NAMES & NUMBERS

In his best start since 14-0 in 1986, Roger Clemens is now 6-0 with a yield of four earned runs and 26 hits in 49 innings. He has struck out 51 and walked eight, but the most meaningful statistic may be his career record in starts after Boston losses, 70-18.

“Just another challenge,” he says of the stopper role.

It may be impossible for the San Diego Padres to sustain their strong start with outfielder Shawn Abner batting .193 through Thursday, third baseman Jim Presley at .136, five pitchers on the disabled list and a sixth, Andy Benes, winless in his last 13 starts, dating to Aug. 24. Benes, 0-4 with a 4.46 earned-run average, was allowed to throw 154 pitches in his second start of 1991 and may be paying a price.

The Baltimore media called it the relief appearance from hell. Mark Williamson of the Orioles came in with one on and nobody out in the fifth inning of a 9-3 loss to the Oakland A’s Wednesday and pitched for the cycle.

He gave up a single to Jose Canseco, a three-run homer to Mark McGwire, a double to Terry Steinbach and a triple to Willie Wilson before being yanked. His 14-pitch effort also included a wild pitch that caromed off catcher Chris Hoiles’ shoulder and knocked him out of the game.

Spoiled, or what? Rickey Henderson, given a Porsche by the A’s in honor of breaking Lou Brock’s stolen-base record, said he preferred a Mercedes but conceded that the Porsche “is a nice summer car.”

The A’s have employed five rookie pitchers in an attempt to weather an injury siege that put eight players on the disabled list at one point, matching their 1990 total.

Five players are still on it, among them all three of Dennis Eckersley’s valuable set up men--Rick Honeycutt, Gene Nelson and Todd Burns, none of whom is expected back before June.

Their return can’t be soon enough for Eckersley, showing the first signs of strain under a heavier workload. He has given up three homers and six earned runs in 13 1/3 innings, exceeding his 1990 totals of two homers and five earned runs.

The Milwaukee Brewers have almost $20 million on the disabled list in the form of outfielder Candy Maldonado and pitchers Ted Higuera, Ron Robinson, Mark Knudson and Edwin Nunez, all of whom are out indefinitely.

In addition, shoulder injuries have sidelined third baseman Gary Sheffield and reliever Dan Plesac, prompting this from trainer John Adam: “We used to say it’s going to get better. Now we don’t say that anymore.”

The Kansas City Royals continue to struggle while George Brett recovers from his knee injury. The Royals had scored two runs or fewer in a staggering 11 of 26 games through Thursday, going 1-10 in the 11 games.

Pittsburgh’s Bobby Bonilla had only two hits in 25 at-bats with no runners on base through Thursday but was 14 for 20 with runners in scoring position.

Teammate Doug Drabek is 1-5 in the aftermath of his Cy Young Award season, but that start is characteristic. He has a 24-30 record before the All-Star break. If you eliminate Drabek’s 13-2 record before the break last year, his first-half record is 11-28.

The San Francisco Giants’ 2-10 trip that ended Wednesday night was their worst of 10 games or more since leaving New York in 1958. They batted .218, had a team ERA of 5.58 and gave up 43 hits with two outs. They opened a home stand Friday 0-15 in games they trailed after seven innings. Club President Al Rosen branded a USA Today story that he is willing to trade Kevin Mitchell for a pitcher as inaccurate and irresponsible.