ANGELS : McCaskill: Coddling Right Arm Is History

Since Kirk McCaskill underwent surgery to remove bone spurs from his right elbow last October, he has been babying his 10-month-old son, Riley, and not his elbow.

“My arm definitely feels different than it has, better than it has, and I don’t have to pamper it as much as I used to,” the Angel right-hander said. “I can baby it less. It seems freer.”

McCaskill refuses to call his comeback this spring a recovery. After his three shutout innings Wednesday in the Angels’ 8-4 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at Compadre Stadium, he can call it successful.

“For me to get all excited about it after what I’ve been through makes no sense,” said McCaskill, who has altered his delivery in hopes of reducing stress on his twice-repaired elbow. “What happens if it crops up again?”

“Complete games used to be a big thing for me, and sure, I’d love to be the guy that went out there and threw a lot of innings. Now I just want to go out there for as long as I can and throw as hard as I can.”

In joining Mark Langston as the only Angel starters to pitch three shutout innings this spring, McCaskill threw 24 strikes among his 39 pitches. He struck out one, walked one and gave up one hit, a ground-rule double by Darryl Hamilton in the third.

McCaskill wanted to pitch into the fourth inning but decided against it after developing stiffness while his teammates scored seven runs in the top of the third. Twelve Angels came to bat against Mark Knudson and former Angel minor leaguer Brandy Vann, producing seven runs with the help of two Brewer errors.

“I got what I needed to get done,” said McCaskill, who worked on his curveball in the bullpen after he left the game. “I’ve had springs where I thought I wasn’t going to make the club, and I’ve had great springs. What I’m concerned about is my mechanics and the location of my pitches and I feel great about all that stuff.”

The Brewers scored their runs in the sixth inning off Jeff Robinson on a double by B.J. Surhoff, a wild pitch, a triple by Robin Yount and home runs by Dave Parker and Franklin Stubbs. “He got a couple of balls up and didn’t change speeds enough,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said of Robinson. “He didn’t get his breaking ball over, but that’s not something to worry about.”

Mark Eichhorn held Milwaukee hitless for two innings, and Bryan Harvey struck out two in the ninth to clinch the Angels’ second spring victory in six games. “Bryan’s rhythm is good,” Rader said. “He threw some good forkballs today and some good fastballs.”

Every Angel starter had a hit by the third inning and Gary Gaetti recorded his first homer of the spring, a two-run shot in the third inning off the glove of left fielder Darryl Hamilton.

A Milwaukee source said the Angels are interested in Parker, who has become expendable as the Brewers’ designated hitter. Angel General Manager Mike Port said he has scouted the Brewers but would neither confirm nor deny that he is looking at Parker.

Parker, 39, hit .289 with 92 runs batted in last season. He played only three games at first base in 1990 but started at first Tuesday, hitting a home run but looking overmatched in the field. He said after the game that several Angels told him he will soon be their teammate, but he said that was the first he had heard of it.

“I can’t worry about that right now,” he said. “I’m going to get ready to play, whether it’s for the Brewers or someone else.”

The Angels projected Greg Walker to be Wally Joyner’s backup at first, but Walker has shown little bat speed and is sub-par defensively after undergoing elbow surgery last year.

“We’ve had scouts at (the Brewers’) camp, and also in Scottsdale and in Florida,” Port said. “There are a lot of players who draw our interest. . . . I wouldn’t want to comment on a specific player.”

Asked if acquiring Parker was outlandish, Port said, “All things now are within the realm of possibility.”