April 26, 1982

New orders for machine tools continued to slide in March, and industry analysts now say that orders this year will slip below the depressed levels of last year. Orders for March dropped 61.2 percent, to $135.3 million, from $349 million in March 1981, and fell 17.4 percent from February's level of $163.8 million. So far this year, orders are down by 45 percent, according to the National Machine Tool Builders Association.

Despite his avowal that Bob Lemon would manage the Yankees for the entire 1982 season, no matter what the team's record, George Steinbrenner dismissed Lemon yesterday for the second time in three years. Gene Michael, whom Steinbrenner dismissed as manager last September, will replace Lemon only 14 games into the season. The change, announced at Yankee Stadium at 8 o'clock last night, is the eighth in the 10 seasons that Steinbrenner has been the principal owner of the Yankees. Six of the changes have occurred in the last four years, and three of the managers involved -Michael, Lemon and Billy Martin -have held the job twice. The Yankee players were gone, following their a 3-1 victory over Detroit, by the time the move was disclosed. However, the players generally and Rich Gossage specifically have blamed Steinbrenner for the team's problems.

With conditions improving at New York City's public shelters for the homeless, officials say the shelters have begun attracting hundreds of people who might otherwise remain in other housing. These people represent a significant change, city officials say, in the kind of homeless person using the shelters, which usually house people who have been living on the streets. Instead of continuing to live with friends and relatives who do not want them, many young, able-bodied men and women, particularly those who have just lost jobs, are seeking public shelter. City officials say this new group helps account for the fact that, as the weather has become warmer, there has been no decline in the number of people in the shelters.

IT was cruel and it was ugly: all the talk about Bob Lemon being given a full year to manage the Yankees, a last hurrah with dignity and patience. ''There will be no change this year,'' Steinbrenner said last Dec. 9. ''I wouldn't care how the team is doing. I'm not going to make a change in 1982 unless it's dictated by something other than how the team is doing.'' Lemon knew what garbage this was. With his drinker's wisdom, he would grimace every time Steinbrenner's promise was discussed. ''I'm just keeping the seat warm,'' was Lemon's blunt assessment. He didn't win, and he is gone - gone so fast, so dismally, that Yankee Stadium may become even grimmer, even more funereal, than usual.

A review last Tuesday of the City Opera production of ''Medea'' incorrectly reported Eileen Farrell's performance history in the title role. She sang the role in San Francisco in September 1958.