BASEBALL MISCELLANY : NAMES AND NUMBERS

Iron Man: Baltimore Oriole shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. played in his 1,208th consecutive game Thursday night, passing Steve Garvey to move into third place on the all-time list and bring the following perspective to Lou Gehrig’s record streak of 2,130 games: If Ripken keeps going, he will not catch Gehrig until the 70th game of the 1996 season.

His Year: Kansas City Royal pitcher Bret Saberhagen, who faces the Angels at Kansas City Monday night, has a 52-21 record in odd-numbered years and a 31-39 record in even-numbered years. Saberhagen is 11-1 with nine complete games in his last 15 starts.

Force-Fed: The members of the Angel rotation, who entered the weekend leading the American League in complete games, shutouts and wins by starting pitchers, appeared in only 184 minor league games, an average of just 37 per pitcher. Jim Abbott bypassed the minors completely; Bert Blyleven was in 21 minor league games, Chuck Finley 28, Kirk McCaskill 67 and Mike Witt 68.

Wounded Wings: The St. Louis Cardinals, barely in the National League East race, put Scott Terry on the disabled list the other day, leaving a rotation that includes Ricky Horton and Ted Power, who were both released by other teams this season; Ken Hill, who has never won a game at triple A; Jose DeLeon, who is 19 games under .500 in his major league career, and Joe Magrane, who won only five games last season.

Magrane Add: Magrane, who got his 16th victory Saturday night, won his 15th in the same number of starts, 24, that he won the five games last year. The Cardinals have averaged 4.67 runs per game for him this year compared to 2.75 last season.

Productive Season: Former Dodger Pedro Guerrero drove in 111 runs in his first 162 games with the Cardinals over two years.

Full House: The Toronto Blue Jays sold out 28 or their first 32 games in the SkyDome and are assured of sellouts in 17 of the remaining 22 games. The Blue Jays will draw about 3.35 million fans, an American League record.

Contrasts: The Atlanta Braves’ John Smoltz, the losing pitcher in the All-Star game, has also lost his first five decisions of the second half of the season, allowing 17 runs in his last 17 innings before winning Saturday night. The Milwaukee Brewers’ Ted Higuera has won six in a row and is 6-1 in the second half, improving his career record after the All-Star break to 46-15.

Add Blue Jays: Of Toronto’s 15 consecutive victories at Fenway Park, Boston Red Sox pitcher Mike Smithson said: “Why do the Blue Jays beat us here? I think they’ve got a better team than we do. When someone beats you 14 or 15 times at Fenway, or wherever, they must have a better team. What other explanation can there be?”

Poor Support: Detroit Tiger pitcher Doyle Alexander is winless in his last seven decisions at Tiger Stadium and is 5-14 overall this year, but Manager Sparky Anderson blames it on his bad offense. “If he’s 5-14, I’m a Chinese aviator,” Anderson said.