TORONTO - When Randy Knorr grounded into a force play at second base to not only end Sunday's game but halt a decade of Yankee frustration, Don Mattingly took a couple of steps toward the pitcher's mound, then knelt on one knee and punched the carpet with his fist.

He seemed to be saying, for himself and for all of the Yankees, that it had been a long time coming. A long time, indeed.

Fourteen years for the Yankees. One thousand, eight hundred and eighty-five games for Mattingly, to be exact.

``That's gone now,'' a beer-drenched Mattingly said in a happy clubhouse. ``I'm just wondering why I'm not as excited as I wanted to be. I know I haven't felt like that. I always felt like it was I who was having to go home and watch the games on TV. I am excited inside. But I feel like we've got a lot more to do.''

Ten years ago, a 24-year-old Mattingly, then in his second full season, had watched as the Toronto Blue Jays had eliminated his Yankees from the playoffs on the season's last weekend.

Back then, it never dawned on him that he would have to wait until now to finally get the chance to play in the post-season.

``I kind of felt like we'd be in it all the time,'' said Mattingly, perhaps the most relieved person in the Yankee organization. ``Coming up with the Yankees, it seemed like every year we won. I've said over the years that I always felt like I was going to get there. And I never gave up hope.''

Mattingly was asked about 1985 often this weekend. There was more than just a touch of irony, then, that in this, his 14th and perhaps final season with the Yankees, he reached the promised land, adding an exclamation point to the clincher with a home run in the fifth inning.

The Yankee captain has had a tough year. He has played through numerous injuries. He has been criticized more than at any point in his career for his inability to put up numbers in the home run (7) and runs batted in (49) departments. The perennial Gold Glove first baseman has spoken often about feeling unwanted and has hinted that the Yankee organization (read the owner George Steinbrenner) could have handled matters this season with more dignity.

``None of that stuff matters now,'' said Mattingly, who admitted before the Yankees' 6-1 victory over the Blue Jays Sunday that he had trouble sleeping the night before. ``It's been a tough year on me, but none of that stuff matters anymore.'' ^

Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium, Mattingly will no longer hold the dubious distinction of being known as the active player who had played the most career games without reaching the post-season.

``Every young kid growing up has dreamed of lining up at Yankee Stadium in October and having Bob Sheppard announce his name,'' said Buck Showalter, the Yankee manager. ``Tuesday night is going to be a special night. I remember Donnie as a 19-year-old, skinny-necked kid from Evansville. I feel blessed that I've had him pass my way. Anybody that doesn't think that this means so much to Donnie is not able to read between the lines.''

Showalter also talked of how much the other players wanted to reach the playoffs for Mattingly. The manager said he was going to use that desire as a motivational tool had the Yankees been forced to play a one-game playoff for the wild card on Monday afternoon.

``It was a trump card that I never had to play, but I would have brought it out on Monday,'' Showalter said. ``There is a silent torch that we have all carried for Donnie.''

No Yankee would deny that.

``That kind of guy should be playing in the playoffs and should have the chance to win it all,'' said Jack McDowell.

Said Pat Kelly, the Friday night hero after his game-winning home run at the Skydome: ``We might not be telling everybody what's going on. But there is an underlying meaning there.''

When asked what he meant, Kelly said: ``Like, hey, this is big for Donnie. Let's do it.''

Even Steinbrenner said: ``It's more important for Mattingly than for me because I've been there. I think the guys rallied for him. I really do.''

The Yankees had to rally quite a way, from five and a half games back in the wild-card race in the last month of the season. They rallied here on Friday. They put the Blue Jays away decisively on the final two days of the season, maintaining control of their destiny, something that Mattingly had deemed so important all weekend.

Now, at long last, the waiting is over. ``It's been an amazing feeling going down the stretch,'' Mattingly said. ``You don't worry about anything else but winning. I probably sound like everyone else who ever made it. But I feel great.'' By JASON DIAMOS

Copyright 1995 The New York Times