What was going on when I was born?

Just after the dramatic two-run eighth-inning home run that would give the Yankees their seventh loss in eight games, the man in the third-base coach's box quietly shook the rookie's hand as he jogged through the noise. When the crowd at Memorial Stadium demanded a curtain call from the rookie, the coach did not turn around to look. ''Same thing,'' said Cal Ripken Jr., the rookie whose home run gave the Orioles a 5-3 victory tonight. ''Shake your hand, get out of the way.'' Ripken smiled. ''I think it's a coverup,'' he said.

Britain last week suffered its worst casualties of the Falklands war, but the losses only seemed to increase Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's determination to push for military victory. Striking before dawn yesterday, British forces surprised Argentine positions near Stanley amid indications that the final assault against the 7,000-man Argentine garrison was under way. Negotiations with Argentina would be ''unthinkable,'' Mrs. Thatcher said, after Argentine planes had set afire two landing craft, killing at least 43 British troops. Argentine news agencies claimed more than 500 British soldiers were killed or seriously injured in the air attack at Fitzroy, 15 miles south of Stanley; fuel supplies and ammunition exploded. Taking advantage of temporarily clear skies, Argentine jets demonstrated that the British remained vulnerable to mainland-based air attacks, an indication that even after Stanley is captured, the cost to Britain of holding the Falklands may be high. The Argentine Mirage and A-4 Skyhawks came in ''on the deck,'' low beneath British radar, hitting the Sir Galahad and the Sir Lancelot, 5,674-ton landing craft. Both ships were abandoned.

British and Argentine troops were pitted in a major battle today for control of Stanley, the capital of the Falkland Islands, the Argentine high command announced. Military sources said heavy casualties were being incurred by both sides, and the independent news agency Noticias Argentinas quoted a military source this afternoon as having said that the British had ''succeeded in some penetration of the first Argentine line of defense'' about 10 miles west of the capital, which is the key Argentine stronghold on the islands called the Malvinas by Argentina. (In London, Defense Secretary John Nott said that British troops had advanced more than five miles before dawn in what he described as ''a brilliant surprise night attack'' that had caught the Argentine defenders asleep. Page 26.)

Perhaps I had read just one too many interviews with a modish theater director who had been offered the chance to stage an opera in his own image. Or possibly it was that midnight snack of shredded beef, Hunan-style. In any event, I found myself in my dreams interviewing the latest rage of the stage, Ben Trovato. In what follows, I will hide behind the persona of Q while Mr. Trovato masquerades as A. Q. First of all, Mr. Trovato, which opera or operas will you be directing here or elsewhere in the near future? A. I have not made up my mind. Several of your leading houses have asked me to stage such monumental trifles as ''Die Meistersinger'' and ''Rigoletto,'' but I would feel suffocated at being thrust back into the dismal past with such moribund artifacts. I am not interested in opera of any period, of course, though obviously a decision of some sort must be made soon. My tax man is pressing me.

MANCHESTER AMID an amiable hubbub, it was a time for bottles to gurgle and for glass after glass to be filled and refilled. The occasion was a sampling of both the winning and losing wines in the second annual Amateur Wine Making Contest, run by the Connecticut Grape Growers Association. The event, held last Sunday at Manchester Community College, provided a chance to ''get a handle on what the possibilities are'' for local amateur wine making, said David Kelly, the spokesman for the four-year-old group. ''The wines ranged from professional quality wines to undrinkable wines,'' said Howard Bursen, wine maker and general manager at Hamlet Hill Vineyards, in Pomfret. Mr. Bursen, two other professionals and three noted amateur wine makers judged the contest along classical wine-tasting lines.

