NAMES & NUMBERS

Kevin Maas, who hit 21 home runs in 79 games with the New York Yankees last year and was viewed as the heir to that club’s rich tradition of left-handed power hitters, has struggled in 1991.

Teams that pitched around him early in the season no longer fear him. He had three hits in his last 38 at-bats, five hits in his last 52 and 18 in his last 123, his average dipping to .227 with 14 homers. Worried?

“I’m not worried, and I’m not worried that everybody else is worried,” he said.

Bud Black of the San Francisco Giants has a 3-0 record and a 0.95 earned-run average in 28 innings against the New York Mets this season, gaining his latest victory by a 4-2 score Tuesday night.

“He takes the place of the guy who did it to us last year,” Met Manager Bud Harrelson said. He was referring to Zane Smith of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who was 3-1 with an 0.97 ERA against the Mets in 1990, helping the Pirates win the National League East.

The Mets are believed to be close to acquiring left-hander Mike Flanagan from the Baltimore Orioles, and former Met Ron Darling, recently traded to the Montreal Expos, may be dealt to the Atlanta Braves before the waiver period expires Wednesday at midnight.

Wally Whitehurst, whose development prompted the Mets to trade Darling, is 0-3 with a 7.11 ERA since the trade and might be unable to make his next scheduled start Tuesday night in Los Angeles.

Ben McDonald has yielded 16 earned runs in 23 innings of five starts since his second 1991 stint on the disabled list. Of McDonald’s 4-4 record and 5.86 ERA, Oriole Manager John Oates said McDonald hasn’t thrown enough to gain command of his breaking pitches.

“You can’t win at this level with one pitch. I don’t care if it’s 94 m.p.h.,” Oates said.

The Texas Rangers’ pitching staff is en route to leading the American League in unintentional walks for the sixth consecutive season. No team has ever won a division title in the season that it led the league in walks. The last team to win a league title doing it was the 1959 Dodgers.

Philadelphia Phillie Manager Jim Fregosi, on outfielder Lenny Dykstra: “I hadn’t seen him that much before the (car) accident, but I’ve since been amazed at how many quality at-bats he gives you in tough situations. He finds a way to get it done.”

One reason for the surprising success of the St. Louis Cardinals is their 17-6 record against the Phillies and the Houston Astros, the NL’s two poorest teams.

The demise of the high-salaried Boston Red Sox has jeopardized the status of Manager Joe Morgan and General Manager Lou Gorman, who puts the blame on an offense that has produced three or fewer runs in 47 games and is 11th in the AL in runs and home runs. Only the Angels, the Chicago White Sox and the Cleveland Indians have hit fewer.

“We’ve been just dead with the bats,” Gorman said. “It’s incredible that we haven’t hit.”

In a misery-loves-company mating, the Red Sox and the San Diego Padres might be brought together by their dwindling pennant hopes, with the Padres sending pitcher Dennis Rasmussen to the Red Sox for third base prospect Scott Cooper.

San Diego also would like to acquire Ellis Burks (.235 average, 12 homers, 37 runs batted in) in the deal but would have to sweeten the offer, even though the Red Sox are known to be exasperated with the center fielder’s disappointing play.

Burks, wrote Sean Horgan in the Hartford Courant the other day, has performed with “all the aggressiveness of a Jell-O mold.”

Storm Davis, 2-5 with a 5.30 ERA as a starter when moved into a setup role by the Kansas City Royals on May 24, has since given up only four earned runs in 46 1/3 innings.

The role change still doesn’t thrill Davis, but he acknowledges having regained his aggressiveness and confidence and no longer has those four days between starts to dwell on mistakes or a bad outing.

“I think that being a good setup man is a lot like being a good ball boy at Wimbledon,” he said. “You just want to keep the balls out of play.”