NEW YORK (Reuter) - Disenchanted fans? Not at Yankee Stadium Tuesday night.

It may be too early to say if baseball is forgiven, but it's starting to look that way.

The largest crowd at the stadium since renovations reduced its capacity in 1976 cheered the New York Yankees to a 9-6 victory over the Seattle Mariners in their first-round playoff series, and it often seemed that all 57,178 of them were on their feet, clapping, chanting and screaming. It was an enormous contrast with the listless atmosphere this year.

"I thought it was such a passionate energy in the ballpark tonight, " said Yankee manager Buck Showalter.

"I told Buck it's the loudest I've seen here in a long, long time, " said Mariners manager Lou Piniella, a former Yankee player, manager and general manager.

But Piniella added that the Mariners had received a similar home reception as the battle for post-season position went down the stretch. "We've seen that in Seattle the past two weeks of the season," he said.

In the wake of the labor dispute that wiped out last year's post- season and shortened this season, attendance has been down by nearly one-fifth around the league and slightly higher than that at Yankee Stadium.

And the atmosphere at Yankee Stadium has often been ugly as owner George Steinbrenner berated the fans for not turning out to support his club. But worst of all have been the whisperings against his captain, Don Mattingly -- the crowd favorite who has now erased what he called the "asterisk" of being the player with the longest streak of games without a post-season appearance.

"I'm happy to be here, I'm proud," said the man for whom the crowd chanted "Donnie Baseball" all night long.

"For me it's obviously the first time out here. It's a wild scene. I can't imagine anyplace I'd rather be. It's better than I even thought it would be," said Mattingly, who went 2-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored.

Another veteran, Wade Boggs, had seen New York baseball frenzy in 1986 when his Boston Red Sox lost the World Series to the New York Mets in seven games. "This is what it's all about," said Boggs, who went 3-for-5 with a homer, two RBI and two runs scored.

"It's post-season and it's New York. It's exciting. I've seen it all here in '86, but it's still exciting."

Showalter had often asked veterans of the old glory Yankee teams what it was like to play in such excitement.

"Tonight I got a feeling for it," he said. "There was just such electricity in the air here. Seattle is a tough place to play, they certainly can be very loud there, but I can't imagine a more electric ballpark than there was here tonight."

Said winning pitcher and World Series veteran David Cone: "I can honestly say that's probably the most amazing crowd I've ever seen.

"Bases loaded, one out in the sixth inning, they're on their feet chanting on every pitch. It's an amazing feeling to be part of something like that."

Indeed, in the sixth the crowd was chanting "Let's go Yankees" as Seattle third baseman Mike Blowers battled to a full count, thanks in part to a checked swing the fans -- and Steinbrenner, fuming and cursing in the pressbox -- thought should have been strike three.

Cone then walked in the tying run that made it 2-2.

But the fans stayed behind him, Cone said. "The crowd can really pull you through jams. I had the bases loaded and I walked a run in. They really got me through the inning."

Cone got Luis Sojo to fly out with bases still loaded, ending that threat.

Then after the Yankees went up again, 4-2, thanks to some Mattingly heroics, Ken Griffey tied it up for Seattle with his second home run of the game.

"There were no boos, the crowd started chanting again, even after the second home run to Griffey that tied the game 4-4," said Cone. "The crowd never gave up."

Cone, who played with the Mets as well as a championship Toronto Blue Jays team, said: "That's New York. From the opening bell, when Donnie Mattingly walked on the field, the ovation he got, running warm-up sprints before the game.

"The cheers I got walking out to the bullpen -- that's something you just don't see everywhere. That's New York." Hill, Gary

Copyright 1995 Reuters Ltd.