in sight than sound. This, of course, wasn’t Twins-Sox in 30-degree windchill. This was Sammy Sosa’s Cubs, Game 1 of the 2000 Crosstown Classic.

But for a long while it sounded more like Twins-Sox. This Cubs-Sox atmosphere didn’t feel nearly as electrified as it did, say, last June at Wrigley Field. There, fans of both teams roared for balls and strikes. Any given night game at Wrigley can be more raucous than this.

Perhaps Sox fans now believe their division leaders don’t need much help. Either that or Sox starter Kip Wells, who issued five walks in four-plus innings, was wild enough to take his crowd out of the game.

This time, the loudest noise in the first few innings was equally unexpected. It came as Sosa stepped to the plate for his first at-bat. Sammy Sosa, Chicago icon, the more appealing half of the Great Home Run Race of 1998, the heart-tapping, kiss-blowing alternative to the curmudgeon Mark McGwire, was booed loudly.

Another first for Sosa.

Boos, of course, are never more difficult to define than during cross-town rivalries. Was this one generated strictly by Sox fans enjoying the current controversy swirling around ex-Sox star Sosa? If so, you couldn’t hear many Sosa supporters attempting to offset the negativity with cheers. Did many Cubs fans–and there were many in attendance–join Sox fans in booing Sosa?

Yes, it’s possible most of the thumbs-down came from the mouths of Cubs fans tired of Sosa’s prima-donna act.

Sosa acts as if he doesn’t want anyone to point out his shortcomings for fear his fans will wise up, wake up and turn on him. This presupposes that most fans are too naive to judge Sosa’s performance for themselves. Are they too blinded by his occasional 500-foot home runs to see he’s getting big enough to be a float in his own parade?

They read about his subtle contract negotiating. They hear about the list of four teams he wants to be traded to if the Cubs don’t make him one of the best-paid players in baseball. They see his shoddy outfield play and realize many of his homers haven’t had much impact on games.

They know poor Sammy is whining about a new manager, Don Baylor, who has dared offer gentle criticism of this Chicago icon. If you know the no-nonsense Baylor, you know he has handled Sosa with lip-biting diplomacy. He’s merely trying–very gently–to help make Sosa the more complete player he’s capable of being.

Sosa’s agent didn’t do his client any favors by fanning the flames with more negotiation talk before the game. Adam Katz made himself available to reporters by sitting in the first row behind home plate during batting practice. You wonder if he’s trying to talk Sosa out of town.

For sure Sosa seemed unsettled by the booing, which continued with each of his first four at-bats. For such a powerful man, Sosa can be remarkably sensitive and concerned about preserving his cartoon-hero image. Sosa comes off like something of a hurt child over the recent negative publicity.

He struck out in his first at-bat. Then, swinging harder and harder, more and more out of sync, Sosa struck out again and again and again. For the first time since emerging as Sammy Sosa, super slugger, he was experiencing gut-check adversity.

Of course, the one sure way to win back fans is simply to perform. Critics can’t stop him from doing that. So, having struck out four times, with his team down to its final ninth-inning out, Sosa stepped in against the Sox’s best reliever, Keith Foulke.

Foulke hung what appeared to be an 0-1 breaking ball and Sosa jerked it on a line 400 feet into the left-field bleachers. That tied it 5-5. That, perhaps, was as meaningful a home run as Sosa has hit since he beat San Diego’s Trevor Hoffman at Wrigley last June.

He did strike out a fifth time and the Sox did win in 14 innings. But that game-changing homer is what has been missing. That’s what Baylor, who won nearly every place he played, wanted to see more of. If Sosa wants superstar money to stay in Chicago, that’s how to negotiate.