AMERICAN LEAGUE: INSIDE THE A.L.: WELLS LEADS N.Y. STARTERS' DOWNTURN.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

David Wells knows the line he straddles every time he takes the mound. When he pitches well, he's charismatic, eccentric, tons of fun. When he gets shelled, he's fat, lazy, lacking the necessary work ethic.

So when Wells gave up a season-high 10 earned runs Wednesday in an 11-2 shellacking by the Chicago White Sox, an outing that further deepened the New York Yankees' concerns over their starting pitching, it didn't come as a shock that pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre called Wells out for his unwillingness to throw between starts.

``I think this time of year he gets into his `save the bullets' routine,'' Stottlemyre told the New York Daily News after Wells' second consecutive lackluster outing. ``He needs to do more work. He's not in as good a shape as he was earlier in the year.''

Two days later, Wells issued his response through the talk-radio medium, calling Stottlemyre's comments ``petty'' and claiming that he works out every day. On Thursday, Stottlemyre, manager Joe Torre and Wells sat down behind closed doors to clear the air, but the meeting left the ``hefty lefty,'' as he's known in New York, dissatisfied.

Of greater concern to the Yankees is the suddenly very mortal state of their starting pitching. Roger Clemens was drilled for nine runs by the White Sox on Tuesday, and Jose Contreras' turn at Fenway Park on Friday was disastrous - three innings, seven earned runs. At least Contreras has youth on his side. The same can't be said of Clemens and Wells as the Yankees head toward October.

``We're well-aware that we have a couple of starters that are 40 years old,'' Torre said.

--Mueller time: The Boston Red Sox have two legitimate MVP candidates in Nomar Garciaparra and Manny Ramirez. They also have the American League's potential batting champion in third baseman Bill Mueller, whose .326 average leads the league.

At the bargain price of $2.1 million, Mueller has been a major find for the Red Sox.

``I tell you something right now,'' Boston hitting coach Ron Jackson said. ``I wish I had a hundred Bill Muellers.''

For good reason. Mueller had three hits and four RBI against the Yankees on Friday night, and in his first season in the AL, he's hitting .380 with four homers against New York.

The Red Sox knew they had a good defensive third baseman this spring, but weren't sure about Mueller offensively after he hit .188. When the games started for real, Mueller, a .262 hitter lifetime, quietly embarked on a career season.

``He's putting together a pretty special year,'' second baseman Todd Walker said. ``He had such a tough spring training, too. I think he hit about a buck-fifty and he could have been down from that. Instead, he's turned it into one of the best years I've ever seen a third baseman have.''

Gabe Lacques, [phone]

gabe.lacques(at)sgvn.com