BASEBALL MISCELLANY

Numbers:

--Toronto’s Dave Stieb may be having a troubled season, but he can always rely on the Chicago White Sox to help him find a groove. Stieb has won only four games, half of them against Chicago. He has a 5-0 record against the White Sox over the last two years and a 14-3 mark for his career.

--The Texas Rangers had won only 12 of their last 20 games through Thursday, despite averaging 6.4 runs. The Rangers lost twice while scoring eight runs and twice while scoring nine. Only twice in the 20 games did they have a starting pitcher go more than 6 innings. As of Friday, they had come from behind to win 33 games and come from ahead to lose 30.

--The Cleveland Indians still had 46 games left when they equaled last year’s total of 61 victories.

--When the New York Yankees traded Don Baylor to Boston, owner George Steinbrenner predicted: “Baylor’s bat will be dead by August.” In his last 39 at-bats through Thursday, Baylor had only six hits and was batting .208 with runners in scoring position.

--It wasn’t no-hit day, but it was low-hit day. On Wednesday: Detroit’s Walt Terrell pitched a one-hitter against the Angels; Philadelphia’s Don Carman teamed with Steve Bedrosian in a one-hitter against San Francisco; Boston’s Roger Clemens pitched a two-hitter against Minnesota; Texas’ Charlie Hough teamed with Dale Mohorcic in a three-hitter against Kansas City, and Pittsburgh’s Rick Rhoden pitched a five-hitter against Houston.

--Clemens, meanwhile, will seek his 20th victory Monday night in Texas, where he grew up, starred in high school, helped pitch the Longhorns to the 1983 National Collegiate Athletic Assn. title and had one of his dreams realized in July, starting the All-Star game for the American League in his hometown of Houston.

--San Francisco’s Candy Maldonado has 11 home runs and 53 runs batted in, matching his totals during 2 1/2 seasons with the Dodgers.

--Floyd Rayford, Baltimore catcher/third baseman, is an obvious selection as the airlines’ man of the year. Rayford was optioned to Rochester April 18 and recalled April 24, optioned June 15 and recalled July 6, optioned July 24 and recalled Aug. 20.