Sizzling Sammy

DENVER -- Sammy Sosa has long been the kind of player who transcends loyalties.

Opposing fans cheer for him, as they did at Coors Field on Saturday night after the Chicago Cubs slugger hit his third straight three-run homer.

The ovation became so loud that Sosa was summoned out of the dugout for a curtain call, tipping his cap to the 45,474 in attendance.

"It's a good feeling," Sosa said. "I know the fans are behind me, and that keeps me going every day. I have to give back to them."

Sosa's loyalty to the Cubs, however, has become increasingly strained.

Frustrated with the team's losing ways, Sosa recently said he will seriously consider exercising his right to become a free agent after 2003 and leave Chicago for a winning franchise.

"I don't feel uncomfortable with the team, I don't feel uncomfortable with the players," he said. "But I don't feel good losing every time. They've got to find a way.

"If you've got a house and your house is dirty, what do you do to fix that? Clean it up, right? That's how I feel, and they have to respect that."

No thank you

Sosa has also vowed not to fly on the team's charter plane again, which he says is unsafe. He and his teammates have had two emergency landings in the last two months, and in April the Cubs were forced to stay overnight in Montreal because of mechanical problems with the Northwest Airlines plane.

Saying that to get back on that plane is "scary," Sosa chartered his own 10-seat private plane from San Francisco to Denver on Thursday night, bringing five teammates with him. He planned to make his own travel arrangements again to get from Denver to Chicago on Sunday night.

The disruptions haven't affected Sosa's play.

He hit a grand slam Sunday and drove in five runs to set an NL record for RBIs in consecutive games with 14. He leads the majors with 39 homers.

Sosa tied a franchise record Saturday night with nine RBIs -- all in the first five innings -- then removed himself from the game in the sixth as his Cubs routed the Colorado Rockies 15-1.

Calling it a day

He exited before getting a chance to match the big league record of four homers in a game, accomplished by Seattle's Mike Cameron and Los Angeles' Shawn Green already this year.

"When you're up 15-1 and you have a day game the next day and you had a game like I had, you need to know when you've had enough," Sosa said. "I went 3-for-4 and had nine RBIs, and that was good enough for me.

"I have to give respect to the other team. I don't need to go out and get more. I had a pretty good day. So I decided to shut it down."

Sosa connected in successive at-bats in the third, fourth and fifth innings. He took over the major league lead with 38 homers and matched Johnny Mize's record of six career three-homer games.

The nine RBIs were a career high for Sosa and tied the club mark set by Heinie Zimmerman in 1911. Sosa also became the fifth player with home runs in three straight innings.

Twice last season, Sosa left games early after hitting his third home run.

Rockies starter Shawn Chacon was embarrassed -- and angry -- after giving up the first two homers to Sosa. The third came off reliever Mark Corey.

"I was surprised he got a curtain call on our home field," Chacon said. "That's brutal, man. It's like you're pitching on the road."