No Sosa Fireworks, Only a Win

SAN DIEGO —  It wasn’t so much the positive response of the crowd to Sammy Sosa that rankled the San Diego Padres. It was that their own organization reacted to Sosa’s 63rd home run, the eighth-inning grand slam that gave the Chicago Cubs a victory Wednesday night, with fireworks and a message-board sign that read, “San Diego Salutes Sammy Sosa.”

The Padres, striving for the home-field advantage in the playoffs after winning the National League West title, were angry in the late aftermath of that game and were still resentful enough Thursday to call a players-only meeting in which they vented their feelings, called on one another to forgive and forget, then heard General Manager Kevin Towers, on orders from owner John Moores, apologize on behalf of the organization.

As for Sosa, he was greeted warmly again by a crowd of 32,047 at Qualcomm Stadium but went hitless in five plate appearances as the Cubs made it three in a row over the Padres with a 4-3 victory in 10 innings.

The victory--produced by pinch-hitter Gary Gaetti’s leadoff homer against Trevor Hoffman in the 10th--enabled the dogged Cubs to take a one-game lead over the idle New York Mets in the wild-card race and sent Sosa back to Chicago for a three-game weekend series against the Cincinnati Reds still tied with Mark McGwire in the home run race at 63. Each has eight games left.

The Padres have lost 12 of their last 19 games and may have more problems as they approach the playoffs than stewing over the misguided special effects or public-affairs employee who approved the electronic and pyrotechnic salute to Sosa and may soon be looking for work elsewhere.

Nevertheless, it was still in their thoughts as they reported to work Thursday.

“We’re going to be perceived as million-dollar athletes whining about history,” Tony Gwynn said before their meeting. “But we’re out there trying to win and our organization salutes him for beating us. They’re patting him on the back for kicking our butts. That’s a tough pill to swallow.

“I mean, we all appreciate what Sammy is doing, and I can’t sit here and be upset about the fans wanting to be part of history.

“If I wasn’t playing, I’d be out here cheering for him too. But the timing was terrible.

“I saw those lights go on [on the message-board] and said, ‘Wait a minute, are we in Chicago, or what?’ It hurt. We’ve worked too hard trying to get to the World Series to have that happen, but we have to put it aside and move on.”

Gwynn tried. He hit an eighth-inning homer to tie the score Thursday and led off the 10th with a single. The Padres had runners at first and third with two out when Carlos Hernandez hit a shot that caromed off Rod Beck’s leg to shortstop Jose Hernandez, who narrowly threw out the slow-footed Hernandez at first.

Beck notched his 49th save on a day when Hoffman, who has 50, gave up only his second homer of the season, drawing the loss.

“It’s good we have so many people contributing because I can’t do it alone every day,” said Sosa, who flied out three times, grounded out and walked. He was four for 14 with eight strikeouts in the four games, hitting only the one homer.

On Thursday, Gaetti delivered the decisive blast, but the Cubs also got a home run from Mickey Morandini and a pair of RBI singles from Mark Grace. The Cubs are 14-12 against their three possible playoff rivals--San Diego, Atlanta and Houston--and Grace said:

“We’ve proven all year we can beat those teams. If we do get to the playoffs, it shouldn’t be with an underdog tag. I wouldn’t mess with the Cubs because we’re playing with a lot of confidence and character. Whether we make the playoffs or not, I’ve never been more proud of being a Cub.”

Put that in lights.