BIG MAC, IT'S TIME TO LET LOOSE; FIRST BASEMAN FED UP WITH HOME RUN TALK.

Byline: Eric Noland Daily News Staff Writer

The reluctant phenomenon.

That might best describe Mark McGwire as he arrives at Dodger Stadium today with his inhuman biceps and ungodly statistics.

The St. Louis Cardinals first baseman is hitting home runs with greater frequency - and hitting them farther - than anyone in baseball history. He could overtake a home-run record that Roger Maris has held for 36 years, and an RBI mark that Hack Wilson has owned for 67 years. And yet he said he can't understand what all the fuss is about.

Really. Looks you right in the eye and expresses that.

Over the weekend in San Diego, where McGwire set a major-league record for most home runs through the month of May - 27 - he wore a perpetual scowl and seemed testy at every turn. A sampling of scenes:

Perhaps 8,000 fans filled the left-field seats for batting practice before the series opener, and McGwire, 34, was cheered warmly the first time he stepped into the cage. He shook his head back and forth several times, then laid down a bunt.

Receiving ovations on the road ``is very flattering,'' McGwire said later, ``but I'm realistic about things. This is not an individual sport. . . . I could see if you're a golfer and Tiger Woods is at the driving range and you want to see him hit 300-yard drives. He controls his destiny. I can't. I have a bat in my hands and there's a guy on the mound trying to get me out (in a game). It's a little bit different.''

The scene at the rail above the Cardinals' dugout was almost biblical in nature, with fans literally climbing over one another to get close. You half expected to see an autograph-seeker on a mat lowered through a hole in the roof.

McGwire: ``When I was a kid, I could care less about what guys (in the major leagues) did. Nowadays, you hear kids say, `You're my hero.' It sort of ticks me off because I never did that when I was a kid. My comeback is, `Your father's your hero.' ''

McGwire further griped that he has commanded headlines throughout this season when he hasn't hit home runs, and wondered aloud why he was considered a more sought-after news subject than any of his teammates.

``Nobody's ever hit a home run every game,'' McGwire said. ``I think sometimes people are getting so wrapped up in this home-run stuff that they're (failing) to realize that baseball is not a home-run game. It's the game of baseball.''

My. Here we haven't even gotten to Flag Day yet and the man is already exasperated by the frenzy he and his bat have generated. Imagine what it will be like if he is mounting a serious challenge to Maris' record of 61 home runs come September.

McGwire might do well to lighten up and enjoy the moment, which was the case in recent years as Cal Ripken Jr. chased Lou Gehrig's ironman record, Pete Rose tried to match Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak, and George Brett sought to join Ted Williams as a .400 hitter.

Even as McGwire attempts to shrug off his feats, teammates, managers and former players ratchet up the rhetoric in attempting to describe them. And him.

Said former Dodgers and Cardinals pitcher Rick Sutcliffe, a broadcaster in San Diego: ``It's almost like they should have another league besides this one, and somebody should call McGwire up, because he's that much better than anybody at this level.''

Cardinals pitcher Todd Stottlemyre, a teammate of McGwire's at Oakland who previously had faced him while a member of the Toronto Blue Jays, said, ``He's definitely the premier and marquee power hitter today - and possibly in history.''

The latter point could well be decided this season.

One of the most intriguing expressions in baseball is ``on pace to.'' It's usually not invoked until the All-Star break. McGwire has changed that.

The previous record for home runs through the month of May was 24, set last year by Seattle's Ken Griffey Jr. McGwire equaled that with a week to go in the month, then tacked on three more homers for 27 - through the 51 games he's played.

The arithmetic is simple enough to do. McGwire has had six stays on the disabled list during his 11 seasons in the major leagues, which has limited him to an average of 124 games per year. If he maintains his homer pace and logs that many games, he'll hit 66. If he can put in 143 games (his average over the past two seasons), the projection climbs to an inconceivable 76.

With 68 RBI in those 51 games, he has set a pace for 191 RBI. Wilson set a record of 190 - long thought to be untouchable - with the Chicago Cubs in 1930. (Texas' Juan Gonzalez, with 71 RBI, might get there first.)

