BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : AMERICAN LEAGUE PLAYOFFS : Molitor Enjoys Postseason Experience

There is White Sox rookie Jason Bere, who realized his childhood dream Saturday night by pitching in the American League playoffs. There’s Blue Jay shortstop Tony Fernandez, who can’t believe he was playing for the miserable New York Mets in June, and four months later is in the playoffs.

Yet, no one appears to be relishing this moment more than the oldest man in these playoffs, 37-year-old designated hitter Paul Molitor of the Blue Jays, who’s playing in his first postseason since 1982.

“The first time, it just flew by,” Molitor said. “You’re riding 10 feet off the ground through the whole playoffs and the World Series and you don’t have a chance to take a lot of it in.

“To this point, I’ve been trying to just really savor each thing--the games, the fan response, just the atmosphere of a playoff game. I’ve really missed that feeling for a long time.”

Certainly, when you’re a 26-year-old kid and have already been to the American League playoffs, you never envision it might take another 11 years before returning.

“It’s just something that when it happens like that, you expect it to kind of come back your way a few times,” Molitor said. “And it just never worked out that way until now.

“I never really lost hope that it could happen again, but to wait 11 years, it adds to your respect for the situation. There’s naturally a greater appreciation of what team success is all about, and what postseason play is all about.”

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Hank Bauer, formerly of the New York Yankees, was sitting at his home in Overland Park, Kan., when his son telephoned, gleefully relaying the news.

Blue Jay catcher Pat Borders had just gone hitless, meaning that Bauer’s record 17-game hitting streak in postseason play will stand for a few more years. Borders’ hitting streak had lasted 16 games.

“When he popped up in the eighth inning,” Bauer said, “my youngest son called and said, ‘He isn’t going to break it, Dad.’

“I told him, ‘That guy (Borders) don’t even know who the hell Hank was.’ ”

Bauer, whose hitting streak was accomplished during the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers and the 1957 and 1958 World Series against the Milwaukee Braves, proved to be correct.

Said Borders: “I’ve heard of him, but I don’t really know who he is.”

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Lamont, on standing up to Bell after being verbally assaulted: “If you don’t do that, you lose your team. You might say you’re a big league manager, but you’re not.

“I’m sure he didn’t like what I had to say, but I don’t think it changed his mind or anything.”

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Bell met privately with American League President Bobby Brown on Saturday, appealing the two-game suspension he was given in September. Brown will announce his ruling after the World Series. . . . Frank White’s walk in the first inning was his eighth of the series, an American League playoff record. . . . White Sox outfielder Ellis Burks was on the winning side in a playoff game for the first time on Friday. He had been on the losing side in 10 previous playoff games, eight with the Boston Red Sox. . . . White Sox starter Wilson Alvarez became the 23rd former Texas Ranger pitcher to appear in a postseason game, and the 18th in the last 13 years.