BASEBALL MISCELLANY : NAMES AND NUMBERS

Ex Marks the Spot: Eight former Dodger pitchers registered victories the first two days of the 1989 season: Rick Sutcliffe, Jerry Reuss, Tommy John, Charlie Hough, Brian Holton, Dave Stewart, Ken Howell and Bob Welch. A ninth, John Franco, saved the Cincinnati Reds’ first two wins.

Add Ex: The current major league rosters include 28 products of the New York Yankees’ farm system, more than any American League team. Only five are with the Yankees, however: Don Mattingly, Mike Pagliarulo, Roberto Kelly, Al Leiter and Steve Balboni, whom the team recently re-acquired.

Striking Start: Rob Deer of the Milwaukee Brewers and Pete Incaviglia of the Texas Rangers each have struck out 150 times or more in three consecutive seasons. Reggie Jackson is the only player ever to have struck out that many times in that many seasons--consecutive or otherwise. Deer got off to a strong start in his bid to make it four in a row, striking out three times on opening day.

Nonsupport: The New York Mets averaged only 2.97 runs in Bob Ojeda’s 29 starts last year and were right back to old habits Wednesday when Ojeda lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-1. Said Ojeda, who nearly lost the tip of a finger in a gardening accident last September and didn’t know if he would ever pitch again: “I’m not happy about losing, but I’m happy to be able to lose.”

Hitless Wonders: The Kansas City Royals opened the season by winning two of three from the Toronto Blue Jays despite a combined one for 29 by Willie Wilson, Kevin Seitzer and George Brett, who constitute the top third of the batting order. Brett went hitless in the first three games for the first time in his career.

Southpaws: Kirk Gibson’s opening-day homer matched the number of home runs the Cincinnati Reds’ Danny Jackson yielded to left-handed hitters in 134 at-bats last year. And the San Diego Padres’ Bruce Hurst, who allowed only two homers to left-handers in 147 at-bats as a member of the Boston Red Sox last year, allowed one to Will Clark of the San Francisco Giants in his first start with the Padres. Of his opening-day stuff, Hurst said: “I could have hit it and I’m the world’s worst hitter.”

Brave Start: By winning two of the three games in their opening series against the Houston Astros, the Atlanta Braves moved over .500 for the first time since June 20, 1987.

Game Winner: While batting .307 with the Chicago Cubs last season, Rafael Palmeiro became the first player to hit .300 and not have one game-winning run batted in. Thursday night, Palmeiro singled in the winning run in the Texas Rangers’ 5-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers. This year, however, baseball has eliminated the game-winning RBI from its official statistics.