NAMES AND NUMBERS

* HEARING FOOTSTEPS? San Francisco shortstop Royce Clayton thinks the Dodgers have to be.

“If they don’t notice now, they’ll notice sooner or later, when we’re right up on them,” Clayton said of the race in the National League West. “Having been through this last year (when the Giants tried to hold off the Atlanta Braves), it’s not a good seat over there. It’s an eye-opener and a real reality check. It shows you how fast the game can change. It’s nice to be on the other end and be the chaser. It’s definitely more stressful the other way.”

* HOUGH AND PUFF: Charlie Hough, 46, has an 0-5 record since June 14 and a degenerative hip condition that will probably require replacement surgery when he retires.

The Florida Marlins hate the idea of releasing the popular Hough, the majors’ oldest player, but it’s a distinct possibility, with Ryan Bowen and Chris Hammond about to leave the disabled list.

As Hough himself put it, “Basically, I’m rotting.”

* ANOTHER ZONE: Jose Canseco, with a .242 average and 42 strikeouts in his last 132 at-bats through Thursday, is convinced that American League umpires are out to get him and is putting together a tape of what he considers unfair strike calls. He intends to send it to the league office.

“It’s frustrating not being able to do what you know you can do with your talent,” the Texas Rangers’ designated hitter said. “It’s frustrating, because you don’t know where your strike zone is. My whole frustration is with the strike zone. Everything comes from that.”

* NEW DIMENSIONS: A recent column by John Steadman of the Baltimore Evening Sun has been a topic of conversation among Oriole pitchers, who were not surprised at Steadman’s findings.

Steadman, collaborating with Charles Steinberg, the Orioles’ public relations director and team dentist, measured the fences at Camden Yards and found the dimensions to right-center and left-center field, plus straightaway center, to be shorter by as much as 10 feet than the posted distances.

Mike Mussina had fun with the discrepancies.

“If they don’t move the fences back, I’m leaving when I’m up for free agency and I’m taking him with me,” he said, pointing to Ben McDonald. “I’m going to go out there with a camcorder and a tape measure and measure them myself. They should trade me and Ben for three more hitters who normally hit five home runs and who’ll hit 20 here.”

* NO STRANGERS: Bobby Brown is retiring as American League president next Sunday, but he gets to entertain Albert Belle one more time.

Belle gets his appeal of a 10-game suspension on Friday for using a corked bat. He’s the last guy Brown wants to see, considering he’s had to discipline him in each of the last three years.

Belle drew a six-game suspension in 1991 for throwing a baseball at a fan, a three-gamer in 1992 for charging the mound after Kansas City’s Neal Heaton threw consecutive pitches behind Belle, and a three-gamer last year for charging the mound after KC’s Hipolito Pichardo hit him with a pitch.

Corked bats? Big deal, said Detroit coach Billy Consolo, who hit nine homers in his 10-year big league career. “I corked my bat for seven years, but no one ever seemed interested in checking it.”