BASEBALL MISCELLANY : NAMES AND NUMBERS

Road Warriors: The Dodgers will leave town again Thursday with baseball’s best road record, 42-27, and a chance to produce their best road mark since going 50-31 in 1974. The best road record in the ‘80s? The New York Mets were 53-28 in 1986.

Playoff Rotation: If it’s the Mets and Dodgers in the National League, Dwight Gooden and David Cone can be expected to start the first two games in Los Angeles, where Gooden is 4-0 for his career and Cone is 2-0. Ron Darling would be saved for Game 3 in Shea Stadium, where he is 11-1 this year, compared to a road record of 3-8.

The Mets: They should win 90 games or more for the fifth straight season, a feat accomplished only twice in the National League since World War II. The Brooklyn Dodgers did it for six straight seasons, starting in 1951, and the Cincinnati Reds did it for five, starting in 1972.

Brett Butler: The center fielder has done his job, becoming the first member of the San Francisco Giants to score 100 runs in a season since Bobby Bonds in 1973. Of Butler’s first 140 hits, 31 were of the infield variety, including 16 bunt singles.

Gerald Perry: The Atlanta Braves’ first baseman was leading the National League with a batting average of .320 at the start of the weekend. No one has won an NL title with an average lower than Edd Roush’s .321 in 1919.

Overtime: The Montreal Expos are 18-5 in extra-inning games, one win shy of the league record in a season, held by the 1959 Pittsburgh Pirates. The Expos are 30-6 in extra innings the last two years.

Shawon Dunston: The Chicago Cubs shortstop has drawn only 5 unintentional walks and should break the major league record of 12 for players appearing in 150 or more games in a season. Hal Lanier drew 12 in 1968 and Ozzie Guillen, the Chicago White Sox shortstop, has done it twice--in 1985 and ’86.

Back to Back: Mark Langston and Mike Moore of the Seattle Mariners have started consecutively 24 times this year but have won back to back only once.

Lively Ball: What happened to it? Last year, there were 27 players with 30 or more homers. Now, there are 3: Jose Canseco with 37, Darryl Strawberry with 33 and Fred McGriff with 32.