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06-11-2003, 12:49 PM
Well, we lost. Shawn Estes picks this series to have a terrific game. :hmm: Nuts. But props to Shawn, who did a great job.
Mighty Mel continued his streak..... 21 games. Luis Matos continued his streak...... 15 games.
The Camden Yards crowd gave Sammy a big welcome, except for the duffuss idiot "fan" who ran out onto the field.:hmm: Geez..... sh*t for brains. Why do people feel they have to show the world their idiocy. :hmm:
Pat Hentgen struggled in the early innings, but then really settled down, but it was too late, because our guys couldn't do anything against Estes.
And Grover calls R-Lo "Lopey"? (See the end of the story.) I think I prefer R-Lo.
Cubs' Estes shines in Sosa shadow, 4-0
Slugger cheered at Yards while starter mows down Orioles quietly for win; Mora, Matos extend hit streaks; Sosa double among 8 hits off Hentgen in 2nd, 3rd; O's 1-6 in interleague play
By Joe Christensen
Sun Staff
Originally published June 11, 2003
Mike Hargrove voiced some support for Sammy Sosa yesterday, which is not to say the Orioles manager had any desire to see Sosa play his first game at Camden Yards.
Hoping to have his eight-game suspension reduced, Sosa had his appeal heard in downtown Baltimore before arriving at the ballpark.
"I'm not torn at all," Hargrove said. "If I was sitting in the stands as a fan, I'd be bummed out if I didn't get to see him. As a manager, I'd just as soon see him not play."
Sosa did play and he did hit, but he wasn't the biggest reason the Chicago Cubs defeated the Orioles, 4-0, before 32,484 at Camden Yards last night.
With Sosa's image tarnished, the Cubs have taken on the identity of their new manager, Dusty Baker, and his fabulous starting pitching staff.
At age 30, Shawn Estes is the senior member of that staff, and he held the Orioles scoreless for seven innings, cooling an offense that had averaged 6.9 runs in its past 19 games.
The Orioles managed just nine hits against Estes (6-5), Antonio Alfonseca and Joe Borowski, suffering their fifth shutout loss of the season.
Pat Hentgen (1-4), who is clinging to a spot in the starting rotation with Rodrigo Lopez ready to come off the disabled list, struggled early but settled into a solid groove, allowing four runs on 10 hits in seven innings.
"I've been playing since '91, so I'm not thinking about stuff like that, by any means," Hentgen said of the pending rotation decision. "So for me it's not even a factor."
Melvin Mora extended his hitting streak to 21 games, and Luis Matos extended his to 15 games, but the Orioles fell to 1-6 in interleague play.
Sosa heard just as many cheers as boos, going 2-for-5 but extending his streak without a home run to 66 at-bats. The commissioner's office is expected to rule on his appeal today, so he could begin serving the suspension tonight.
Sosa insists he didn't know he was swinging a corked bat when he got caught on June 3. He maintains he used that bat for batting practice and unwittingly pulled it out for the game.
"Sammy Sosa's one of the great power hitters of all time," Hargrove said.
"When you get down to the basic level, nothing should discolor that. I've found Sammy to be a trustworthy and decent person in the dealings I've had with him, so I choose to believe what he said. And that's enough. Move on. Nobody died.
"There's a lot more pressing problems than Sammy Sosa using a corked bat."
The Cubs enjoy a large following wherever they play, and the crowd was as much a sea of blue as a sea of orange. A few thousand turned out for batting practice, offering emotionally charged cheers with Sosa's every swing.
Anyone wondering how fans would react to Sosa away from Wrigley Field found out when he took his defensive place in right field before the first inning. The outfield bleachers roared, with several fans on their feet.
In the seventh inning, one fan went into right field to make his statement, kneeling about 50 yards from Sosa, taking off his orange shirt, and then tossing two corks toward the man with 505 career home runs.
"In today's atmosphere, for me it was real scary," Hargrove said. "I don't know the mentality, I guess, when people do that. I think they ought to lock him up for years, and throw away the key."
Sosa, whose last home run came May 1, led off the second inning, and the noise was about 75 percent applause, 25 percent boos. He smacked a pitch from Hentgen and did his trademark hop out of the batters' box, which he normally reserves for balls headed over the fence.
But this one stayed in the ballpark, hitting the left-center-field wall, and Sosa had to settle for a double.
Sosa scored Chicago's first run on a double down the third base line by Eric Karros. Troy O'Leary singled, scoring Moises Alou, but Orioles center fielder Luis Matos threw home in time to nail Karros at the plate.
The Cubs kept raking hits against Hentgen, getting five in the second inning and three in the third. Alex Gonzalez led off the third inning with a home run and Corey Patterson followed with a triple.
Sosa came up in an ideal RBI situation -- runner on third, no outs -- and took a called third strike from Hentgen. But Alou hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Patterson, and the Cubs led 4-0.
In seven starts, Hentgen is 1-4 with a 5.90 ERA. But with Rick Helling, Omar Daal, and Jason Johnson struggling, too, Hargrove said a decision on the rotation will wait.
"We're not auditioning people, we're not trying them out," Hargrove said. "Is it going to be based on how this next start is? Probably not. If you start basing your decisions on things that are that immediate, you'll make bad decisions.
"We'll take the whole month that Lopey has been on the disabled list and try to make a decision based on that."
