When He Unwound, He Wound Up Ahead : Angels’ Rookie Pitcher Kirk McCaskill Relaxed and Started Winning By

Every time Kirk McCaskill pitched for the Angels during May, he felt as if he had to walk a tightrope from the dugout to the mound.

That’s what comes from having an 0-3 record and a 6.30 earned-run average.

The fact that the front office was rife with rumors that former Montreal Expos pitcher Steve Rogers and Cleveland Indians ace Bert Blyleven would soon be aboard didn’t help McCaskill’s confidence much, either.

He spent May teetering between Anaheim and Edmonton, between the big leagues and the minors. The rookie felt he had to prove himself every time out. He knew the ax could fall at any moment, sending him down to Triple-A, and this was affecting his performance on the mound.

Though he never returned to Edmonton, McCaskill wasn’t making a big impression on the California coaching staff.

But there came a time in early June when McCaskill, a 24-year-old right-hander, decided that he had no control over what management would do with him and that he was just wasting energy worrying about it.

That’s when McCaskill says he turned his season around.

Since an 0-4 start, McCaskill has won four of his last five decisions, including Sunday’s complete game, 8-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox in front of 31,383 in Anaheim Stadium.

McCaskill had only one strikeout but walked just one to improve to 4-5. It marked the sixth time in his last seven starts that he has allowed three runs or less, and the win also avenged a 6-4 loss to Boston on May 7 at Fenway Park.

Rogers, who signed with the Angels as a free agent in early June and spent the month at Edmonton, never made it to Anaheim and was released by the team last week. Blyleven is still pitching for the Indians.

Kirk McCaskill, however, appears here to stay.

“I’m not as uptight, and I’m a lot more confident,” said McCaskill, who lowered his ERA to 4.39. “I think I’m going to win instead of just hoping to win. It’s easier for me to prepare for the games because I expect so much more from myself.”

McCaskill, who spent the 1984 season at Edmonton and had a 7-11 record, might have expected a little too much from the American League hitters when he was recalled from the minor leagues on April 30.

He was a timid pitcher in May. He wasn’t challenging batters. Instead of starting a hitter out with a good, hard fastball, he was picking at corners, trying to make the difficult pitch.

“I was giving the hitters too much respect,” McCaskill said. “I wasn’t doing the things I knew I could do. Getting to the big leagues was a huge step for me, and I got caught up in giving the name hitters too much credit. The difference now is that I go after hitters.”

With the exception of Wade Boggs’ RBI single in the third inning and Marty Barrett’s two-run single in the seventh, the Red Sox never really caught up with McCaskill.

Lead-off batter Dwight Evans went 0 for 4. Jim Rice managed a single through the infield in four at-bats. Clean-up hitter Bill Buckner went 0 for 4.

“The kid really belongs here,” said Marcel Lachemann, the Angels’ pitching coach. “He’s getting ahead of the hitters, and he’s not pitching around anyone. He’s got four quality pitches--a cut fastball, slider, curve and changeup. He has everything he needs to become a very good major league pitcher.”

McCaskill also had the tools to become a professional hockey player. He was an All-American at the University of Vermont and was the first collegian chosen in the 1981 National Hockey League draft. But he chose baseball over hockey and has never regretted the decision.

“My (hockey) skills were deteriorating, and I wasn’t having fun in the sport anymore,” McCaskill said. “Even if I never made it to the major leagues, I would have been happy.”

But McCaskill is in the big leagues, and he’s making the most of his opportunities. He’s one of four rookie pitchers on an Angel staff that has helped give the team a league-leading earned run average of 3.43. That figure stood at 4.02 on May 18, but in the 45 games since, the team ERA has been 2.98.

Urbano Lugo is another rookie starter with a 3-1 record, while first-year relievers Pat Clements and Stewart Cliburn (3-2) also have contributed.

McCaskill said that a camaraderie has developed among the Angels’ rookie pitchers because they have experienced the same pressures and similar success.

“We all hear about the rookies pitching well and we all take pride in that,” McCaskill said. “We get along well and provide each other with a lot of support. Pitching can be contagious, too.”

Angel Manager Gene Mauch, however, would rather not comment on the possibility of some bond between the youngsters.

“When you have something good going, why mess with it?” he said. “You get paralysis from analysis.”

Said Lachemann: “I see the camaraderie, but it’s not just in the young kids. It’s the whole ballclub. There is not the pitching staff and the rest of the team. It’s 25 guys.”

And one of those who should figure heavily during the pennant race is Kirk McCaskill.