BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : NAMES AND NUMBERS

* MAIN MAN: Fred McGriff batted .313 in April and said he wasn’t swinging well. Believe him. From May 6 through Saturday, he has hit .321 and is leading Atlanta in home runs, runs and runs batted in. The Braves are a remarkable 77-30 since his midseason acquisition last year. Manager Bobby Cox said: “It’s just like everything else with our club right now. Everyone expects our pitchers to throw a shutout, and everyone expects Freddy to hit the ball out of the ballpark.”

* COLLAPSE: Edwin Nunez was the fourth veteran pitcher to be released by the Oakland Athletics in what has become a nightmare season, joining Goose Gossage, Dave Righetti and Kelly Downs. Although burdened by a recent divorce and the fatal shooting of a stepbrother, Nunez said: “If I owned the team I would have released me, too. I wonder why they didn’t do it sooner. I’m tired of embarrassing myself.”

Is Bob Welch next? The 37-year old right-hander is 0-5 with a 9.00 earned-run average. He has failed to go three innings in three of his last six starts, failed to finish the first inning at Texas on Monday night and has been demoted to the bullpen, pitching three innings on Friday night in a game that was 12-2 when he entered. “I’m not going out there thinking I can win,” Welch said of his eroded confidence.

* HOT JULIO: White Sox designated hitter Julio Franco, who drove in five runs against the Angels on Tuesday night, left Anaheim with 46 for the season, projecting to 201. He could be the only White Sox hitter other than Dick Allen, who had 113 in 1972, to lead the American League in RBIs. Franco has never driven in more than 92 in a season, but he said this is the best lineup he has been in and the best hitting coach (Walt Hrniak) he has worked with. A key, of course, is having Frank Thomas batting ahead of him.

“I said in spring training that they’re going to try to walk Frank, and I’ve got to come through in those situations so they stop and I’ve been lucky enough to do it,” Franco said. MVP Thomas still leads the league in walks--42 through 38 games--and is second in on-base percentage, but Franco’s impact has been such that Thomas also leads in the key category of runs.

* REVIVAL: The Minnesota Twins have risen from the ashes, winning seven games in a row and 11 of 12 to challenge in the AL Central. Improved pitching, particularly from Pat Mahomes and Kevin Tapani, the return of Shane Mack and the clutch hitting of Kirby Puckett and Dave Winfield have been significant. Puckett, who drove in seven runs in Friday’s 21-2 rout of the Boston Red Sox, is batting over .400 with runners in scoring position, Winfield more than .300--up from .220 last year when he was distracted by pursuit of his 3,000th hit. “That was an ordeal, not only for Dave, but everybody,” Manager Tom Kelly said.

With a race to think about now, the Twins have apparently taken closer Rick Aguilera off the trading block. “We’ve played a month and we’re two games out of first,” General Manager Andy MacPhail said the other day. “We’ve got no interest now in making a deal that will help someone in the present and help us in the future.”