"The Incredible Sulk"
Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Tribune takes one last whack at Sammy Sosa:
"He morphed into something of a circus act, a cute-and-cuddly, kiss-blowing power hitter. By degrees, it became apparent that, even though he played hard, Sammy was for whatever was best for Sammy. That didn't make him different than other athletes, but he started wearing his sense of entitlement like a crown. It went over in Chicago about as well as winter does.
There were all those home runs, yes, but the rest of it葉he strikeouts, the complaints, the self-centeredness葉ook too much effort for teammates, fans and Baker. (For a player, not being able to get along with Baker is like not being able to get along with a masseuse.) Mostly, Sosa just wore us all out.
We're beyond the loving tributes. They were written and spoken when Sosa was hitting all those home runs and keeping the game of baseball alive. That was before the corked bat, the petulant walkout and the ever-changing body. If you want to cite this is as the perfect example of the build-up and tear down of a superstar, be our guest. But the fact of this sad matter is that he did it to himself. Goodbye, Sammy. We really knew ye."
Ouch.
The writers in Baltimore are not bothering with all of that, instead choosing to speculate on the Orioles' batting order, something that will go a little like this from one through seven:
Brian Roberts
Melvin Mora
Miguel Tejada
Sammy Sosa
Javy Lopez
Raffy Palmeiro
Jay Gibbons
Elderly, but potentially very potent and entertaining.
(sportsfrog as userid and password will get you to the Chicago Tribune and Baltimore Sun articles)