First, there was the ninth-inning fidgeting. Then, after the final out, Don Mattingly attempted to punch a hole in the Toronto SkyDome turf with his fist. Finally, in Sunday's postgame celebration, he smiled ear-to-ear.

After 1,785 games, Mattingly, for the first time in 14 seasons, gets to play first base for the New York Yankees in a postseason game. He'll do it tonight when the Yankees host the Seattle Mariners in Game 1 of their best-of-five first- round series.

"It's a tremendous relief," Mattingly, 34, said Monday.

"(Not making the playoff is) something you don't want mentioned when they talk about you."

Mattingly's long wait represents nearly a decade and a half of frustration for the tradition-laden Yankees.

They are in the postseason for the first time since they lost the 1981 World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers. That summer, Mattingly was an all-star outfielder for Class AA Nashville and a year away from being called up to the majors.

The game against the Mariners is only one of four playoff openers tonight. And rich story lines abound: Cleveland is in for the first time since 1954; Boston attempts to shake its curse of not winning a World Series since 1918; and the 3-year-old Colorado Rockies represent the ultimate in youthful franchises.

But nothing can match the Yankees' winning tradition and the mystique that runs through the franchise that has won 33 American League pennants and 22 World Series.

Even its Bronx home, Yankee Stadium, oozes history in all directions.

In left-center field is Monument Park, where 24 people are honored. Among Yankees: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Miller Huggins. Among others: Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II.

Look to right field, and home-run memories come alive: of Mickey Mantle's 563-foot shot, Roger Maris' 61st in '61 and Reggie Jackson's three in one World Series game.

Home plate is where Ruth and Gehrig delivered farewell speeches. The third-base line is where catcher Yogi Berra hugged Don Larsen after he pitched the World Series' only perfect game in 1956.

It's even underneath the stands. A clock with a pinstriped face and pictures of Ruth, Gehrig and Maris hangs in manager Buck Showalter's office. And behind his desk, encased in glass, is a uniform of former Yankees player and manager Billy Martin, who died in a car accident on Christmas Day 1989.

Yankees fans are unique, too.

"The first time I was in Yankee Stadium, I walked out of the visitors' dugout, and some fan started telling me how horse- (bleep) I was - the ever-so-polite New York fan," says outfielder Dion James, whose favorite player was Reggie Jackson. "But go back to the beginning of baseball, and the pinstripes are there. And upper-deck shots are not the same unless they are in Yankee Stadium."

Yankees roots are deep even among today's crop.

As a boy, infielder Pat Kelly's favorite player was Bucky Dent, the shortstop who hit the home run that won the '78 Eastern Division title for the Yankees.

"I was a shortstop and wore No. 20 because of Bucky Dent," Kelly says. "I cried when Thurman Munson died."

Now in the playoffs, Kelly and the Yankees were back home Monday for a 90-minute workout and looking ahead to tonight's game.

Their Game 1 starting pitcher, David Cone, who pitched for the New York Mets in the '88 postseason and Toronto in '92, says pitching in big games never gets routine. "I guarantee you, I'll still have trouble sleeping," he said.

The Yankees' drive to the playoffs was anything but routine. It actually began in the 1994 season, which ended with great disappointment for the Yankees. They had the American League's best record at 70-43, but the players strike stopped the season Aug. 12, without a September stretch run or World Series.

This season, spring training started late and Showalter had concerns.

"We are a veteran team, and we needed a full spring training," Showalter said. "We didn't want to get screwed twice because of the strike. I was concerned about our slow start and lack of spring training."

On Aug. 26, the outlook was grim. The Yankees were 5 games behind in the wild-card race.

But thanks to clutch pitching (rookie Andy Pettitte won five consecutive starts at the end of the season) and hitting (Bernie Williams, who finished with a .309 average, had perhaps the strongest September), the Yankees won 22 of 28 games to qualify for the American League wild-card berth. It sets them up for a run in the playoffs.

"Can't be much more pressure than we've been playing under in the last two weeks or month," Mattingly says.

Team owner George Steinbrenner likes what he sees in his team's low-key approach to celebrating the playoffs.

"It's like saying, 'We've got more to do,' " Steinbrenner said while fielding questions in the Yankees' dugout Monday.

Inside the locker room, Mattingly also was taking questions. He had held the record for active players for games played without appearing in a postseason game. Now that record belongs to Texas' Mickey Tettleton, with 1,325 games and no playoffs.

"We weren't doing it for me," Mattingly said of the Yankees' late-season surge.

It was for the team, he said.

Still, Mattingly's teammates are happy for him. "You think about the times the Yankees have been in (the postseason), and it is difficult to believe he's never made it," Cone said.

Outfielder Darryl Strawberry, who played with the '86 World Series champion New York Mets, says of Mattingly: "He put his heart and soul into the Yankees. It's good to see him smile."

Pettitte said Mattingly noted some irony between them. "He was joking with me and saying, 'Man, I can't believe you made it in your first year,' " Pettitte said.

Mattingly has had a noteworthy season.

He had an eye injury and back injury. He thought Steinbrenner was trying to run him out of New York. He wasn't hitting, his power numbers were down and he speculated about playing in Japan.

He finished with seven home runs, 49 RBI and a .288 batting average - not up to typical Mattingly standards. But those numbers don't matter much now.

It's playoff time. Yankee Stadium is staying open longer than it has in 14 years. And Mattingly will be at first base. Antonen, Mel

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