70! McGwire belts two in season nale

"I've never even thought about it, dreamed about it," he said. "It's absolutely amazing! It blows me away!"

The St. Louis Cardinals' slugger ended his record-smashing season as mightily as he started it.

He hit his 69th and 70th homers on the season's last day, a fitting finale for a year he began with a grand slam on opening day.

"This is a season I will never, ever forget, and I hope everybody in baseball never forgets," McGwire told the cheering crowd after the game.

Big Mac, who hit five homers in the final weekend, connected against Montreal rookie Mike Thurman in the third inning yesterday, then homered off Carl Pavano for No. 70 in the seventh.

McGwire moved four ahead of Sammy Sosa and ended nine - nine! - in front of Roger Maris' old record.

Sosa went 2-5 with no homers as the Cubs lost to Houston, 4-3, in 11 innings, but his season is not over with.

The Cubs will face the San Francisco Giants at Wrigley Field in Chicago on Monday night in a one-game playoff for the wild-card spot - a game in which Sosa's stats will count.

"I wish him the best of luck, along with the Giants," McGwire said.

McGwire, who has 10 multihomer games this year and 53 in his career, left many in awe.

"It's stranger than fiction, what this man has done," manager Tony La Russa said.

Expos manager Felipe Alou told his young pitchers to challenge McGwire.

"I left it up to God and the kid on the mound," Alou said. "I didn't want to tamper with history.

"Thank God the season's over, or he would hit 80."

McGwire hit a 1-1 fastball 377 feet into the left-field seats at 3:10 p.m. EST for No. 69.

After stomping on home plate, he took a few slow steps, then made several salutes to the sellout crowd. The fans who had stood well before his at-bat demanded and got two curtain calls.

With two on and two outs in the seventh and the score 3-all, he connected off Pavano (6-9), lining a first-pitch fastball 370 feet over the left-field wall at 3:19 p.m., sending the Cardinals on to a 6-3 win over the Expos.

"Every time the replay is show, I'm not going to turn the TV off," Pavano said. "I hope he hits 75 next year so people will forget I gave up No. 70.

"C'mon Mark, I'm rooting for you."

This time, even a curtain call from McGwire didn't quiet the 46,110 fans, who remained on their feet, cheering even as Brian Jordan took a called third strike for

Yesterday:

1-3, No homers

one game remaining

Yesterday:

3-3, 2 homers

Season completed

Sosa:

66

70

Tally

The

09-28-98