BASEBALL MISCELLANY

NUMBERS

The Angels entered Saturday night’s game against Detroit with their big four of Mike Witt, Kirk McCaskill, John Candelaria and Don Sutton having compiled a 20-7 record and a 2.62 earned-run average since July 18. Witt, who faces Baltimore Monday, is 7-0 since July 20, an eight-game span in which he has permitted only nine earned runs in 65 innings, a 1.23 ERA.

The young Texas pitching staff had walked 607 batters through 127 games, a pace projecting to 774, the fifth-highest total in history. Only five teams since 1900 have won a pennant while leading their league in walks allowed. They were the 1959 Dodgers, the 1950 and ’49 New York Yankees, the ’47 Dodgers and the 1913 Philadelphia A’s.

Kirby Puckett, with 187 hits and 97 runs, should become the first Twins player to reach 200 hits and 100 runs in a season since Rod Carew did it in 1977.

This will tell you how it has been for the Seattle Mariners during their 10-year history: Mike Moore’s next victory will be his 45th, making him the club’s all-time leader.

The Yankees, 13-25 against left-handed pitchers, tried to replace Don Baylor by trading for Ron Kittle. Kittle is 2 for 18 and has played only twice since Aug. 7.

Gorman Thomas’ return to Milwaukee doesn’t figure to be an extended one. After 31 games he was hitting .199 with 35 strikeouts, 5 home runs and 9 RBIs.

Don Mattingly leads the American League with 42 doubles and is bidding to become the first American Leaguer since Tris Speaker in the early 20s to lead the league for three straight years. Pete Rose, then with Cincinnati, did it in 1974-75-76. Mattingly is also bidding to become the first Yankee to collect 200 or more hits for three straight seasons since Lou Gehrig in 1930-31-32. Mattingly has 182.

Rickey Henderson, a Yankee for less than two years, tied Mickey Mantle for seventh place on the club’s all-time list when he recorded his 73rd steal of the year and 154th as a Yankee Thursday night in Seattle.

In Wednesday night’s game at Texas, Boston’s Wade Boggs was retired on a fair popup for the first time in 450 at-bats.

Kansas City’s George Brett improved his batting average to .301 Wednesday night, marking the first time he had been over .300 since April 9.

John Cangelosi of the Chicago White Sox ended an 0-for-27 drought with a single Tuesday, then got picked off first.

The Tigers have won 13 straight Wednesday games. Whatever that means.