BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Keough Knew Abbott Would Improve

Jim Abbott was 0-4 with a 6.00 ERA when Matt Keough predicted his record would be better than .500 by the All-Star break. “It sounded pretty far-fetched. I just sort of laughed it off,” Abbott said.

Keough, the veteran pitcher who is serving as an unofficial adviser to the pitching staff while he recovers from rotator cuff surgery, knew what he was talking about. Abbott will take a 7-5 record into tonight’s game, his last start before the break, and his ERA is 3.48.

“Matt, along with Lach (pitching coach Marcel Lachemann), has been real supportive. He said it’s going to turn around,” Abbott said.

Kirk McCaskill, who has lost five of his last six starts, had a four-game winning streak before that--preceded by a four-game losing streak.

“Obviously, it’s been very up and down in the first half, and in my career, that hasn’t been the case for me,” McCaskill said. “It’s a matter of being ready for every game, of keeping a check on the mechanical and physical part of it.”

Jack Howell expects to have the stitches removed from his right forefinger, which would enable him to resume throwing. He cut the finger on a staple Tuesday. . . . Nolan Ryan is still scheduled to start for the Rangers Sunday after pulling a chest muscle and going to a local hospital in fear that he might have had a heart attack. . . . Ranger second baseman Julio Franco underwent tests Friday after he experienced chest pains. However, an EKG indicated that he had merely ingested too much caffeine, and he was in the starting lineup.