NOTES

Players and front-office officials from both teams, as evidenced by their refusal to comment, were clearly upset that Garcia signed autographs for fans down the left-field line in Yankee Stadium during Game 2.

Garcia’s ruling that no fan interference had occurred on Jeter’s home run made him a hit among Yankee fans.

*

There are bold moves, and then there was Yankee Manager Joe Torre’s decision Friday to bench slumping third baseman Wade Boggs and struggling right fielder Paul O’Neill--both highly regarded left-handed batters--against Oriole right-hander Mike Mussina.

O’Neill, slowed by a hamstring injury, is three for 20 in postseason play, and Boggs, who says he is fully recovered from back spasms, is one for 17. Boggs said it was the first time in his 15-year career that he was benched against a right-hander.

“It eats at my gut, being one for 17,” he said. “If you watch my at-bats, that’s not Wade Boggs at the plate. I’m swinging at bad pitches. That’s not me.”

Torre said he expects Boggs to be in the lineup tonight but wanted to give him a day to clear his head and refine his approach, a difficult task, Boggs admits.

“This is a bad time of year to try to find your swing, and mine is adrift in the ocean,” Boggs said. “But I have a pretty good compass. I can usually find my way back home.”

Neither Boggs nor O’Neill seemed overly upset.

“I have no answers for this thing,” O’Neill said. “Not being able to perform is frustrating, but if we win [Friday night] I’ll be the happiest guy in the locker room.”

*

Baltimore rookie pitcher Rocky Coppinger, whose real first name is John, said his father nicknamed him Rocky at birth “because he looked all beat up and ugly” right after coming into the world.

Coppinger will face Kenny Rogers in Game 4 tonight.

*

They meet, finally: Twenty-three years ago, Oriole shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. and Yankee pitcher Jimmy Key were losing pitchers on teams that fell two games shy of meeting each other in the Little League World Series. Ripken played for West Asheville, N.C., and Key for Huntsville, Ala.