NAMES AND NUMBERS

The Angels have scored 31 runs in Joe Grahe’s five starts and 13 in Jim Abbott’s five. Is it any wonder that Grahe is 2-2 despite a 7.14 earned-run average and Abbott is 1-3 despite a 1.80 ERA?

David Cone did not give up a hit for 7 1/3 innings Tuesday night against the Houston Astros before two infield singles deprived him of the first no-hitter in the pitching-rich history of the New York Mets.

“It’s got to be the curse--the Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver curse,” Cone said. “Neither one pitched a no-hitter while he was here, and so no one else can either.”

Ryan has pitched a record seven no-hitters since leaving the Mets, and Seaver, who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this summer, pitched one.

The Astros returned to reality on the road. After a 9-6 home stand, they went 1-6 in New York and Atlanta. John Smoltz, Steve Avery, Mike Bielecki, Cone, Bret Saberhagen and Sid Fernandez struck out 47 Astros in 46 innings, giving up only 25 hits, and had ERA of 1.76.

Mike Mussina registered his third victory without a defeat Tuesday night when the Baltimore Orioles beat the Minnesota Twins, 10-5. It would have been the ninth consecutive start in which Mussina had allowed two runs or fewer if the Twins had not scored three in the eighth. The former Stanford right-hander has high expectations. “I want to be consistent, and to me that means giving up two runs or less,” he said.

The Colorado Rockies, playing in 70,000-seat Mile High Stadium until Coors Field is ready in 1995, have 25% down payments on 24,200 season tickets for their inaugural season in 1993 and could pass baseball’s top three: the Dodgers, 27,000; Toronto Blue Jays, 26,000, and Orioles, 24,400. The Florida Marlins have received full payment on about 10,000 season tickets.

It is not certain that Steve Howe will accompany the New York Yankees to Anaheim for two games against the Angels Wednesday and Thursday. Howe’s Montana drug trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday, unless his attorneys gain a postponement until the end of the season.

Howe continues to pass random tests conducted by the commissioner’s office and display remarkable focus. He was three for three in save opportunities entering a weekend series against the Minnesota Twins, had stranded all nine runners he inherited and had not allowed a run in eight innings this season. Opposing batters were two for 25 against him, an .080 average.

Ken Hill, obtained from the St. Louis Cardinals in the trade for Andres Galarraga, was everything the Montreal Expos hoped for in April, but his 1.42 ERA translated to only a 2-2 record. The Expos scored only four runs in the 29 innings of his first four starts before his 9-3 victory over the San Diego Padres on Thursday. “I feel I can pitch with any pitcher in the league, and I want hitters to know they’re in for a challenge when I go to the mound,” said Hill, 11-10 with the Cardinals last season.

Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammell of the Detroit Tigers, baseball’s longest running double-play combination, aren’t much of a combination any more.

Between injuries to Trammell and the platooning of Whitaker against left-handers, they had jointly started only 162 of the 324 games in 1990 and ‘91, and had jointly started 10 of 21 and four of the last 15 through Thursday of this season.