Copyright © 2003, The Baltimore Sun
Mighty Mel continued his streak..... 21 games. Luis Matos continued his streak...... 15 games.
The Camden Yards crowd gave Sammy a big welcome, except for the duffuss idiot "fan" who ran out onto the field.:hmm: Geez..... sh*t for brains. Why do people feel they have to show the world their idiocy. :hmm:
Pat Hentgen struggled in the early innings, but then really settled down, but it was too late, because our guys couldn't do anything against Estes.
And Grover calls R-Lo "Lopey"? (See the end of the story.) I think I prefer R-Lo.
Cubs' Estes shines in Sosa shadow, 4-0
Slugger cheered at Yards while starter mows down Orioles quietly for win; Mora, Matos extend hit streaks; Sosa double among 8 hits off Hentgen in 2nd, 3rd; O's 1-6 in interleague play
By Joe Christensen
Sun Staff
Originally published June 11, 2003
Mike Hargrove voiced some support for Sammy Sosa yesterday, which is not to say the Orioles manager had any desire to see Sosa play his first game at Camden Yards.
Hoping to have his eight-game suspension reduced, Sosa had his appeal heard in downtown Baltimore before arriving at the ballpark.
"I'm not torn at all," Hargrove said. "If I was sitting in the stands as a fan, I'd be bummed out if I didn't get to see him. As a manager, I'd just as soon see him not play."
Sosa did play and he did hit, but he wasn't the biggest reason the Chicago Cubs defeated the Orioles, 4-0, before 32,484 at Camden Yards last night.
With Sosa's image tarnished, the Cubs have taken on the identity of their new manager, Dusty Baker, and his fabulous starting pitching staff.
At age 30, Shawn Estes is the senior member of that staff, and he held the Orioles scoreless for seven innings, cooling an offense that had averaged 6.9 runs in its past 19 games.
The Orioles managed just nine hits against Estes (6-5), Antonio Alfonseca and Joe Borowski, suffering their fifth shutout loss of the season.
Pat Hentgen (1-4), who is clinging to a spot in the starting rotation with Rodrigo Lopez ready to come off the disabled list, struggled early but settled into a solid groove, allowing four runs on 10 hits in seven innings.
"I've been playing since '91, so I'm not thinking about stuff like that, by any means," Hentgen said of the pending rotation decision. "So for me it's not even a factor."
Melvin Mora extended his hitting streak to 21 games, and Luis Matos extended his to 15 games, but the Orioles fell to 1-6 in interleague play.
Sosa heard just as many cheers as boos, going 2-for-5 but extending his streak without a home run to 66 at-bats. The commissioner's office is expected to rule on his appeal today, so he could begin serving the suspension tonight.
Sosa insists he didn't know he was swinging a corked bat when he got caught on June 3. He maintains he used that bat for batting practice and unwittingly pulled it out for the game.
"Sammy Sosa's one of the great power hitters of all time," Hargrove said.
"When you get down to the basic level, nothing should discolor that. I've found Sammy to be a trustworthy and decent person in the dealings I've had with him, so I choose to believe what he said. And that's enough. Move on. Nobody died.
"There's a lot more pressing problems than Sammy Sosa using a corked bat."
The Cubs enjoy a large following wherever they play, and the crowd was as much a sea of blue as a sea of orange. A few thousand turned out for batting practice, offering emotionally charged cheers with Sosa's every swing.
Anyone wondering how fans would react to Sosa away from Wrigley Field found out when he took his defensive place in right field before the first inning. The outfield bleachers roared, with several fans on their feet.
In the seventh inning, one fan went into right field to make his statement, kneeling about 50 yards from Sosa, taking off his orange shirt, and then tossing two corks toward the man with 505 career home runs.
"In today's atmosphere, for me it was real scary," Hargrove said. "I don't know the mentality, I guess, when people do that. I think they ought to lock him up for years, and throw away the key."
Sosa, whose last home run came May 1, led off the second inning, and the noise was about 75 percent applause, 25 percent boos. He smacked a pitch from Hentgen and did his trademark hop out of the batters' box, which he normally reserves for balls headed over the fence.
But this one stayed in the ballpark, hitting the left-center-field wall, and Sosa had to settle for a double.
Sosa scored Chicago's first run on a double down the third base line by Eric Karros. Troy O'Leary singled, scoring Moises Alou, but Orioles center fielder Luis Matos threw home in time to nail Karros at the plate.
The Cubs kept raking hits against Hentgen, getting five in the second inning and three in the third. Alex Gonzalez led off the third inning with a home run and Corey Patterson followed with a triple.
Sosa came up in an ideal RBI situation -- runner on third, no outs -- and took a called third strike from Hentgen. But Alou hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Patterson, and the Cubs led 4-0.
In seven starts, Hentgen is 1-4 with a 5.90 ERA. But with Rick Helling, Omar Daal, and Jason Johnson struggling, too, Hargrove said a decision on the rotation will wait.
"We're not auditioning people, we're not trying them out," Hargrove said. "Is it going to be based on how this next start is? Probably not. If you start basing your decisions on things that are that immediate, you'll make bad decisions.
"We'll take the whole month that Lopey has been on the disabled list and try to make a decision based on that."
Copyright © 2003, The Baltimore Sun