LOOKING GOOD : Suddenly, Leyritz Is the Hottest Catcher in Town

The hottest catcher in town has never done a shampoo commercial. On the odd chance that he actually washes his hair, it appears he does it while wearing his helmet.

The hottest catcher in town has never appeared on an episode of “Baywatch.” Two months in Southern California, and the beach is a rumor.

The hottest catcher in town has a hole in his smile. One of his lower teeth was once knocked out by a pitch, and the replacement tooth fell out in spring training.

“They told me that to fix it, I would have to undergo surgery and miss three or four days,” he said. “I said, ‘Miss three or four days? Forget it.’ ”

So Jim Leyritz walks around looking like a guy thrown into the street at 2 a.m., wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, swaggering back inside.

Clenched fists are more relaxed. Country music choruses contain less angst.

Leyritz, in whom the Angel heart beats, is told that the reporter wants to compare him to the guy up the freeway, have a little fun with good-guy Mike Piazza.

“So, you wanna stir it up a little bit, huh?” Leyritz says.

He pauses.

“Good,” he says.

He has been stirring it up for seven years now, but this year it’s different, in that he’s causing a ruckus with more than his mouth.

After 38 games he led the team in runs batted in (26) while ranking second in batting (.333) and tied for second in home runs (five).

With runners in scoring position, he led all regulars with a .455 average, including a startling eight hits in 12 at-bats with two out in those situations.

Defensively, where nobody quite knew what to expect, he recently was ranked as the American League’s toughest catcher to run on, throwing out 47% of potential base stealers; 33% is considered good.

But the most impressive note about Leyritz was something his wife, Karri, recently figured out.

“She said, ‘Honey, this is the first time you have still been in the starting lineup in May,’ ” he recalled.

He laughs, it’s funny now, but it wasn’t until that October night in Atlanta when he hit the ball that freed him from New York after seven long years on the bench

One minute, he was driving a slider from Mark Wohlers over the left-field wall at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, tying the score in Game 4 of the World Series in the eighth inning with a three-run homer, providing inspiration for three consecutive wins and a Yankee World Series championship.

The next minute, he was waking up in his Anaheim Hills home, playing with 2-year-old Austin in a pool, driving down the street to the stadium, scant media, nice fans, sunshine but no heat.

Seven years mostly on the bench in the Bronx. One swing, and he’s starting in paradise.

The other day at Anaheim Stadium, searching desperately for something to get mad about, Leyritz realized they were stretching without the usual pregame tunes.

“Turn on the music!” he shouted at the press box. “Don’t make me come up there!”

He laughed, and the music never came on, and he never did anything about it.

“You got to think, God has been looking out for me,” he said, and it’s true that something interesting has happened.

How many times does someone who spends seven years begging to play every day finally get a chance to play every day?

How many times does someone swing at that chance and knock it deep?

This is not a job, it’s a movie role, and Leyritz, 33, is perfect for the part.

Before every appearance at the plate, he sticks a lump of tobacco or chewing gum in his mouth.

He swaggers toward the catcher. He crouches low and leans toward the pitcher, challenging him with huge forearms and barrel thighs.

After every pitch he does not hit, he deftly twirls his bat with his right hand, something he learned watching Mickey Rivers.

When his appearance is finished, he spits the tobacco or chewing gum in the trash.

Pitchers have thrown at him because of the bat twirl. Veterans have scolded him for acting cocky.

“They would always say, ‘Be quiet and pay your dues,’ ” Leyritz said. “I would say, ‘Man, I’ve been fighting for seven years, I paid my dues.”

And to charges that he has thought more about himself than the team?

“I say, ‘I love the team, I want them to win. . . . That’s why I want to play,’ ” he said.

He smiles, and it is nearly impossible to dislike him, a dude making $1.75 million a year and actually wanting to earn it.

He thought that would immediately happen when he was traded to the Angels, when club officials indicated he would bat not only against left-handers, but also right-handers.

So Leyritz spent most of spring training looking at the big picture, working on his strength and ignoring his dreadful statistics.

Then, just before the start of the season, he read where the Angels were so upset with those numbers that he and Jorge Fabregas would platoon.

Guess who was in Manager Terry Collins’ office complaining the next day?

Nothing in this game is given to you, Collins told Leyritz.

As if I don’t know that? responded Leyritz.

Within two weeks he had beaten Fabregas back to the bench while convincing the Angels he is everything he says he can be.

April 15, tax day, Angels in New York, middle of a long trip, many players tired or distracted.

Leyritz hit a home run in the second inning. Singled and scored in the fourth and eighth. Hit a two-run double in the ninth against closer Mariano Rivera to eventually give the Angels a 6-5 win.

It was then they realized that Leyritz was not just a player who begged for The Moment, but cherished it.

He has never had more than 303 at-bats in one major league season, so there are still questions about his effectiveness later this summer. But for now, Collins will figure out ways to keep him in the lineup.

For ninth innings, if nothing else. The way Leyritz looks at it, ninth innings are his nightly chance to prove everyone wrong.

“Against Mark Wohlers, everybody thought I would strike out,” he said. “So if I do, big deal. No pressure on me at all. But if I don’t. . . .”

Last fall he didn’t, and he ended up with a World Series ring.

Like most players, he is going to store it in a safe place. But unlike most players, he is going make a copy that he can wear.

“Why not?” he said. “I’m proud of that thing.”

Last fall after his World Series heroics, Leyritz was asked to appear on “Seinfeld.” He turned it down because he wanted to spend more time with his newborn son.

Now, he would do it. He says a buddy even gave him a great idea for a story line.

“Put me on the beach,” he said. “Have George Costanza come out and plead for me to return to the Yankees. Have me sitting there, looking at the sunshine, saying, ‘Nahhhhhh.’ ”

The plot is corny and presumptuous. But you know, it sort of grows on you.