A CHANGE IN STRIPES

By Steve Wulf

No offense to Dwight Gooden, but those plans to do a TV movie about his life now seem laughable. For one thing, the Doctor is nowhere near as good as he was when he threw his redemptive no-hitter in May, and producers were talking Denzel Washington. For another, it will be hard to build a climax around Gooden's losing his spot in the rotation to Ramiro Mendoza. There is a far more compelling reason, though, to condemn the biopic to development: Gooden's comeback is just one small episode in a tale of epic dimensions. TV movie? Heck, the 1996 New York Yankees are the Iliad.

From their fortress in the Bronx, these Yankees have withstood the Baltimore Orioles' record barrage of home runs, a slew of injuries, a depleted starting rotation, the usual internal machinations, a terrible deal with the commissioner's own Milwaukee Brewers, jokes about trying to reassemble the '86 Mets and newspaper headlines telling them it's PANIC TIME. Their heroes have been a classical guitarist, a baby-faced shortstop, the brother of a New York Times food critic, a slugger who has never once looked critically at food, a pitcher coming back from a life-threatening condition, a Panamanian who built a canal from the sixth inning to the ninth and a field general who just might win Manager of the Year and the Nobel Peace Prize. If these valiant warriors weren't in pinstripes, they might be considered one of the great overachieving teams of all time.

But they are the New York Yankees, and they are owned by George Steinbrenner, so it's hard to conceive of them as good guys. In fact, most of the baseball world was rooting for the Orioles when they came to New York last week, having shaved the Yankees' 12-game lead on July 30 all the way down to three games, with 13 remaining in the season. Never mind that the Orioles had already become the greatest home run-hitting team of all time--their 243 homers had eclipsed the record of the '61 Maris and Mantle Yankees (240). And never mind that Baltimore owner Peter Angelos had purchased a page from Steinbrenner's manual by assembling a team of high-priced stars. The Yankees were the antagonists, even though they have become a remarkably selfless, un-Yankee-like team. Before the Tuesday opener of the three-game series, manager Joe Torre mentioned, "Darryl [Strawberry] popped his head into my office at 3 and said he'd understand if I started Tim Raines instead of him. A lot of guys are putting their egos on hold." Alas, everybody was put on hold while the umps waited 2 1/2 hours to call the game on account of rain.

But the next night's game more than lived up to its billing. The Yankees' Andy Pettitte, a 21-game winner already and a Harry Connick Jr. look-alike, hooked up in a pitcher's duel with Scott Erickson. Going into the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees trailed 2-1, and the O's looked as if they might pull to within two games. But Paul O'Neill, whose sister Molly is the food critic, and Cecil Fielder, the heaviest hitter the Yankees have had since Babe Ruth, both walked. With one out, center fielder and guitarist Bernie Williams singled in the tying run.

The Most Valuable Player on the Yankees, and perhaps in the American League, is a relief pitcher with just five saves. But Panamanian Mariano Rivera, 26, has been so effective in middle relief that he and closer John Wetteland have turned most Yankee games into six-inning contests. Rivera, who came on in the ninth, set the Orioles down one-two-three in the tenth. In the bottom of the inning, rookie shortstop Derek Jeter raised his average to .317 with a lead-off single, then scored the winning run on a single by another rookie, Mariano's cousin Ruben Rivera.

"My heart can't stop jumping," said Torre after the game. "That was old-fashioned baseball the way it ought to be played. Didn't matter who won, although I'm glad it was us." Torre is a rarity for several reasons: 1) very good players don't usually make very good managers; 2) he is both honest and diplomatic; and 3) his attitude about being the skipper of the Yankees is extremely healthy. "This is George's chair," he said the other day, pointing to the seat behind his desk. "I'm just borrowing it."

On Thursday the Yankees won the first game of their doubleheader, 9-3, to increase their lead to five games. It looked as if that would be six when they took a 6-1 lead in the nightcap with ace David Cone on the mound. Cone had been brilliant since returning after four months of rehab following surgery on his right arm. But he frittered away his lead, and the O's got to Rivera for three runs in the eighth to win 10-9. SPLIT HAPPENS, read the New York Post.

It was a remarkable week for baseball, what with Paul Molitor getting his 3,000th hit on Monday, Hideo Nomo pitching a no-hitter on Tuesday, Roger Clemens striking out a record 20 on Wednesday, the Seattle Mariners closing to within two of the first-place Texas Rangers on Thursday. And there should be more in store for the last week of the regular season, including a celebration for a gallant team worthy of celebration.

Sorry. They're the Yankees.