MANY Long Island colleges, recognizing the plight of students affected by cutbacks in Federal aid and concerned that enrollment may drop as a result, are generally limiting tuition increases to about 8 percent, the annual rate of inflation. This bucks a nationwide trend, particularly among private colleges, toward tuition increases of 12 to 16 percent. At the same time, the Long Island schools are working aggressively to keep their enrolled students and step up recruitment efforts. To make up for some of the Federal cutbacks and compensate for a projected enrollment decline in the 1980's, Long Island schools are initiating and expanding scholarship and loan programs. Schools are increasing their financial aid budgets, hoping that contributions and endowments from individuals and foundations may take up part of the slack.

Some developers go a long way to put the right face on a building. The Durst Organization had planned a facade of black reflective glass for the 40-story office tower it is putting up at 1155 Avenue of the Americas, at 44th Street.

IN the wake of the collapse of six dams and the breaching of 14 others during last weekend's severe rainstorm, about 150 of the approximately 3,200 dams in the state will be examined by environmental officials. ''Frequently after a disaster like this, they beef up a department or make more inspections, but I really don't expect too much to happen'' following the inspections, said Victor Galgowski, superintendent of dams for the state's Department of Environmental Protection. Most of the dams, he said, ''are in acceptable condition.'' While two of the six dams that collapsed, the Bushy Hill and Comstock Dams in the Ivoryton section of Essex, had been labeled ''unsafe-nonemergency'' by both Federal and state engineers, the four other dams had passed inspection. They are the Mansur Dam in Chaplin, the Upper Pond Dam in Haddam, the Bushy Hill Pond Dam near Clinton and the Three-Mile Pond Dam near Old Lyme.

Larry Holmes, in a self-controlled and intelligent performance, had thoroughly beaten a courageous but outclassed Gerry Cooney for 12 rounds. In the 13th, Holmes turned on the power and, with Cooney about to slump to the canvas for the second time in the World Boxing Council heavyweight title fight, his trainer, Victor Valle, entered the ring at the Caesars Palace parking lot and the referee ended the fight. There were eight seconds left in the round. Holmes had defended his title successfully for the 12th time, the 11th with a knockout, and the undefeated champion was never more convincing than he was Friday night. Except to the judges. ''It was going to be a robbery,'' Don King, the co-promoter and Holmes's adviser, said today. Had not the referee Mills Lane taken 3 points from Cooney for low blows, two of the judges, Duane Ford and Dave Moretti, would have had the challenger ahead after 12 rounds. As it was, they had Holmes ahead, 113-111, on the 10-point scoring system. The other judge, Jerry Roth, had Holmes ahead by 115-109. Ford and Moretti gave Cooney seven rounds and Holmes only five. Roth had those figures reversed.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. FOR all the rhetoric of the past weeks, reality did not strike home until the boxers surged into the makeshift arena Friday night: Gerry Cooney was more popular than Larry Holmes. The roars were thick, as Cooney, wrapped in a bright green cape, moved toward his corner. And there were boos, plenty of boos, for Larry Holmes, the undefeated champion.

Israel proved its prowess anew last week, sending its forces smashing into Lebanon and transforming the Mideast political map for months and perhaps years to come. In six startling days, Israeli armored columns, with air and naval support, swept away Palestinian strongholds in southern Lebanon and pushed to the gates of Beirut. And in the biggest aerial dogfights since World War II, Israel claimed the destruction of 79 Syria's Soviet-builtMIG's and 19 SAM missile batteries in the Bakaa Valley, a landmark military achievement. Damascus claimed - and Jerusalem denied -heavy losses of Israeli jets.

Yonkers and Mount Vernon moved in different directions last week, but with the same objective - to attract businesses to economically beleaguered cities that may become the county's most active sites of development this decade. In Yonkers, the city government has begun an advertising campaign with the theme, ''Yonkers Means Business.'' Supported by $19,000 from the Yonkers Private Industrial Council, the ads are promoting what they say are the city's convenient location, work force and relatively low rents for office space. The initiative in Mount Vernon was taken by the Chemical Bank, which formed a ''Business Action Unit'' specializing in financial services for small businesses. There are nearly 2,000 such enterprises in the densely populated city, and the bank says it has fashioned its new unit to meet their special needs.