DATE: Thursday, October 9, 1997             TAG: 9710090710

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BOB MOLINARO

DATELINE: BALTIMORE                         LENGTH:   61 lines

ORIOLES FEEL CHEATED IT'S INDIANS AND NOT YANKEES

Damn Yankees.

A year ago, the New Yorkers soundly defeated the Baltimore Orioles. A year later, the Yankees disappointed this city again - by losing to the Cleveland Indians.

The Yankees are despised here. For that reason, they are missed.

In the hours and minutes leading up to Game 1 of the American League Championship Series, members of the Orioles family were fighting a letdown.

Even after falling out of the playoffs, the Yankees were not far from the Orioles' thoughts.

``I kind of had my mind set on the Yankees,'' said Orioles manager Davey Johnson. ``My mind, my heart, the whole thing.''

Said Kevin Malone, Orioles assistant general manager: ``We were looking forward to going up to Yankee Stadium and doing to them what they did to us last year.''

Last October, the World Series-bound Yankees embarrassed the Orioles at Camden Yards in the ALCS, sweeping all three games.

For the Birds, the last year has been all about revenge. This was supposed to be payback time. Now that the Yankees are nowhere to be found, this city, if not its team, feels cheated.

For the local paper, a bartender who works near Camden Yards put his spin on the Yankees unexpected demise.

``Mixed feelings,'' said the mixologist. ``It's like watching your mother-in-law drive off a cliff in your new Mercedes.''

No one here thinks the Cleveland Indians will crash the Orioles' party. But what if the visitors put a scare into the Birds? Still won't be the same. For Baltimore, nobody inspires contempt the way the Yankees do.

The Indians and their fans should understand this. Advancing at the expense of the Yankees made their unexpected victory that much sweeter.

``The Indians are a super team,'' Malone said, ``but we'll miss the rivalry with the Yankees and all the things that came with it.''

Like the memory of the larcenous lad in rightfield.

``Like Jeff, whatever his name was,'' said Johnson.

That would be Maier, Jeffrey Maier. The image of the 12-year-old New Jersey truant plucking a fly ball away from Orioles outfielder Tony Tarasco in the opening game of last year's ALCS is still very much on the minds and in the hearts of Baltimore's burghers.

A year later, Orioles fans still can work up quite a dislike for Little Jeffrey What's His Name. But nobody bleeding black and orange carries psychological baggage into a series with the Indians.

Won't the absence of the dreaded Yankees sap some of the juice from this series?

``Just 50 less New York reporters here,'' shrugged Johnson before the game. ``I could do without them. We thought we'd have to be the ones to stop the Yankees. Nobody on this club's heart is broken, though.''

But what of the fans with their Yankees hangup?

Cleveland, the city if not the team, is so much like Baltimore. Cleveland is located on a lake; Baltimore a harbor. Both towns have been on the rise, celebrated for their urban renewal, retro ballparks and working-class chic. Neither city makes a pretense at sophistication.

What's more, some Crabtown citizens feel badly - rightly so - that Maryland conspired to steal the beloved Cleveland Browns.

Pity is a poor substitute for hate.

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