Another possible record that so far has received little attention: walks. Babe Ruth set the major-league record with 170 in 1923. With 60 walks through 51 games, McGwire is on track to break that one if he plays 145 games.

And as pitchers have gotten more and more shy about putting something over the plate to McGwire, he might not even need that many. In a recent four-game series at Chicago, Cubs pitchers walked him nine times. In extra innings against San Francisco recently, he was intentionally walked with two out and the bases empty.

McGwire doesn't seem to be in danger of getting annoyed with his ever-shrinking complement of hittable pitches and chasing bad ones.

``I don't understand players who get frustrated with a walk,'' the former USC slugger said. ``You give the guy behind you a better chance of getting a hit.''

And being a cog in the program, St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said, is McGwire's singular objective. ``He's not a selfish guy and that will not change from the beginning to the end,'' La Russa said. ``With some players around the league, it's `I've got to get my numbers. I've got to get my money.' But Mark knows that a walk could trigger a rally as well as a finishing hit.''

Many factors will work in McGwire's favor as he piles up home runs at a rate not seen since Maris was busting fences for the New York Yankees.

Baseball just expanded by two teams, to 30, and McGwire is sure to benefit from a diluted pitching pool. Also, as part of the effort to attract fans, several new ballparks are more hitter-friendly.

McGwire will further benefit from a pitching philosophy that has been revised in recent years. This 6-foot-5, 250-pound hulk stands right on top of the plate to achieve maximal reach of the outside corner, but there are few pitchers today who will attempt to move him off.

``He's an intimidating figure,'' said Stottlemyre. ``You get into those situations where you think, `Well, I've got to pitch around this guy. I can't let him beat me here.' But those are the times where you hang a breaking ball. What is pitching around him? Throwing four balls to the screen?

``Home crowds boo when they walk him. Everybody wants to see him swing the bat.

``He has just proven, each time he goes to the plate and doesn't hit one (a home run), he's that much more dangerous the next time he comes up.''

What's this? Someone dwelling on the home runs again? Someone citing the phenomenon and the stir it creates?

It could well cause the furrows in Mark McGwire's troubled brow to deepen ever more.

SETTING THE PACE

Home runs by month for the New York Yankees' Roger Maris, who set the major-league record with 61 home runs in 1961, and St. Louis' Mark McGwire in 1998:

Maris

April 1

May 11

June 15

July 13

August 11

September 9

October 1

McGwire

March 1

April 10

May 16

DODGERS vs. ST. LOUIS

Time: 7:05 p.m. at Dodger Stadium.

TV/Radio: FSW2, 1150-AM, KWKW 1330-AM (Spanish).

Matchups: In the first of three games with the Cardinals, Darren Dreifort (3-4, 3.45) faces left-hander Kent Mercker (4-3, 5.66), who threw a no-hitter at Dodger Stadium in 1993 as a member of the Atlanta Braves. Wednesday (7:35 p.m., FSW2) - Ramon Martinez (6-2, 2.82) faces right-hander Mark Petkovsek (3-1, 4.19). Thursday (4:35 p.m., FSW) - Chan Ho Park (4-3, 5.03) faces right-hander Juan Acevedo (1-1, 4.60). Although Mark McGwire (27 homers) is day to day after he left Monday's game with back spasms, gates will be open a half hour early to let fans watch him take batting practice. Tonight, gates will be open at 5 p.m. Gates will open for Wednesday's game at 5:30 p.m. Gates for Thursday's game will open at 2:30 p.m.

--- Matt McHale

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, 2 Boxes

PHOTO (1--Color) Major league home run leader Mark McGwire and the Cardinals open a three-game series at Dodger Stadium today.

Mary Butkus/Associated Press

(2) Mark McGwire set the record for home runs through the month of May with 27.

Denis Poroy/Associated Press

BOX: (1) SETTING THE PACE (see text)

(2) DODGERS vs. ST. LOUIS (see text)