McCaskill Is Calmly Stepping Back to the Past : After Weathering a Rough Spring, Right-Hander Regains His Form of 1986

Kirk McCaskill’s got this good-news-bad-news thing down pat, not that he’s particularly fond of the routine. It’s only April, but the Angel right-hander already hasbeen on an emotional roller-coaster ride this season.

He began spring training full of optimism, hoping the nerve problem in his right arm that prematurely ended his 1988 season on Aug. 18 was nothing more than a painful memory.

But he ended spring training wondering if he’d ever get another out after the triple-A Edmonton Trappers slapped him around for nine runs in 4 1/3 innings of the Angels’ final exhibition tune-up.

McCaskill bounced back to win his first start, though, holding Seattle to four hits and one run over seven innings last Friday night. And Wednesday night, he boosted his record to 2-0, holding the Oakland Athletics to two hits for six innings of the Angels’ 5-0 victory at Anaheim Stadium.

So much for the good news.

McCaskill left the game Wednesday night with a two-hitter because his upper back stiffened and Manager Doug Rader decided to give his well-rested bullpen some work.

“I could’ve kept pitching,” McCaskill said, explaining that the stiffness was minor. “I didn’t want to come out, but it’s the old kid-gloves-with-McCaskill thing. He’s got a hangnail so you gotta watch out.”

Rader said he became aware of McCaskill’s problem in the fourth inning and, after a discussion with pitching coach Marcel Lachemann during the sixth, decided to “shut Kirk down” and give relievers Greg Minton and Bryan Harvey some work.

McCaskill, after all, has not been the most durable pitcher around. He missed most of the 1987 season after surgery to remove bone chips from his right elbow. Then there was the nerve problem last year.

And then there was the really scary last couple weeks of spring, when McCaskill felt just fine and pitched perfectly horribly.

Things were looking so bad after his final two starts of the spring that Rader said “protecting” McCaskill was one of the reasons he decided to open the season with 11 pitchers instead of the more-traditional 10-man staff.

“You’re looking more for a display of skill than performance in the spring,” Rader said, “but when one of your starting pitchers doesn’t have any better command than that, to say it’s disturbing is to put it lightly.”

McCaskill felt pretty much the same way. He watched some old videotapes of himself from 1986 (when he was 17-10) and tried to remember what it felt like to be successful. Then he went out and shut down the Mariners and everybody in an Angel uniform felt considerably better.

“I think all that spring training garbage is behind me now,” McCaskill said. “This game wasn’t so much a desperate situation like the Seattle game.

“I think my problems were one part mechanical and two parts mental. When things were going bad, my mind was going 100 miles per hour. I was thinking about August in April. I wasn’t focusing. Basically, I’ve just calmed myself down, and now I’m concentrating much better.”

That’s evident. The A’s may be without Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire at the moment, but their lineup still is considerably more formidable than say, the Edmonton Trappers.

“I was delighted with the way he pitched,” Rader said. “He got a little wild at times, but as far as his stuff and overall command goes, he was excellent.”

McCaskill said the cold and damp of Wednesday evening may have played a part in his back problems, but he says the stiffness hasn’t dampened his spirits “one iota.”

“It’s just your standard stiff back,” he said, smiling.

Nothing to worry about, Angel fans. The man whose revitalization is considered by many to be a key to the team’s chances for success says he’s back . . . even with a stiff back.

“I don’t think I’m a key to this pitching staff,” McCaskill said. “I’m just one member, and I hope I can stay healthy and help this team.”

So far, he’s certainly helping. And, well, he’s semi-healthy, anyway.