Another 9 Zeros by Angels : McCaskill, Harvey Put White Sox in Deep Freeze, 3-0

Yes, it’s true: The Angels have pitched back-to-back shutouts. No, hell hasn’t frozen over, although Comiskey Park nearly did before reliever Bryan Harvey iced Kirk McCaskill’s 3-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox Monday night.

Amid extraordinary conditions--temperatures dipped below 40 degrees and winds provided a mighty chill factor--the Angels accomplished an extraordinary feat, matching Bert Blyleven’s Sunday shutout with another on Monday to extend the pitching staff’s scoreless streak to 24 2/3 innings.

McCaskill himself is 3-0 with a scoreless streak of 17 1/3 innings. His 7 1/3 innings against Chicago lowered his earned-run average to 0.44--best in the American League--and dropped the Angels’ team ERA to 2.66.

This from the man who entered spring training with questions about his arm and finished it with an ERA of 6.49.

This from a starting rotation that was assailed all off-season as being in dire need of rotating.

“How do you figure?” Angel Manager Doug Rader said. “No way you could’ve handicapped this one. But, I’m certainly grateful.”

Three hours earlier, Rader shivered on the steps of the Angel dugout, hands jammed into the jacket that was covering another jacket, watching his breath form cold clouds as he wondered how the elements would affect McCaskill and his stiff back.

“This is not good,” Rader said, staring into the outfield. “You can quote me. This is not good.”

Seven innings later, McCaskill was still in the game, working on a four-hitter and protecting a 1-0 lead.

And the only thing stiffening up was the White Sox offense.

McCaskill got another out in the eighth inning before yielding successive singles to Eddie Williams and pinch-hitter Matt Merullo. Not willing to press his luck any further, Rader called on Harvey, the Angel bullpen closer who hadn’t been given a game to close for 10 days.

Harvey faced five batters. He retired all five, striking out three, including the .321-hitting Dave Gallagher and the .354-hitting Harold Baines.

Well, he was well-rested.

“I like to get in games more often than that,” Harvey said. “Five or six days is usually too long. But I ain’t complaining. It’s early. You’ve got to rest all you can.”

Harvey was just glad for the chance to get out of the frigid Comiskey Park bullpen and warm his blood a little.

“It was c-o-l-d,” Harvey said. “My toes were numb from just sitting in the bullpen.”

It was cold enough to bring back postgame references to McCaskill’s hockey days, the years he spent in the Winnipeg Jets’ organization before scrapping the skates for a berth in the Angels’ starting rotation.

McCaskill provided his usual answers to the hockey questions--”I made the right choice”--and shrugged off the weather questions as any warm-blooded former skater from Ontario, Canada, might.

“I didn’t think it was all that cold,” he said. “Of course, I’m the luckiest guy on the field. I get to move around, so I didn’t feel it so much.”

And the back, which forced him out of his last start after six innings?

It didn’t stiffen until the eighth inning, said McCaskill, who didn’t argue when Rader removed him again in mid-shutout.

“I think he made the right move,” McCaskill said. “I was getting a little stiff. I wasn’t throwing as well. I don’t mind giving the ball to Bryan Harvey at all.”

Until the eighth, McCaskill yielded only a single to Gallagher in the first inning, a single to Darryl Boston in the second, an infield single to Steve Lyons in the fifth and another single to Gallagher in the sixth.

Given a 1-0 first-inning lead when Brian Downing reached base on an infield single and scored on a double by Devon White, McCaskill made it stand until the Angels added two insurance runs in the ninth.

McCaskill was asked to explain the difference between his pitching in March, in the desert heat, and now, in a Chicago ice box.

“Part of my problem in spring training was that I was pressing,” McCaskill said. “I was pitching for a new manager, and every time I went out there, I wanted to be perfect.

“I had to re-arrange my thought process. I’m not trying to overpower people now, I just want to make them hit the ball at people.”

And the cold, if anything, lended an assist Monday night, according to McCaskill.

“On a day like today, the pitcher has the advantage,” he said. “If a pitcher throws strikes on a day like today, he doesn’t have to be as fine. The ball doesn’t carry as far.”

The result was a 17 1/3-inning scoreless streak for McCaskill--not quite Hershiser territory, but nothing to, well, sneeze at.

“That will end,” McCaskill said of the streak. “I just hope I can ride the momentum as far as I can.”

Too bad, for the Angels’ sake, they simply can’t freeze the moment.

Angel Notes

On a chilly night, it wasn’t Chili Davis’ night. Errorless in left field for the first two weeks of the season, Davis saw that streak end in the third inning when he dropped a fly ball off the bat of Ozzie Guillen. Guillen reached second base on the play and advanced to third on an infield out, but he was stranded when Harold Baines lined to third. Davis also went 0 for 3, dropping his average to .205, but drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the ninth. . . . The back-to-back shutouts were the first for the Angels since June 13-14, 1987, when Willie Fraser (complete game) and Don Sutton (with relief help) blanked the Kansas City Royals in consecutive games. . . . Catcher Lance Parrish tripled to score Wally Joyner in the ninth inning for the Angels’ third run. It was the fifth triple for Parrish since 1984. “I don’t like triples,” he said with a grin, having recovered from the 270-foot sprint. “I’d just as soon hit the ball a little further and trot around the bases.”

Johnny Ray tested his left wrist with 20 minutes in the batting cage, swinging both right-handed and left-handed. Angel trainer Rick Smith called it “a real positive outing” but real progress will be made if Ray is able to taking batting practice again today. “We’ll see how he continues to feel,” Smith said. “With continued therapy, he could hit again (Tuesday).” . . . Shortstop update: Dick Schofield (strained chest muscle) is scheduled to be re-examined today in Inglewood by team physician Dr. Lewis Yocum. Schofield’s backup, Glenn Hoffman, missed his third consecutive game with a bruised left forearm. Smith said Hoffman has had “a little problem getting the arm extended” while swinging the bat but could have played if necessary Monday.