HOME RUN As sexy Southerner Annie, Sarandon (with Kevin Costner) made for a durable ''Durham''

Bull Durham: Photofest

Susan Sarandon

What kind of a woman could steal a movie about one of America's most testosterone-filled pastimes, the mustache-adorned, tobacco-spittin', butt-pattin' sport of baseball? The kind of impeccably funny, lust-lidded siren that Susan Sarandon became in this role. With a Southern drawl as comfortable as a well-oiled glove, Sarandon's Annie Savoy takes on the local minor-league franchise's most promising player each season, educating him in love and ''life wisdom.'' Combining smoldering sensuality with a gentle, protective nature, the actress slides without a drop of sweat from advising her charge (Tim Robbins) on the unfastening of garters to the wonders of Walt Whitman. An actress of less depth would have bobbled Annie Savoy's complexity, but Sarandon turns her into ''Bull Durham'''s most valuable player.