New Yankee Has A Blast Maas-Ive Homer Helps Beat M's

Move over, Babe and Lou. Make room, Mickey and Roger.

Here comes Kevin.

OK, OK. Maybe it's a lot too soon to put a kid in the pinstripe pantheon so quickly. But speaking of soon, none of those immortals hit it as big as soon as Kevin Maas has.

According to the Yankees, Maas, who wouldn't have seen New York for another three weeks if Don Mattingly hadn't hied to Indiana with a bad back, hit 10 homers quicker than anyone ever has, in 78 at-bats.

Of course, what concerned the Seattle Mariners last night was HR No. 12 in AB No. 94, neither number claiming to be anything but the memorable third-deck shot that started the Yankees to a 3-1 win over Erik Hanson, who lost a four-hit complete game.

Seattle also lost catcher Dave Valle for at least several games after he was hit in the head with a pitch by Yankee starter Mike Witt. Valle was taken to Providence Hospital for precautionary examinations.

``I don't think I can hit a ball better,'' said Maas, the mechanical engineer from Cal-Berkeley with the good mechanics. ``I don't know about hitting it farther.''

The Kingdome belt, the 30th ball ever hit into the right-field stratosphere, was measured at 448 feet. Maas hit a second-deck ball at Yankee Stadium that was put at 362 feet. ``I hit that Stadium ball really well,'' he said. ``There's no way there was that much difference between the two.''

So impressive was this homer that Maas sneaked a peek upward as he followed the ball to the right. ``I was a little shocked,'' he said, adding that the home run was dedicated to his grandparents, Eddie and Emma, from Hermiston, Ore.

Maas is not shocked by his white-hot start, however. He referred to a home-run record at Berkeley followed by a streak of 12 homers in 108 at-bats in Class A ball and 28 homers for the 1988 season when he moved up to Class AA.

``The pace has been unexpected, but not the power,'' he said. ``I've worked to be a power hitter. But I'm not thinking home run, I'm thinking good swing.

``The homer tonight was off a good fastball. When you hit one with a good swing, the pitcher supplies all the power. I think he gave me too good a pitch, for a guy he didn't know.''

The blow that blew the 1-1 game open in the seventh was Matt Nokes' flip single to right field on an 0-2 hanging breaking ball.

That scored Mel Hall from second base; and Maas, who had been walked intentionally, went to third, drew a poor throw from right-fielder Greg Briley, and scored a crucial 3-1 run.

That was more than enough to topple the Mariners, whose offense came close to a second straight off-day. Seattle went 0 for 14 with runners in scoring position, a pitiful thing in which 11 batters took part.

``Our lack of hitting with men in scoring position says it all,'' Mariner Manager Jim Lefebvre said. ``It's a shame to waste a good pitching performance like that. We need someone to step forward and start swinging the bat.''

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NOTES

Swift returns

after suffering

`worst moment'

Bill Swift got a lot of long looks yesterday. People kept coming up to him to check out the spot on his forehead where Gary Gaetti's line drive hit Sunday.

``It was the worst moment of my life,'' said Swift, who has only a slight bruise to show for the incident. ``But when it was all over, I was more worried about my wife Michelle.''

Michelle Swift is expecting.

-- Eight weeks to the day after his shoulder surgery, Mariner right-hander Scott Bankhead threw 60 pitches yesterday. ``I feel great,'' he said. ``I'm not close to cutting loose, but I threw the ball firmly. I'll try throwing all my pitches soon.''

Bankhead hopes to be ready to do some pitching in the Arizona Instructional League, which starts at the end of the major-league season.

-- Kevin Maas' long home run in the second inning made him the 21st player ever to hit a ball into the third deck in right field. It was the 30th time it has been done, the second time this year. Toronto's Fred McGriff did it earlier.

-- Before the game, the New York press was pressing Tom Seaver, currently a color announcer for Yankee TV, to say more on his prospects of becoming a Yankee general manager. ``We have talked and nothing more,'' he said.

- Bob Finnigan