McCaskill’s Start Takes Even McCaskill by Surprise

The job of Angel manager always comes with a few surprises attached and one Doug Rader encountered one of the first during a meeting of Angel coaches last winter.

The topic was pitching--starting pitching, to be precise--and Rader asked for a rundown of the team’s rotation.

The No. 1 starter?

Easy one. Had to be Mike Witt. Even Rader knew that, his initial hunch being the perfect game Witt had thrown against Rader’s Texas Rangers in 1984.

The No. 2 starter?

Kirk McCaskill, the coaches said.

Rader’s response?

“Really?”

The reaction was understandable, considering what Rader had to go on. In 1987, McCaskill had been 4-6 with a 5.67 earned-run average and one elbow operation. In 1988, the numbers had been 8-6 and 4.31, and the physical ailment was a nerve irritation that had made McCaskill’s right forearm and hand go numb when he tried to pitch during the season’s final two months.

Then came spring training, 1989. In six games, McCaskill went 1-2 with a 6.49 ERA, allowing 29 hits, 10 walks and three wild pitches in 26 1/3 innings.

And, in a final exhibition tuneup against Edmonton, McCaskill surrendered nine runs in 3 1/3 innings as the Angels lost to their triple-A farm club, 13-1.

This was the Angels’ second-best starting pitcher?

“I don’t know what to tell you,” Rader said on the eve of the Angels’ season opener. “Mac is still a puzzle. I don’t want to add to his burden . . . (but) I don’t know how to straighten it out, other than to be supportive and hope he and Lach figure it out.”

Lach is Angel pitching coach Marcel Lachemann. Since then, he and McCaskill have tried a few things, thrown out a few others and agreed on a program that McCaskill has taken with him to the mound during his last five starts.

You might say McCaskill and Lachemann have figured it out.

As the Angels open their second trip of the season tonight in Baltimore, McCaskill’s record is 4-1. His ERA of 0.74 leads major league starters. He has been involved in two shutouts, has run off a consecutive scoreless streak of 18 2/3 innings and had a no-hitter broken up in the ninth inning Friday night.

McCaskill’s only loss was a 2-0 defeat to the Oakland Athletics on April 23, when Mike Moore, Rick Honeycutt and Dennis Eckersley combined to pitch a three-hitter against the Angels.

Continue to color Rader surprised.

“Based on what he did this spring and his recent history, this is almost inexplicable,” Rader said. “I don’t think there’s any way in the world you could have handicapped this.”

McCaskill has a tough time arguing that one. His march through April has stunned everyone in the Angels’ organization, including the pitcher who has done the stunning.

“Anytime you have an ERA of point-whatever, well . . . “ McCaskill said. “I did expect to pitch well this year, but not to this degree. Right now, I just want to ride the momentum as long as I can.”

Only two starters concluded April with ERAs below 1.00--McCaskill and Cincinnati’s Jose Rijo at 0.87. This is heady territory for McCaskill, who said he has led a league in ERA only once in his baseball career.

“Yeah, the Sea View Little League,” he said with a grin. “I was just knocking ‘em down.”

As for what he has done to the American League at 28, McCaskill serves up a couple of quick theories.

One is his arm. For the first time since 1986, when he went 17-10 with a 3.36 ERA, McCaskill is attempting to complete a season without experiencing a throbbing elbow or a tingling forearm. He finished both 1987 and 1988 on the Angels’ disabled list, but so far in 1989, the arm has been trouble free.

Reason No. 2 is confidence. After 12 victories in two seasons, McCaskill had lost much of his, which was evident throughout his ragged training camp.

“Part of my problem in spring training was that I was pressing,” McCaskill said. “We had a new manager and I was trying to impress him. Every time out there, I wanted to be perfect.”

When McCaskill found himself to be imperfect, his self-esteem--and his pitching--took a nose-dive.

It hit bottom, McCaskill said, after the exhibition against Edmonton, when he got knocked out in the middle of the 10-run fourth inning.

“I was embarrassed,” McCaskill said. “I’d let my teammates down. I had to go to an Angel function the next day and I dreaded it.

“But then everybody came up to me and said, ‘Don’t worry about it. No big deal.’ They were kind of concerned about how I was doing.”

In effect, McCaskill’s funk was killed by his teammates’ kindness.

“In my mind, that went a long way toward me getting mentally prepared for the season,” McCaskill said.

Four days later, he started his first regular-season game against the Seattle Mariners and limited them to four hits in seven innings. He won that game, 2-1, and by mid-April, his record stood at 3-0.

“It’s amazing what a little confidence will do,” catcher Lance Parrish said. “In this game, you can be your own worst enemy. Most of the time, you’ve got the ability, or you wouldn’t be here. But if you’re not capable of relaxing, you can’t use your ability.

“With each start this spring, Kirk got worse and worse, and he pressed more and more. Then, in his first start, he pitched pretty well and he’s been able to build on each start since. He’s built himself a pretty darn good base.”

Good enough to approach the standards McCaskill set in 1986, Parrish believes.

“To be honest with you, I can’t see any reason why he can’t be a 20-game winner, especially if we score runs for him the way we should,” Parrish said.

Kirk McCaskill, the Angels’ second-best starting pitcher?

As of May 1, he has moved up to No. 1.