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When Mike Epstein came to the majors at Baltimore labeled as a sure superstar, it looked like the return of the Renaissance Man. Not only could the University of California student spout verses from Shakespeare and Frost and quote from Socrates and Emerson, he had also ripped through the minor leagues with long home runs and batting averages over .300. But, after three major league seasons in which the 230-pound, left-handed hitter had failed to average his weight, he cooled his loquaciousness, shortened his stance and started a Renaissance of his own. This time his bat is doing most of the talking. With four homers last week, Epstein increased his season's total to 12, including 10 in the month of May. Teaming with 260-pound Frank Howard, who leads the majors with 14 home runs. Epstein gives the Senators the biggest and busiest 1-2 slugging punch in the game. His success has also changed him from erudite to elusive. Slyly groping for words, Epstein explained, "I don't really know why I'm hitting better. I owe it all to Ted Williams, so why don't you ask him?" Williams thinks the main reasons for Epstein's improvement are a new pair of contact lenses and the higher trajectory his latest stance gives his hits. "But you should ask Mike," the manager says. "He couldn't be very smart if he doesn't know why he's hitting." That is just the kind of prod Epstein used to respond to, but nevermore, not at least while his hits keep dropping. In the slumping Senators' last three wins, he has driven in the winning run twice. Once he did it with a 10th-inning single, and then an eighth-inning homer with a man on. Epstein's bat clearly was talking for him.