I know, I know: hear the words "Sammy" and "Sosa" and "cheating" in the same sentence, and visions of HGH and andro and steroids and cork and God knows what else are conjured up in your head. I don't blame you ... but SI.com's John Donovan says Sosa's latest "cheat" is of a considerably more innocent variety:"He's cheating," the baseball whisperers say, "on the fastball."See? Not as bad as you thought.This, in scoutspeak, means that Sosa has been so slow with the bat this spring that he has to start swinging early to catch up with a good fastball. He's guessing what's coming, in effect. The bad part of cheating is that he's then vulnerable to breaking balls, other off-speed pitches (he ends up swinging too soon) or stuff low and away (he can't reach it because he's committed to getting in front of the pitch).
Still, this is probably not a good sign for Sosa's long-term prospects this season. If he's even more vulnerable to curveballs and change-ups than he was in his vintage days, it probably won't take too long for capable pitchers to pick up on that. If they can get Sosa into the third or fourth pitch of the count, and fool him with off-speed stuff, well, Sammy's heroic "return" will be short lived.
Then again, it's likely Sosa will pick up his bat speed and make the adjustments necessary to hit at a high rate again. And Orioles fans will all collectively punch themselves in the head.
Previously on the Fanhouse:
Sammy Sosa Makes Rangers Roster
Sammy Sosa Want To Hit 700 Home Runs
Guess Who's Back, Back Again ... Sammy Sosa's Back, Tell A Friend
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-03-2007 @ 11:57PM
George Messler said...
It never fails one way or the other you all bad rap Sosa I say Give the guy a chance, He was 16 when he signed with Texes, he was skinny, now he is 38 and 225 pounds, whats the big deal? Did he do steroids? who knows? Only he knows? The reason some people make it an issue is becasue Sammy seems to be stuck on himself. If any thinking person studdies Sammy or any sports figure who is dominican, they will realize that in learning English, they use the word "I" alot. Well, for God sakes, that doesn't mean he is Evil. And as for those who critisize Sammy for bringing an interpreter to Congress, come on man, he is not fluent in English, Remember, "Baseball Been Very Good To Me". The way you people twist things that people say, I dont blame him for bringing an interpreter, could you imagine if he slipped and said one thing and meant another. Sports reporters are bad enough, political reporters would have chewed him up and spit him out, not that most of you havent already. The facts are, nothing has been proven with the steroid issue, he is guily by association, He played during the time of steroid use by pitchers and hitters.
Picture this, your working long hours at work and you get home late every night, and your spouse accuses you of cheating, she knows your cheating, You know your not, you have really been working, She tells you "Prove that your not Cheating" Can you prove it? Come on people, give this guy a break> Let him play the game he loves with out the stupid politics. If he tests positive for steroids, kick him off the team. If he does not, than shut up and let him play. Or keep up the accusations and let history decide in the end that all you Hypocrits are really the spouse who always accuses there spouse of cheating, even if there not. And that the only reason you do this is to hear your own voice or see your own words in print, because the truly arrogant ones are you. geomessler
Why put Sammy in the same catigory as Bonds who has paper trails and McMuscle, Comon man. go accuse your wife,idot...George Messler
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4-01-2007 @ 11:09AM
dan said...
writers are just stupid today
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4-01-2007 @ 11:50AM
tom barbush said...
unlike bonds and other steroid users who have been investiated and all but convicted,sosa never was in the limlight as a steroid user.he was clumped into the group because of his size and sucess.outside of the bat inident he was never thought of as a cheater. you would never see bonds sprint out to his position like sosa did and interact with the outfield fans like sosa did. you'd be lucky to see bonds even run that hard after a hit.sosa has my respect as one of the games great players and shoudn't be in the same group that the media has wrongly placed him in.
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