Roger Maris

It is dusk in Los Angeles, and some of the greatest Yankees ever are standing in front of a gray concrete wall, defending themselves against the little man with the thick-handled baseball bat. They flip the baseball, he returns it with an easy turn of his wrists, a blur of old wood, a damp thwack and a tiny dark shadow back across the moist grass.

Shaun Powell of Newsday is stunned by the politeness and cheery greetings he is getting from Olympic Games volunteers in Sydney. "My fellow New Yorkers, I am tired of this. Tired of complete strangers asking me--no, ordering me--to have a swell time. This kind of attitude is one of many reasons why Sydney is hopelessly and drastically different than the city I left two weeks ago. ". . . If you stay here long enough, the place gets to you.

In a spectacular conclusion to the regular season, Mark McGwire virtually wrapped up baseball's great home run race Sunday and proved Sammy Sosa right: He is the man. The St. Louis Cardinal first baseman walloped his 69th and 70th home runs in a 6-3 victory over the Montreal Expos, lifting what is probably the most renowned and romanticized record in sports to a Himalayan level that left even McGwire gasping. "I'm in awe of myself right now," he said. "I can't believe I did it.

The flashbulbs darkened, the cameras no longer focused, the buzz gone silent, Sammy Sosa's smile also momentarily disappeared. "Fifty years from now, I hope people will remember me, too," he said. "When they mention Mark McGwire, I hope they will also mention me." So do I. But they probably won't. After giving the sports world three months of memories so equally thrilling and charming we will pass them along to our children, Sammy Sosa now needs something from us.

McGwire HOME RUNS: 65 WEDNESDAY (GAME 158): 0 GAMES LEFT: 4 * WEDNESDAY 1 for 3 vs. Houston * 1st inning: Walked against Randy Johnson. * 3rd inning: Walked against Johnson. * 5th inning: Singled against Johnson. * 7th inning: Flied to left against Johnson. * 9th inning: Flied to center against Billy Wagner. * BY CATEGORY vs. left-handed pitchers: 15 vs.

Mark McGwire's long-distance home runs have been the highlight of the baseball season. So how far does he hit a golf ball? An infrequent golfer, McGwire made an indelible impression on PGA Tour player Billy Andrade, who was McGwire's partner at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in 1991 and 1993. "Hank Kuehne [the reigning U.S. Amateur champion] says he hits it farther than Tiger Woods," Andrade told John Strege of Golf World magazine.

If Bronswell Patrick and Eric Plunk had it to do over, they would put their pitches just a little further out of Sammy Sosa's reach. Instead, the two Milwaukee Brewer relievers will go down as the guys who gave up home runs No. 61 and 62 to Sosa. "I'm not much of a sports fan," said Plunk, who gave up No. 62 on a 2-and-1 fastball. "That's cool that [he topped Roger Maris], but it's just one more than 61, that's all."

Even though Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire are tied with 62 homers, Fox isn't planning to preempt network programming this week to show their games. The Chicago Cub games at San Diego tonight and Tuesday will be televised by WGN. St. Louis' home games against Pittsburgh tonight and Tuesday will not be televised nationally. ESPN will pick its Wednesday baseball lineup today, and it will include two games on ESPN and two on ESPN2. Chicago-San Diego figures to be one game and Pittsburgh at St.

Nearing twilight of a historic day, Sammy Sosa left for San Diego and the second stage of the Great Home Run Chase while his bat and uniform jersey were en route to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. Meanwhile, the ball that was hit out of Wrigley Field in the ninth inning Sunday, the one that enabled the Cub outfielder to tie Mark McGwire's five-day-old record of 62, was in custody at a nearby police station.