Baseball Notes : Ryan Is a Baseball Wonder; Rose Is a Four-Letter Word

The day after becoming Victim No. 5,000, Rickey Henderson ate at the Black Eyed Pea, a restaurant in Arlington, Texas. “It was good,” Henderson said, “but guess who was there eating lunch with his family?”

Nolan Ryan, that’s who. The two looked at each other and laughed. “Just the person you wanted to see, huh?” Ryan said. Henderson smiled at the twist of fate. “I should have bought him lunch,” he said.

The week in baseball was dominated by two historic events -- Ryan’s 5,000th strikeout Tuesday night and the lifetime ban of Pete Rose Thursday. It’s easy to exhaust the topic of Rose, but it’s impossible to tire of Ryan.

Now that No. 5,000 is out of the way, he can focus his attention on becoming the first American League pitcher since 1977 to strike out 300 in a season. Naturally, he was the one who did it that year, fanning 341 for the Angels.

He increased his season total to 232 Tuesday night, and has averaged 11 strikeouts in his last seven starts. If he continues that pace in his final seven starts, he’ll finish with 309 strikeouts.

It’s possible Ryan will start eight more times if the Rangers juggle their rotation and allow him to pitch the final day of the season. Think about it: Striking out 300 at the age of 42 may be almost as impressive a feat as getting 5,000 lifetime.

Rose exasperates a nation, Ryan captivates it. The Rangers’ cable-television affiliate honored a request by President Bush to unscramble its signal so that Bush could watch the milestone game from Kennebunkport, Maine.

It was symbolic of Ryan’s career that he lost, 2-0, to the A’s despite striking out 13. Bob Welch, who pitched the shutout for the A’s, said, “I was probably the least noticed person in the ballpark.”

Henderson, meanwhile, practically fought Rangers catcher Chad Kreuter for the privilege of taking the historic ball to Ryan. Kreuter kept the balls from strikeout Nos. 4,997 and 4,999. He needs the memories. He’s batting .154.

Ryan said he’ll send anything the Hall of Fame wishes but the ball. He has a collection of his milestone strikeout balls. All you need to know about the man is that he keeps them in a trophy case behind his children’s trophies.

He is baseball’s 42-year-old wonder.

Rose is its four-letter word.

Orioles beware?--The Chicago Cubs won eight of their first 10 games using a four-man rotation, but then dropped six straight before beating last-place Atlanta Friday. Each of their principal starters -- Greg Maddux, Mike Bielecki and Rick Sutcliffe -- failed to produce a quality start (six or more innings, three or fewer earned runs) in his last outing.

The Orioles have had wondrous success with their four-man rotation thus far (5-2 with a 1.93 ERA in seven games prior to Friday night), but it remains to be seen whether pitching on three days rest will eventually wear down the staff. Three of the Orioles’ starters are rookies, the other is second-year Jeff Ballard.

Thursday’s acquisition of Paul Assenmacher from the Braves will enable the Cubs to move Steve Wilson (2-0 as a starter) into the No. 4 spot, which has been shared by Jeff Pico and Scott Sanderson. The Cubs have interest in Frank Tanana, but the Expos reportedly claimed him on waivers to block a trade.

Already in Chicago, they’re comparing the Cubs’ collapse to 1969, but that’s unfair. The Cubs led the Mets by 9 1/2 games on Aug. 14 of that year, but the Expos by only three on that date this season. Their streak came at a time when the Expos have gone 22 innings without scoring a run and the Mets have gone 20.

Senior League update--Bobby Tolan, manager of the Orioles’ Single A affiliate in Erie, will manage the St. Petersburg club. The big story this week, however, is nicknames. All but West Palm Beach and Daytona have announced their selections.

The Miami club will be known as the Gold Coast Suns (What? Not the Vice?) The Fort Myers Sun Sox are not to be confused with the Winter Haven Super Sox. St. Petersburg has the Pelicans, Port St. Lucie the Legends, and Orlando the Juice.

Orlando gets the early nod for most innovative selection -- that’s OJs, for short. The city will soon have two pro sports teams, neither with a plural nickname. The NBA Magic begins play this season.

Symbol of hope--For the last five years, part of the proceeds from Toronto catcher Ernie Whitt’s charity golf tournament have gone to Diane Holmberg, the wife of Dennis Holmberg, a coach with Single A Dunedin (Fla.) in the Blue Jays’ system.

Dennis was coaching at Triple A Syracuse when Diane fell into a coma in 1985. He moved to Dunedin to be closer to Diane, who was at a hospital in Bradenton. Last Saturday when he went to visit, he said, “Diane, speak to your mother Ann.”

Incredibly, Diane did.

She has been speaking ever since.

Bittersweet milestone--Howard Johnson became the third player in history to enter the 30-30 club in two different seasons Sunday, but once again his feat was marred by a two-out homer to beat the Mets in the ninth inning.

Needless to say, Johnson couldn’t celebrate after the Dodgers’ Willie Randolph went deep. The first time he reached 30 homers and 30 steals, the Cardinals’ Terry Pendleton homered off Roger McDowell to ruin the Mets’ stretch run.

That was Sept. 11, 1987.

“You know,” he said. “I noticed tjat.”

RISING I: Nineteen games into a stretch in which they’ll play 23 of 29 on the road, the A’s are 13-7 with four shutouts. The staff has a 2.79 ERA, and the starters have allowed no runs six times. Despite missing 40 games with a shoulder strain, Dennis Eckersley now has 27 saves, two behind American League leader Doug Jones.

Rising II--The Royals have won nine of their last 10 to pull within 4 1/2 games of the A’s prior to Friday night’s action. They, too, have switched to a four-man rotation, dropping left-hander Charlie Leibrandt, who is winless in his last eight starts. Relievers have four wins during the streak (Terry Leach 3, Steve Crawford 1). Jeff Montgomery has a strikeout in 27 straight games.

Falling--The Angels, two games behind the A’s. Chuck Finley is probably out for the season with a foot injury, Jim Abbott has given up 20 earned runs in his last 23 2-3 innings, Mike Witt 28 in his last 44. That’s three-fifths of what formerly was the best rotation in the majors. Brian Downing is 5-for-51, Lance Parrish is 4-for-26. The Angels went 1-3 in Kansas City. Next they headed to Texas, where they’re 0-3.

Male chauvinist of the week--Cardinal pitcher Joe Magrane was asked if he’d rather win the ERA title, like he did last year, or win 20 games, which he might do this year. He chose the wins. “Half the people don’t even know what ERA stands for,” he said, “except for the people who follow Alan Alda arownd.”

Good player, but . . .--Did Harold Baines really deserve to have his No. 3 retired by the White Sox? Baines, finishing his 10th season, hasn’t even played long enough to qualify for election to the Hall of Fame. The decision reportedly was made by club owner Jerry Reinsdorf over the objections of his front office. Whose number will be retired next, Ron Kittle’s?

Bo knows Seattle--Bo Jackson hit three homers in four games at the Kingdome this week. As a Royal, he has eight homers and 18 RBI in 18 games in Seattle. As a Los Angeles Raider, he has 18 points (three touchdowns) and an 8.1-yard rushing average. However, he has yet to leap over the Space Needle in a single bound.