IT'S BEEN A BLAST; MCGWIRE, SOSA SPARKED GAME'S RESURGENCE.

Byline: MATT McHALE Baseball

When Mark McGwire hits his 62nd home run this week against the Chicago Cubs, he ought to take a victory lap - with Sammy Sosa.

McGwire will set the record, but Sosa set the tone. He made it fun to talk about the unspeakable - breaking Roger Maris single-season record for home runs. And with the Cardinals 15 to 20 games out for most of the summer, Sosa has been McGwire's pennant race.

Although it was McGwire who took aim on Maris' record Opening Day when he beat the Dodgers with a grand slam, he has been the hunted one.

The season was three hours old and he already was being overwhelmed with questions about whether he could do it. McGwire shared with Maris the desire not to be beat up by the hype, but it still swallowed them whole. Sosa brought laughter where there was none.

When the debate on whether McGwire would do it was sidetracked by his involvement with strength-enhancing drugs, Sosa quipped that he used Flintstones vitamins. It didn't exactly scuttle the issue, which needs further research. But Sosa kept the action on the field, where baseball needed it to be.

There have been other issues, like the watered-down pitching that has helped ignite this home-run spree. But 1961, the year Maris broke Ruth's record, baseball added two expansion teams and extended the schedule from 154 to 162 games.

And this is not a question of who should be the National League's Most Valuable Player. If ever there was a season where that didn't seem important this is it. Sosa has carried the Cubs to a possible wild-card berth. McGwire carried an entire sport back from its image of corporate and player greed.

McGwire and Sosa made baseball innocent again - the most innocent of sports regardless of what Babe Ruth was really doing behind closed doors.

This home-run summer brought back the notion of sons playing catch with their fathers, or, in the updated version, the step mom's third husband. Kids went to the ballpark to watch ballgames. They also rushed to Web sites to go pitch-by-pitch with the sluggers, but it was still baseball. After Mike Piazza left town, spiraling salaries lost their place amid the barroom chatter.

All this took a while to reach the usually trend-setting L.A., where the ugliness of the game has muffled the roar of the crowd. They're selling the Dodgers, firing the manager and insulting the best player by offering $85 million. They're tearing down the stadium and maybe asking you to pay for it.

But there was a delicious moment the other night, when the Dodgers were playing the Phillies.

McGwire and Sosa combined for three home runs and the Dodgers couldn't get it all in a between-inning update on the video screen. The trumped-up attendance figure read 28,199. But the crowd of probably 18,000 wasn't about to let the team turn off the highlights.

Carlos Perez, the first batter, stood along with the crowd and watched for almost a minute. He cheered, too, when Sosa, a fellow Dominican, went deep.

In this town, it rarely matters what other teams do. But this is so much bigger than the Dodgers' lousy season.

Thanks fellas.

Why Buddy? There were two reasons why the Tigers decided to dump manager Buddy Bell with less than a month to go in the season.

Bell, replaced by his former Texas teammate Larry Parrish, wasn't getting along with general manager Randy Smith. The two had been fighting over players such as Bip Roberts (a Smith favorite) and Pete Incaviglia (one of Buddy's boys), and the team's poor play caused ill feelings to boil over frequently.

But that wasn't the primary reason. Bell was hand picked by Smith. And Smith doesn't get rid of his people that quickly. This firing appears to have the finger prints of club president John McHale - acting on the wishes of owner Mike Ilitch - who gave Bell the kiss of death by refusing to endorse him this season.

Bell insists that McHale orchestrated the move before Smith arrived at Tiger Stadium on Tuesday. Bell was a poor in-game manager (bad lineup decisions, poor calls about pulling pitchers, bad tactical moves), but he was a fine motivator for 2-1/2 seasons.

Bell said his relationship with Smith had soured in the past two years.

``Things were OK,'' Bell said. ``But it was a kind of gradual thing, the personality conflict. It wasn't major at first, but we just kind of drifted apart. Why, I don't know. We agreed on most every baseball decision we had.''

Smith didn't exactly disagree.

``Buddy and I had become uncomfortable,'' he said. ``But he characterizes things a lot differently than I would. I didn't feel the way he did.''

Smith insists Bell's departure came about during a conversation between him and Bell in Bell's office just before 1 p.m. Tuesday. Smith said, emphatically, that Bell was always kept on top of decisions relating to personnel, including trades, free-agent acquisitions and player releases.

Bell acknowledged frustration over the Tigers' thin $23-million payroll. He said if the club hopes to build a contender it must invest in talent to become a winner.

``If you're trying to be a middleweight in a heavyweight city,'' he said, ``you're going to have some problems.''

McHale and Bell then had a final conversation.

``It wasn't a judicial undertaking,'' McHale said. ``At that point, I was just trying to explore if something could work here, or be salvaged.''

