CHICAGO — Once the ball flew off Sammy Sosa's bat andsoared toward the juniper bushes in dead center field, there was notelling how far it might go.
And if he keeps hitting like this, there's no telling how far hemight take these Chicago Cubs.
The Cubs put on a startling display of raw power at the plateand on the mound Wednesday night, and behind Mark Prior overwhelmedthe Florida Marlins 12-3 to even the NL championship series aftertwo games.
Alex Gonzalez homered twice and Aramis Ramirez also connectedfor the Cubs. But once again, Sosa woke up Wrigley Field.
''This is the prime time to do it,'' Cubs manager Dusty Bakersaid. ''He really hasn't had a hot streak all year. It seems whenhe does, he hits a home run every at-bat.
''I'm hoping it's on the way. Boy, it's coming right on time,''he said.
A day after he tied the game with a two-out, two-run shot in theninth for his first postseason home run, Sosa hit a two-run drivein the second inning that went even farther.
By a lot.
Sosa launched a 495-foot shot that cleared the ivy-covered wall,sailed over the shrubbery that serves as a batter's backdrop andthreatened to fly completely out of the park. Only a televisioncamera booth kept the ball from becoming a street souvenir.
Teammate Kenny Lofton, who was on third base, shuddered as hewatched it go. Marlins center fielder Juan Pierre didn't evenbother to move.
''He hit that a mile. He can do that every once in a while,''Gonzalez said.
Coming off his two-hit gem in the opening round against Atlanta,Prior was good enough. Of course, being handed an 11-0 lead afterfive innings helped the 23-year-old keep his composure.
''We fell behind too early. When you're down 8-0 in the thirdinning, you're in trouble,'' Marlins manager Jack McKeon said.
Asked whether he had rethought his strategy about pitching toSosa, McKeon bucked up.
''Did he beat us? Enough said,'' he said.
Now, the best-of-seven series shifts to Pro Player Stadium forGame 3 Friday night. While the Marlins are one of baseball's besthome teams, the Cubs must like their chances with Kerry Woodpitching against Mark Redman.
Wood pitched a two-hitter and a three-hitter against the Marlinsthis year, striking out a total of 20, and is 4-0 against themlifetime.
Following the Marlins' 9-8, 11-inning win in the opener when theteams combined for an NLCS-record 17 extra-base hits, hitters againwore out the gaps and corners.
This time, the big hits went in Chicago's favor and so did thelittle ones. Lofton tied an NLCS mark with four hits, allsingles.
Prior cruised until the sixth, when Derrek Lee and rookie MiguelCabrera led off with consecutive home runs that made it 11-2.
Despite the big lead, the sellout crowd of 39,562 was well awareof how resilient the Marlins are. In fact, all four of their winsin this postseason have been comeback victories.
But before anyone could get too worried, the Cubs put any notionof a remarkable rally to rest. Left fielder Moises Alou ran backtoward the wall to catch a long drive by pinch-hitter Mike Lowell,and the relay to first caught a stumbling Jeff Conine for aninning-ending double play.
Prior left with two on and no outs in the eighth to a standingovation, having allowed three runs. Along with shutting down theMarlins, he shook them up by hitting a foul ball that scattered theFlorida relievers sitting on a bench down the right-field line.
Baker found a neat way to finish it off, too. He brought inreliever Mark Guthrie, who served up Lowell's game-winning,pinch-hit homer in the opener, for the last two outs.
While Prior was in control, Marlins starter Brad Penny was hithard. He gave up seven runs in two-plus innings and was hooted offthe mound.
Marlins reliever Michael Tejera threw the most memorable pitch,however. His mechanics got messed up in the eighth and somehow hethrew the ball over Florida's first-base dugout.
The unseasonably warm weather in Chicago brought out a swarm ofladybugs all around town this week, and they supposedly bring goodluck. Whatever, the fates swung in the Cubs' favor.
Marlins shortstop Alex Gonzalez, who made two sensational playsin the late innings to keep Game 1 tied, had two balls tick off hisglove for early singles. Both runners wound up scoring.
Mark Grudzielanek's hit helped load the bases in the firstinning and Randall Simon sweetly slapped a two-out, two-run singleto left.
Lofton bounced an RBI single off Gonzalez's glove in the secondand stole second. He didn't have to run nearly as hard when Sosaconnected with two outs.
Prior and Penny came out zinging and even with Wrigley buzzing,the sound of fastballs popping into catcher's mitts echoedthroughout the ballpark.
How hard were they throwing? Pierre tried to bunt the firstpitch of the game and the ball flew off his bat and landed in foulterritory -- beyond third base.
The radar gun clocked Prior at 94 mph and showed Penny slightlyfaster. Not that it was a good thing for Penny -- as the storygoes, this season McKeon had the radar readings shut off at ProPlayer when Penny pitched so he wouldn't become fixated andoverthrow.
Notes:
The Cubs' Gonzalez has homered in three straight playoff games.He connected in the decisive Game 5 of the division series and alsohomered Tuesday night. ... Andy Pafko threw out the first ball. Theformer outfielder was part of the Cubs' last World Series team in1945. ... Cabrera made his major league debut at shortstop. Hemoved over from the third base when Lowell stayed in the game. ...Umpire crew chief Jerry Crawford, who felt ill and left the opener,has pneumonia. He was replaced by Larry Vanover for Game 2.
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