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CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Sammy Sosa continued to make history as his Chicago Cubs suffered a season-ending 4-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Sosa belted his 64th homer of the season and the 450th of his career, a solo shot in the eighth inning off Mike Lincoln, to break a pair of total base records and complete one of the most spectacular four-year stretches in baseball annals. With 425 total bases this season, the outfielder surpassed the Chicago record of 423 -- set by Hack Wilson in 1930. His 1,619 total bases over the past four seasons are two more than Chuck Klein, who set the National League four-year mark from 1929-32 while with the Philadelphia Phillies. By also driving in a run with a first-inning single, Sosa finished the campaign with 160 RBI, becoming the first National Leaguur to collect at least 160 since Klein had 170 in 1930. Following the game, the talk was about a possible Most Valuable Player Award for Sosa, whose main competition should be San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds, who hit a single-season record 73 homers. "I'm just going home and let other people decide that," Sosa said. "All I can say is that I feel good about my year. I've always felt 1998 was my best season, but to me I was a much better player this year." "I don't know how you can have a better season than he had," said Cubs manager Don Baylor. "He's my choice for MVP, and that's not taking anything away from Barry, who was great." Sosa hit 66 homers and drove in 158 runs three seasons ago in his famed home run battle with St. Louis' Mark McGwire. This year, he also led the NL with 146 runs. "I know I had a great season, but his was unbelievable," Sosa said of Bonds. "I'm just happy that my team improved. I'm sorry we didn't get to the playoffs, but we're in good position going towards next year." Chicago finished last in the NL Central in 2001 with a 65-97 record. This year, the Cubs played third at 89-73. When asked how many games his team would have won this year without Sosa, Baylor used history as an indicator. "What did we win last year, 65? That's about where we would be at," Baylor said. "In my mind he defines Most Valuable Player. He did two things better than anyone else ... he drove in the most runs and he scored the most runs. That's the name of the game." Despite Sunday's victory, the Pirates (61-101) finished last in the Central -- eight games worse than a season ago, when they were fifth. "It felt great to get a win on the last game of the season," manager Lloyd McClendon said. "I know we have an awful lot of work to do to get better. We need to get our good players healthy and off of the DL to make a better showing next year." After Jimmy Anderson allowed just two runs over six innings, Joe Beimel (7-11) tossed a scoreless frame to earn the victory, and Mike Fetters worked a hitless ninth for his ninth save. The game's deciding runs came in the eighth, when Chad Hermansen reached Carlos Zambrano (1-2) for a three-run homer, his second of the season, to give the Pirates a 4-2 advantage.
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