MVP voting: Houston's Moises Alou probably won't win be the National League's most valuable player, but the Astros are convinced the Houston left fielder deserves to finish high in the balloting.

``If it weren't for the guys chasing (Roger) Maris, I think people would be saying Moises is a lock,'' manager Larry Dierker said. ``He's had a sensational year, and he might do better than both Sosa and McGwire in the main (offensive) categories except home runs. But even so, I think because of the attention on the other guys, he's not going to get the credit he deserves.

``If the Cubs and Cardinals don't make the playoffs, I think that would work in Moises' favor. But if the Cubs get the wild card, I think there will be a lot (of votes) for Sosa. And you don't know how many are going to go with McGwire if he breaks the record no matter what else happens.''

Jeff Bagwell, who won the MVP in 1994, believes Alou, third in the league with 38 homers and fourth in RBI with 118, will finish high in the balloting.

``He's having one of the best years anybody's had in a long time,'' Bagwell said. ``It's unfortunate for him that it's happening in a year where other guys are having record years. Even so, I think he's got to finish in the top two or three at least.''

Alou credits the air conditioning in the Astrodome, which is far more comfortable than the summers in Florida, where he played last year. He also says he's been helped by better health and in-season weight training. Alou had seldom lifted weights before this season but got into the routine after watching Bagwell and Craig Biggio - a pair of dedicated lifters who work out after every game.

``It's made me stronger, physically, but it's also helped me (avoid) some of the little injuries that might have kept me out games now and then in the past,'' Alou said. ``It's also helped me stay stronger longer in the year. I don't feel as tired now as I did this time last season.''

Lopez steps up: Though Mike Piazza has gone on the tear the past two weeks, the best offensive catcher this season has been Javy Lopez.

Lopez leads all catchers with 32 home runs and 97 RBI and could wind up with the best home run and RBI totals by a catcher in Braves history. He's already enjoying the best season by a Braves catcher since Joe Torre hit 36 homers and drove in 101 runs in 1966. If he surpasses Torre's 109 RBI in 1964, he'll be No. 1 on the franchise list.

``Part of the reason is I've been healthy the whole year,'' said Lopez, whose career-bests were 23 homers and 69 RBI. ``I remember last year I had a good hitting streak or a good home-run streak, and I went on the disabled list for 15 days. Or I'd get hurt for four or five days. That really got me off track and I lost my rhythm. The year before, it was the same thing. I've been healthy this year and I'm putting up the numbers I always wanted to.''

Yet, Lopez, 27, thinks he can do more. More home runs, more RBI. He thinks he can exceed both of Torre's franchise home run and RBI records, if not this year, then sometime in the future.

``I'm still learning,'' he said. ``If I learn more and I'm more patient at the plate, one day I'll be able to hit 40 homers. I didn't expect (100 RBI) this year, but now that I'm close, I look forward to reaching it.''

EXTRA INNINGS By Matt McHale

TOP OF THE ORDER

The Astros wanted to send a message to the Atlanta Braves, a possible postseason opponent, on Wednesday night. Randy Johnson, 6-1 in August, allowed one run and had 10 strikeouts in eight innings, beating Greg Maddux and taking the season series 5-4. ``It's something for them to think about,'' manager Larry Dierker said. ``Our best beat their best. It's a definite confidence booster for the playoffs.''

ROTISSERIE WATCH

While Colorado's Larry Walker and Dante Bichette battled John Olerud and each other for the National League batting title, teammate Vinny Castilla might be having the best year of all. The Padres walked Walker four times Friday night and Castilla responded with his 40th and 41st homers. It is the third consecutive year Castilla has hit at least 40 home runs. He also has 125 RBI.

STAT OF THE WEEK

If it wasn't the Mark McGwire/Sammy Sosa home run chase, it has to be Yankees left-hander David Wells, who retired the first 20 Oakland A's on Tuesday in a bid for his second perfect game this year. Wells, though, was the last guy who wanted another one, thanking Jason Giambi for breaking it up in the seventh. ``Throwing one perfect game (May 17 vs. Twins) was enough. It changed my life. And that's enough for me.''

THE BUZZ

More evidence that the Bay Area cannot support two teams has resurfaced. Both teams were home on a Wednesday, the Giants attracting 10,021 paying customers at night after the A's drew 8,361 for a day game. That's an 18,832 total - and the opposition was Houston and Cleveland, not great draws, but still division champions. The Giants also had a staggering 45,349 dropoff between their home opener (55,370) and game two (10,021).

QUOTABLE

``I was honored, not only by the cheers, but by the nice calls and gifts. I was honored at the response.''

New York Met Mike Piazza

After fans sang ``Happy Birthday'' when he turned 30 on Friday and beat Atlanta with a 485-foot homer. These are the same fans who booed him all season.

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

PHOTO no caption (Vinny Castilla)

BOX: EXTRA INNINGS By Matt McHale (see text)