BASEBALL MISCELLANY : NAMES AND NUMBERS

Tony Gwynn: The San Diego Padres right fielder surged to a .322 average by hitting .423 over a 40-game span after having a .246 average on the morning of July 2. Said Gwynn: “It’s nice to lead the league, but I’m not going to get up every morning and check the paper to see what the other guys are doing. I’ve tried to be consistent throughout my career. But this year I haven’t been consistent. It’s lucky the pack came back to me. If I would finish at .370, it’s still not going to erase the first three months of the season. I stunk.”

Bruce Hurst: The Boston Red Sox pitcher is 5-0 in six starts since returning from the disabled list July 24 and is 8-1 in games started amid Red Sox losing streaks. Said Hurst of his stopper role: “Getting us winning is important to me. Anybody can join the bandwagon. I like to start one.”

Greg Brock: A year ago, the Milwaukee Brewers seemed to get the better of the trade in which the Dodgers exchanged Brock for Tim Leary. Leary went 3-11 in his first season with the Dodgers, whereas Brock hit .295 and drove in 85 runs for the Brewers. Now, having spent seven weeks on the disabled list with a rib-cage injury, Brock is batting .224 with 41 runs batted in, while Leary took a career-best 13-8 record and 2.53 earned-run average into Saturday night’s start against the Montreal Expos.

John Franco: The Cincinnati Reds’ left-handed relief ace is on another roll. He has converted 58 of his last 68 save opportunities over a two-year period and 26 of his last 27. In his last 24 appearances, he has 17 saves, 3 wins and an 0.35 ERA, having allowed 1 run in 26 innings. Oh, well. The Dodgers did get Rafael Landestoy when they traded Franco.

Ironmen: When Montreal Expos first baseman Andres Galarraga missed Tuesday night’s game in San Diego, it left only seven major leaguers, including the Dodgers’ Steve Sax, who have played every game this year. The others are Will Clark, Bobby Bonilla, Mark McGwire, Robin Yount, Cal Ripken Jr. and Eddie Murray.

Woeful: The Seattle Mariners are about to join the 30-30 club. That’s 30 games under .500 and 30 behind the Oakland Athletics in the American League West. Then there are the Baltimore Orioles, who on Wednesday attained 80 losses before reaching 40 victores. At 39-80, the Orioles were 41 games under .500 for the first time since Sept. 24, 1955.

Bart Giamatti: The evidence still points to the National League president being named successor to Commissioner Peter Ueberroth, with the announcement coming at the December convention in Atlanta.

The Detroit Tigers: Still struggling offensively, the American League East leaders, are 20-17 since the All-Star break and have lost 6 games in which their pitchers allowed two runs or fewer.