Big Hits

Mariano Duncan has played before for teams that won. The Dodgers. The Reds. He's come up with big hits before. The homer he hit off Lee Smith to slam- dunc the Cardinals on Mother's Day this year comes immediately to mind. But you couldn't convince the Phillies second baseman last night that he had ever done anything more significant on a baseball field. Duncan's grand slam in the seventh inning was the final exclamation mark on the Phillies' magical regular season. Their 10-7 win over the Pirates finally reduced their magic number to 0. Six games up with five to play . . . "That was the biggest hit of my life," Duncan said, champagne dripping from his chin.

"I wanna be your number one," sang former heartthrob Deborah Harry from the stage of the Chestnut Cabaret on Saturday night. Ironically, that lyrical plea is from "Rapture," a No. 1 hit for Harry's band, Blondie, back on Valentine's Day of 1981. But America's love affair with Blondie faded fast. The group's novelties - quick-pulsing backbeat synthesizers and pulse-pounding upfront sexuality - became standard features of '80s pop. So now, after the artistic and commercial fizzle of her first two solo albums, Harry is begging in earnest for our affection.

Methacton second baseman Kristi DiVenanzio had been hoping for a moment like this. With two runners on base and two outs in the second inning of a scoreless tie with visiting Upper Merion yesterday, DiVenanzio smoked a two-run triple to center field, sending her team to a key 5-3 softball victory. The win gave the Warriors (12-7 overall, 11-3 Suburban One Freedom Division) an opportunity to win their eighth straight league title outright tomorrow if they defeat Upper Dublin.

Roxborough's Brian Burns, a senior righthander with a bad left ankle, struck out 10 batters on the way to a 12-2 rout of Edison yesterday in the quarterfinals of the Public League baseball playoffs. The Indians (20-1), the defending league champions, will meet Central (11-7), a 9-8 comeback winner over Southern yesterday, in the semifinals tomorrow at Northeast High. Burns, now 6-0 in league play, twisted his ankle on Tuesday. "I was playing basketball, which was a stupid thing to do, now that I look back on it," he said.

The analysis was simple and right to the point. St. Joseph softball coach Candi Dean explained how the Wildcats fell just short of earning their first state title. Leading by 2-0 after one inning, St. Joseph missed several opportunities to build on that margin and fell, 3-2 in eight innings to Montclair Kimberly in yesterday's state Non-Public B championship at Toms River North. "We didn't get the big hits, and I guess it just wasn't our day," said Dean, whose 21-5 team is ranked third in South Jersey by The Inquirer.

With her top pitcher, lefthander Nicole Singel, sidelined with a concussion, Downingtown East softball coach Marie DiCecco turned to freshman Meghan Hayn to make her first career start yesterday. Unfortunately for Hayn, the opponent was two-time defending Ches-Mont League champion Downingtown West. Hayn, who has played a variety of positions for the Cougars this season, found the going tough. The Whippets (7-0 overall and in the league) touched Hayn for nine runs in the first two innings of a game that was halted after five innings.

Tino Martinez is the most experienced postseason player on either roster in the National League Championship Series, but that has not translated into success this October for the St. Louis Cardinals first baseman. Martinez, just 2 for 25 in seven games this postseason, was benched last night for Game 5 of the championship series against the San Francisco Giants. With lefthander Kirk Rueter pitching for the Giants, and the Cardinals facing elimination, manager Tony La Russa replaced the lefthanded-hitting Martinez with righthanded-hitting Eduardo Perez.

Outside the Wachovia Center, Flyers fans were fueling up on expensive beer at the free block party, anticipating taking another step closer to the Stanley Cup Finals. A couple hours later, when the puck was dropped for the opening face-off for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals, they were in full throat, confident they could rattle the team with virtually no playoff pedigree, the team still stewing in the juices of Monday's 6-2 blowout loss in Game 2. Actually, it was exactly the kind of atmosphere the Tampa Bay Lightning seem to relish these days.

The Phillies had every reason to be excited about the prospects of Chad Ogea pitching last night. Five days earlier, in Chicago, the righthander had begun a seven-game road trip with a brilliant start against the Cubs. The question Ogea had to answer as he returned to the mound against the Pittsburgh Pirates was simple: Was that start against the Cubs an aberration, or was it really the beginning of something good? Ultimately, the answer came in a painful fourth inning when Ogea was tagged for eight runs en route to a 9-1 loss at Three Rivers Stadium.

Pardon Ulf Samuelsson if he's a bit confused these days. The Flyers defenseman has been a healthy scratch for the last three games. In his entire 16-year career, the soon-to-be 36-year-old had never before missed a game as a healthy scratch. "Obviously, they have not liked the way I performed," Samuelsson said yesterday. "I have to make sure to work harder and get myself back in there. " The soonest he could return to the ice would be tonight in Nashville against the Predators.