BASEBALL : ROCKIES, TIGERS NEED REFRESHER CLASS IN BASICS.

Byline: Tim Brown

Colorado Rockies manager Don Baylor, not the meeting type, nevertheless called the boys together on Tuesday afternoon to discuss what he perceived as a certain lack of concentration and preparedness on their part. He invited the players to speak up and, when it was all over, they all figured to be locked in, Baylor included.

That very night, the Rockies lost to the Houston Astros 16-8, at the Astrodome. When it was over, they couldn't even blame their own dreadful pitching. The first 10 runs scored by the Astros were aided by only four hits and a Rockies club-record six errors.

All right, who wasn't paying attention?

``It reminds you of a spring training game,'' Baylor said afterward. ``You wouldn't think we'd played 50 games after watching that.''

Baylor, maybe, was the only guy who saw it coming. Earlier in the week he had scheduled a full-squad workout in Pittsburgh, only to have the extra-credit assignment rained out.

``Call it punishment, call it whatever you want,'' he said. ``But we're going to get back to basics.''

Add Rockies: Larry Walker, who had six extra-base hits in six at-bats in one line-drive-hitting span on their last homestand, followed that up with two hits in his next 25 at-bats. Walker hasn't hit particularly well in the thick air anyway. At Coors Field he is batting .394. Between sea level and 5,280 feet: .119.

It's the big, square white thing: Perhaps because his team is so unaccustomed to seeing balls stay in the infield, Detroit Tigers pitcher Bob Scanlan, a Harvard (High School) man no less, missed first base on two cover plays this week. It triggered from manager Buddy Bell a 45-minute workout that focused on fundamentals. It's going around.

``We can talk about it all we want,'' Bell said. ``We can do things. But it's going to take more than spring training, more than two months, more than a workout to get things right.''

Buddy has never been so right. The Tigers are last in the American League in batting, pitching and defense. At their current pace, the Tigers would finish 36-126, baseball's worst-ever record. And, if the pitching staff did not allow an earned run for the next 82 consecutive innings, its ERA still would be above six runs.

Comparing scars: The Minnesota Twins recently claimed left-hander Scott Aldred off waivers from the Tigers, not generally the place ballclubs shop for pitching help. Indeed, Aldred made two appearances against the Twins this season and allowed 10 earned runs in eight innings. He'll pair up with another left-hander, rookie Mike Milchin, in manager Tom Kelly's bullpen.

Here's the interesting part: Both have had Tommy John surgery. And, as it turns out, Tommy John himself broadcasts games for the Twins on WCCO-TV in Minneapolis. Between them, they have exactly three elbow ligaments, and none of them pitch - or pitched - with them.

Oh, right, well, her: Eric Davis and Darryl Strawberry are forever linked, if because of their glorious days on the sandlots of Los Angeles or for their inglorious years as occasional teammates in the Dodgers outfield. They still speak on a regular basis, especially now that Davis has time to kill on the disabled list and Strawberry has even more to kill in St. Paul.

``I always pull for Darryl,'' said Davis, whose otherwise remarkable comeback has been slowed by bruised ribs. ``I'm a friend.

``It takes someone to give him an opportunity. You can't say he doesn't deserve an opportunity. He didn't do anything to anybody. He hurt himself. He didn't tear up a clubhouse or beat up managers, he just messed himself up. And they treated him like he tried to assassinate the president.''

Darryl's wife might have preferred Darryl had taken out some of those oh-fer aggressions on the president.

If he did, she'd be a nice girl: On the North Side, a long way from where White Sox outfielder Tony Phillips has a reputation for asking fans to step outside, Cubs first baseman Mark Grace has heard it all. And the fans like him.

``We hear the F-word all the time,'' said Grace, who didn't mean Frampton. ``Even from old ladies. I've heard guys yell, `Hey, I was with your sister last night.' I know that's not true. I don't have a sister.''

Add Grace: Grace, who as usual is in the thick of the National League batting race, already has conceded the title. Not to Mike Piazza. Not to Mark Grudzielanek. Not to Jeff Bagwell. But to the man, Tony Gwynn, who is two points behind Grace and, as of Friday, 29 points behind Piazza.

``Tony will lead the league in hitting,'' Grace said this week in The Sporting News. ``That's all there is to it. Mike Piazza will finish second, and I'll be somewhere in the mix. People keep waiting for (Gwynn) to blow out, but he never does.''

Tres deep: If Henry Rodriguez were to hit 30 home runs, and that would be nine more over the final four months, he would become the fifth Montreal Expos player to do so. He would join Rusty Staub (30 in 1970), Larry Parrish (30 in 1979), Gary Carter (31 in 1977) and Andre Dawson (32 in 1983). Dawson did it only once? Yup. But he hit 25 or more three times.

Notes: Say, didn't you used to be Phil Nevin? . . . The reason Marge Schott will barricade herself against the executive council and all others with authority: She has nowhere else to go and nothing else to do. You know who would love this? Al Davis. . . . Memo to Frank Viola: It's time. . . . Jay Leno's get-well-soon package to Brett Butler contained three movies - Die Hard, Die Hard II and Die Hard III. . . . It's becoming very evident that Delino DeShields won't be back with the Dodgers next season. . . . The Colorado Rockies win at home because they don't swing for the fences, and lose on the road because they do. . . . The San Francisco Giants could be done in by right field, where they are alternating Marvin Benard and David McCarty. . . . It's a matter of time before the Baltimore Orioles trade Bobby Bonilla, to yet another unhappy customer. Bonilla plays as if he is allergic to pennant races. . . . Tigers center fielder Chad Curtis, who is expensive and at odds with manager Bell, is officially on the trading block. . . . The American League All-Star team's reserve third baseman? How about Kansas City's Keith Lockhart, who is hitting .316.

MEMO: Staff Writer Tim Brown's baseball column appears Sundays in the Daily News.