A big day for Sammy Sosa Wednesday. He hit a grand slam homer in the Cubs' 13-5 win over Pittsburgh, following one he had already hit in the first inning.

There were, in fact, three home runs hit in the Chicago first. They were 4-0 at the end of the innings, and the Pirates immediately equalised. It was Mark Corey who had the dubious honour of pitching to Sosa in the 8th when Alou, Perez and Lee were on bases. Here is the complete play-by-play from ESPN.com.

It was home runs number 31 and 32 for the season for Sammy, and numbers 570 and 571 of his career. He's now number eight on the all-time list, two short of Harmon Killibrew.

Up at number three on that list, Barry Bonds remained on 699 despite the Giants' 8-1 win over Milwaukee. Wednesday's results mean that San Francisco (81-65) are still half a game ahead of Chicago (79-64) in the race for a National League wildcard spot. Thursday, the Cubs are at Cincinnati, while the Giants continue at Milwaukee.

The clock is rolling on Jennifer Bueno's fifteen minutes of fame. Mrs Bueno was on the receiving end of Frank Francisco's chair on Monday night, and gave a press conference yesterday to talk about it. No word from the Rangers or the MLB yet about any penalty against Frank ("I left my heart insane") Francisco, though there are reports that he intends to sue some Oakland fans. Not sure who, how and why though.

Let's catch up on the Texas League. The Frisco Roughriders are leading the Round Rock Express 2-1 in the best-of-seven championship series after winning 8-5 on Monday night and 1-0 on Tuesday night. The final game of the three played at Dr Pepper/Seven-Up Ballpark was won by the Express on Wednesday night 7-5. The remainder of the series will be played at the Dell Diamond (oh god, I love naming rights sponsorship, but you've just gotta read the stadium profile on the Round Rock website) commencing Thursday night. (Live audio at KWNX)

The Frisco Roughriders will transform into the Corpus Christi Hooks in 2005. The Hooks are confident that Whataburger Field will be ready by April. Another Texas League team on the way out is the El Paso Diablos, moving to Springfield, Missouri next year. And yes, the locals are pissed off.

Wednesday night was Sponge Bob Square Pants Night for the Somerset Patriots' game against the Nashua Pride in the Atlantic League. Mr Pants was of little help to the Patriots, as Nashua won 6-5.

In coming instalments, the Goldeyes, the Isotopes, the Lugnuts, the Japanese industrial relations scene, and the Mundialito Preinfantil.