NAMES AND NUMBERS

If Howard Johnson duplicates his 19 home runs and 63 runs batted in of the first half, he will surpass Darryl Strawberry’s career highs with the New York Mets. HoJo is finally gaining recognition for his productivity, and more.

“Darryl would hit the scoreboard now and then, but Howard does something every day for you,” Manager Bud Harrelson said. “I consider him more of a leader . . . not with his mouth but by the way he plays hard and plays hurt, by just being there every day and never complaining. He gets a lot of respect. A lot of people look to him now.”

Jim Gantner, the Milwaukee second baseman, has passed Minnesota infielder Al Newman for the longest homer-less streak among active players.

Newman, who hit his only major league home run in 1986, has gone 1,603 at-bats since. Gantner, at 1,606 through Friday, said he was dumbfounded by the drought because he had hit 40 homers in his career, before hitting that last one on June 14, 1987.

“I still hit them in (batting practice) all the time,” he said. “I have no idea why I can’t do it in a game.”

What do Mike Morgan of the Dodgers, Dennis Martinez of the Montreal Expos and Pete Harnisch of the Houston Astros have in common, besides having been on the National League All-Star pitching staff?

They all are former Baltimore Orioles who combined for a 26-15 first-half record, compared to a 21-26 record for the six pitchers who started for the Orioles in the first half.

In the quick-buck era of minor league baseball, Sam Nader’s Oneonta (N.Y.) Yankees, one of the few remaining family operations, reached a significant milestone Thursday, drawing customer No. 1,000,000.

It took 25 years of persistence and hard work by Nader and his clan, a span during which most of the New York Yankees’ top farmhands, including Don Mattingly and John Elway, began their careers with the N.Y.-Penn League franchise.

Two of the latest, Tom Wilson of Fullerton College and Lyle Mouton of Louisiana State, stylishly welcomed the one-millionth fan. Wilson had three hits, and Mouton hit what owner Nader called one of the longest homers in Oneonta history.

Roger Clemens (11-6) won’t talk about it, but his ongoing struggle--he gave up 11 hits in 6 1/3 innings of a 5-4 loss to Minnesota Friday--may stem in part from the umpires refusal to forget his run-in with Terry Cooney during last year’s American League playoff.

The Boston Red Sox believe Clemens is getting squeezed on pitch calls. “It’s terrible,” Manager Joe Morgan said. “Roger is having to work a lot harder than he should, and it has been going on all year.”