McCaskill Gets Win, Rojas Save : Pitcher Held Out a Day to Face A’s, Beats Them, 2-1

So there truly was a method to Cookie Rojas’ madness, or bad arithmetic, or whatever it was that caused him to save Kirk McCaskill for Monday night’s series opener against the Oakland Athletics.

Whether McCaskill was pitching on five days’ rest, as the calendar maintains, or four days’ rest, as Rojas maintains, he was obviously pitching at peak condition.

Nine innings and three Oakland hits later, McCaskill had pitched the Angels to a 2-1 victory over the American League West leaders at Anaheim Stadium, bringing the Angels to within two games of .500 and 12 games behind the Athletics.

Talk about your best-case scenarios. One day earlier, Rojas had apparently gambled and lost by delaying McCaskill’s start until Monday, starting Willie Fraser on three days’ rest and watching the Cleveland Indians hammer him in a 9-2 rout. End Angel momentum, brace yourself for the streaking Athletics.

But McCaskill salvaged the moment for Rojas by limiting Jose Canseco and Co. to two singles, a double and two walks en route to his second straight complete game and fourth of the season. Outpitching Oakland’s Dave Stewart (12-10), who allowed just five hits, McCaskill improved his 1988 record to 8-5 and his career record against the Athletics to 6-2.

“That might have been his best performance of the year, right there,” Rojas said. “An outstanding job.”

Especially against the Athletics’ batting order, it was suggested to Rojas.

“Especially when he has his full rest,” Rojas quipped.

McCaskill, whose last start was last Tuesday, originally asked Rojas to pitch Saturday and again in Wednesday’s finale against Oakland--an idea Rojas immediately nixed. How about Sunday? Again, Rojas said no, claiming he would never start McCaskill, 15 months after elbow surgery, on three days’ rest.

“I will not throw McCaskill on three days’ rest this year, I guarantee you that,” Rojas reiterated before Monday’s game. “Even if I have no other pitchers, I’ll use outfielders or infielders before I do that. I’m not going to screw up his rehabilitation from surgery and screw up his career.”

Never mind that McCaskill would have been pitching on four days of rest Sunday--and ended up starting on five days of rest Monday. Here, Cookie’s counting gets confusing. This modern math.

Suffice it to say that McCaskill was extremely refreshed by the time he took the mound against the Athletics.

“If you look at the year so far, I’ve pitched with extra days’ rest as much as I have on schedule,” said McCaskill, who understood the real, unstated reason why Rojas fudged on the numbers and saved him for Monday--a chance to face the Athletics.

“These are games pitchers always look forward to. You want to go out there and pitch like that.”

In other words, McCaskill made it worth the wait.

McCaskill gave up a first-inning double to Canseco, a fourth-inning single to Carney Lansford and a seventh-inning single to Stan Javier. That was it. Lansford’s hit accounted for the Athletics’ only run, driving in Canseco, who walked, from second base.

Brian Downing gave McCaskill a 1-0 lead in the second inning with a leadoff home run to left. It was his 14th home run of the season, establishing him as the club leader in that category, and it represented his 35th run batted in.

The winning run came in the bottom of the fourth. Johnny Ray opened with a single to right but wound up on second base when Canseco misplayed the bounce. Wally Joyner then followed with his first of two doubles, Ray scored and McCaskill had his margin of victory.

After Lansford’s run-scoring single in the fourth inning, McCaskill retired nine straight batters before yielding a single to Javier. He retired seven more batters in order to finish the job.

McCaskill struck out seven, including Mark McGwire and Dave Henderson twice.

“It feels good knowing you can put the ball where you want to,” said McCaskill, who relied on a steady stream of big breaking curveballs.

“I don’t have a Roger Clemens fastball, but if I get it in the hitter’s mind that I can throw a curve for a strike at any time, it makes my fastball a lot more effective.”

The victory was McCaskill’s sixth straight. Back when he was 2-5, that curveball was mostly missing in action.

“Early on, I went through that stretch where I didn’t have a breaking ball,” he said. “Now that I have the curve, I don’t have to be perfect with the fastball and it enables me to relax.”

So do five days off between starts. Or four, if Rojas is doing the counting. Numbers, numbers. But the way Rojas figured it, the only ones that mattered Monday night were Angels 2, Athletics 1.

Angel Notes

And who was that running sprints and shagging flies for the Angels during batting practice Monday night? That stocky frame, those familiar stubby legs--could it be? Yes, it’s true, Jack Lazorko is back. Well, kind of. With Mike Witt bothered by back spasms, Chuck Finley still weak with the flu and the Angels needing a starting pitcher for tonight’s game, Lazorko was summoned from triple-A Edmonton to work out with the Angels and wait for the word. “On standby,” as Manager Cookie Rojas put it. Rojas was still waffling about his next starter before Monday’s game, but immediately afterward, he announced that Witt will be the one to oppose Oakland’s Storm Davis. “He’s says he’s ready to pitch,” Rojas said. “He said he’s fit, so we’re going to go with him. Then Terry Clark on Wednesday and Finley should probably be ready by the time we play the (Chicago) White Sox (on Thursday). And where does that leave Lazorko? In limbo, for the moment. “He’s going to stay with us a little while more,” Rojas said. “If we don’t need to make a (pitching) move, he’ll go back to Edmonton.”