70! McGwire belts two in season finale 0 ST. LOUIS (AP) - An incredible 70 homers! Even Mark McGwire couldn't believe it. "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 e erybody 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. Ahe Cubs will face the San Francisco Giants at gley 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 THE tlf g TALLY McGwR: SOSA: YESTERDAY: 3-3, 2 HOMERS SEASON COMPLETED --------- YESTERDAY: 1-3, No HOMERS ONE GAME REMAINING 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-I 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 demand- ed 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 the third out of the inning. McGwire said No. 70 felt almost like No. 62, the homer that broke Maris' record, with the crowd at fever pitch and Expos infielders shaking his hand as he rounded the bases. "What can I say?" McGwire said. "I'm speechless." McGwire opened the year with a slam on March 31 against the Dodgers' Ramon Martinez, then led the home run race all season except when Sosa twice passed him briefly - and then for only 103 minutes in all. Sosa led for 58 minutes on Aug. 19 before McGwire regained went back ahead with his 48th and 49th homers in the same game at Chicago. Sosa led for 45 minutes on Friday when he hit his 66th before McGwire answered. Before connecting Friday, McGwire had been homerless in 14 at-bats. AP mPuHT Mark McGwire hit two home runs yesterday In the final game of the season, bring- Ing his total to 70. Roger Marts owned the home run record for 37 years with 61. -- - - --- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ---- --- ---- - - - --- ---n n n n -- --sa - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ----- - -- ---aa a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a aa----- --- --- --- --- --- --- Shte LiiganBatlg PORTS ONDAY {. 11111 NONE= 0 ' , _ . Offensive dominance will carry ths team Anthony Thomas didn't want to get tired playing in Saturday's game gainst Michigan State. It was that simple. So he made his intentions clear when he took the field for his first handoff. "I told (the linemen) on my first play going in that, 'The quicker we score, the quicker we get to rest,"' he said. Minutes later, after busting through a hole the size of Sedrick Irvin's ego, Thomas powered down the right side- line for a 69-yard touchdown. And suddenly Michigan's offense was in rare form: It was working. Interesting ... Rest + motivation= success. Seems simple enough. Whether or not Thomas was chasing a seat under the Cool Zone, he sparked the Michigan offense to a sea- son-best perfor- mance. He car- ried the game's momentum with him into the end zone - and in this contest that was no small feat. MARK SNYDER Mark My Words sy, there is no such problem under cen- ter. Tom Brady, Carr's original choice as the starter, played with uncanny calm and demonstrated a fine touch on some thread-the-needle passes. Michigan wide receiver Marcus Knight - Brady's favorite receiver thus far - said he "trusts" that Brady will put the ball where it needs to be. In this postgame, there was more of a supportive atmosphere among the offense than in past weeks. The Wolverines are beginning to demon- strate faith in their leader, and he is responding in kind. Despite throwing an interception on his second pass, Brady hung tough. Carr is big on being "mentally strong'"and on Saturday, Brady kept his cool. This week's game was all Brady. He played the whole game, and healthy heir apparent Drew Henson watched wearing a baseball cap, not a helmet. Though Brady's numbers were unspectacular (15-of-26, 208 yards), he effectively marched the offense when necessary, and spread the ball around, throwing a beautiful fade pass to Tai Streets for a touchdown in one instance, while connecting with Knight on a 48- yard bomb a different time. It was the first time the Wolverines looked like his team. So, after four games, it's time for an update. We're well into the regular season and the offense, which has an entirely new backfield, is carrying the team. The run- pass balance is nearly even and most important, the threat exists on both ends. Michigan is gaining confidence - from its successful offense, not its for- merly-dominating 'D'- and big plays are contagious. Now is the Wolverines' opportunity to prove how good they really are. The pressure to succeed at Michigan tailed off following the season-opening losses. Expectations decreased and the focus shifted to the Big Ten season. Well, now it's here, and Michigan's new record stands at 1-0. A win at Iowa will rekindle football fever around Ann Arbor and the pressure to win every week will return. But pressure is what they should want. Tight victories build Carr's infa- mous "character," and come Ohio State time, Michigan will need firepower and resolve from all directions. Saturday was a progressive step toward building an offensive machine. In five days, we see if it was tempo- The Michigan-Michigan State rivalry is rarely marked by exceptional football on either side of the ball. As Lloyd Carr said, "neither team played great foot- ball," but the intensity was there. That intensity turned into fire for Michigan. When asked where the Michigan offense came from, Thomas was frank. "It was the rivalry"he said. For the first time all season, Michigan executed its offense as Carr imagined, compiling 414 yards. Why it took this long remains some- what of a mystery, though. One possible explanation is the strength of the backfield. If Carr decid- ed that Thomas would be the primary tailback, his choice was rewarded. Thomas' lengthy touchdown run brought the crowd to its feet and got the offense rolling. When Carr saw the final stats, his team ran over the Spartan defense for 206 yards, with Thomas accounting for more than half. All should be perfect in the tailback world, but Car's search for one lead back still exists. While Thomas ran wild in the first half, after the break, Clarence Williams handled the bulk of the duties, carrying the ball nine times to finish with 88 yards. In contrast, after weeks of controver- WARREN ZINN/Daily Michigan wide receiver Tat Streets entertained the student section on Saturday, grabbing a 5-yard touchdown pass away from Michigan State cornerback Renaldo Hill. The Wolverines also grabbed victory from Michigan State, despite turnovers and occasional sloppy play. rary. - Mark Snyder can be reached at msnyder@uich.edu.