McCaskill and Moore on Right Track

Rehabilitation Night, that heralded and long-awaited Angel promotion starring ailing pitchers Kirk McCaskill and Donnie Moore, was carefully unveiled Thursday evening. For those keeping a medical scorecard, these were the results:

--McCaskill: 5 innings, 2 hits, 72 pitches and only an occasional twinge of pain in his recently repaired right elbow. If his scheduled Tuesday start here at the Angels’ Class A facility resembles Thursday night’s performance, his first in nearly two months, McCaskill said he expects a July 5 appointment in Anaheim against the Milwaukee Brewers.

--Moore: 2 innings of busy relief that included 2 walks, 1 hit and an occasional twinge of pain for the Angels Stadium audience. Despite an adventuresome first inning of work, several of Moore’s 38 pitches crept above the 90-m.p.h. mark on the radar gun. Moore, too, may return to the Angel active roster, possibly as soon as this weekend.

Assorted Angel management types were here for the McCaskill and Moore auditions. Among the onlookers were Preston Gomez, assistant to the general manager, and John Hays, vice president of marketing. The Angels even dispatched Tim Mead, director of public relations, to handle any media overflow.

More important was an appearance by pitching coach Marcel Lachemann, who flew from Dallas, where the Angels completed a three-game series against the Texas Rangers. Lachemann spent much of Thursday evening charting pitches and glancing at the tell-tale radar gun. Afterward, he sat with McCaskill in the trainer’s room and viewed videotapes of the performance.

“His stuff was good,” Lachemann said of McCaskill. “We’re very happy with that.”

But for every compliment, every bit of optimism, Lachemann added several disclaimers.

Of the need for McCaskill and Moore to make several minor league appearances, he said: “Obviously, in both cases, they needed it.”

Of the probable results had the two pitchers skipped Palm Springs and gone directly to, say, Chicago, where the Angels will play the White Sox this weekend: “Neither one would have gotten by in the big leagues commandwise.”

McCaskill was placed on the disabled list April 24, just nine days after pitching a complete-game shutout against the Seattle Mariners. It was then that he said he may have aggravated his pitching elbow.

His next start, this time against the Oakland A’s, ended after 6 innings and 3 earned runs. The following day, doctors found bone spur damage. He entered the hospital and a date with surgeons with a 2-0 record and a 2.57 earned-run average.

McCaskill took his Thursday night start seriously. He arrived in Palm Springs a day early and even went so far as to follow his usual game-day routine: Sleep until about 9 a.m., eat a breakfast of pancakes and whole wheat toast, do the crossword puzzles, take a walk, take a nap, listen to relaxation tapes. “It’s just positive reinforcement,” he said. “Actually, it’s picturing yourself doing it right.”

Following the California League game, in which Palm Springs beat San Jose, 9-0, McCaskill pictured himself with a grade of “D” next to his name.

“I wouldn’t say I was real consistent with any of the pitches,” he said. “That first inning, one pitch is 30 feet and the next pitch I throw in the screen.”

Moore was less critical of his first appearance in more than a month. After relieving McCaskill at the start of the sixth inning, Moore immediately walked two San Jose batters before settling down. Contrary to earlier plans, Moore returned for the seventh inning.

“My control wasn’t really that good,” he said. “But that’s to be expected when you haven’t thrown for a month. Overall, I think it’s a big improvement over where I was a month ago.”