NAMES AND NUMBERS

Nolan Ryan remains winless in his last nine starts dating to September, but the Texas Ranger bullpen has blown leads in three of his last four, and Ryan has given up only seven runs in the 26 innings of those four starts, with 31 strikeouts and six walks.

“This is nothing,” he said when asked if he was frustrated.

Nothing?

“How about Houston, 1987?” he said. “I led the National League in ERA and strikeouts. I pitched as well as I ever have for a full year and my record was 8-16. I admit, that kind of got to me.”

The light air of the Rockies is expected to aid major league hitters and already is affecting developmental thinking by the Colorado Rockies’ front office. General Manager Bob Gebhard said he will put an emphasis on college pitchers when the club participates in its first amateur draft Monday.

“As time goes on, I don’t think we’ll have trouble luring hitters, but pitchers could be another story,” he said. “We’ll have to develop our own.”

It has been a rough start for housemates Chili Davis and Scott Erickson of the Minnesota Twins. Davis, bemoaning his inability to get the ball airborne, has two home runs and 20 RBIs. He had 11 home runs and 32 runs batted in by June 1 of last year.

Erickson, 14-3 through July of last year, recently was demoted to the bullpen with a 5.37 ERA, having won only two of nine starts and blown five leads of two or more runs.

“Last year during the first half, our house carried the team,” Davis said. “This year we haven’t been able to carry a feather.”

The New York Mets, next to last in National League fielding last year, are among league leaders in double plays as Dick Schofield and Willie Randolph continue to solidify the middle of the infield.

Randolph has turned more double plays than Gregg Jefferies did all of last year and had contributed to 27, leading the league’s second basemen. Schofield was second among shortstops, participating in 24.

Said Atlanta Brave Manager Bobby Cox: “The Mets made a lot of major moves last winter, but getting Randolph may have been the biggest. He does so many little things every time he takes the field.”

Felipe Alou said his appointment as Montreal Expo manager would not mean more playing time for outfielder Moises Alou, his 25-year-old son, but that might be changing. Moises Alou, batting .333 in 13 starts through Friday and on base 14 times in his last eight, had appeared in six of the first seven games since his father became manager.

The senior Alou had to adjust when Ivan Calderon, previously on the disabled list because of with a rib injury, was put back on it because of ligament problems in his left shoulder, on which he has had surgery twice. The long-range plan is to trade Calderon back to the American League, where he can be a designated hitter. But once off the disabled list, he probably will play first base, with Tim Wallach returning to third full time and Alou platooning in left with the recently recalled Matt Stairs, who joins Larry Walker to give the Expos a major league first: two Canadian-born outfielders.

Seattle Mariner pitcher Randy Johnson reacted angrily after Manager Bill Plummer called him a quitter when he took himself out of a 13-8 loss to the Baltimore Orioles Tuesday after two innings. Johnson, who had thrown 370 pitches in his three previous starts and was facing the Orioles on three days’ rest, said Plummer’s characterization was uncalled for but “I’ll try to handle it as professionally as I can, which is more than Plummer did.” In Seattle Friday night, Plummer apologized to Johnson and the team for expressing his feelings publicly.