A Perfectly Bad Year for Abbott : Baseball: Phillie pitcher has an 0-11 record, and even the weather seems to be working against him.

Kyle Abbott couldn’t wait for the All-Star break.

Not that the Philadelphia Phillie rookie left-hander had a lot of interest in the game itself.

What Abbott wanted was a brief respite from the miserable season he has endured thus far.

Abbott, once a top prospect in the Angel organization, has been living a pitcher’s nightmare.

The former Mission Viejo High star has an 0-11 record with a 5.15 earned-run average for the Phillies, who are last in the National League East.

That could do a number on a young player’s mental health. But Abbott, 24, seems to be handling the situation.

“I’m still positive,” he said. “I’m happy with the fact that I’ve gone more than five innings in every start I’ve had.

“The starts have been pretty quality. Except for a start or two when I haven’t done my job, the rest of the starts I’ve kept my team in the game as long as I could.”

He certainly did that in two games during Philadelphia’s recent West Coast trip. Yet all he had to show for it were another loss and no-decision.

At San Francisco on July 6, he lost to the Giants, 4-2, despite giving up only two earned runs in six innings. And a swirling wind in Candlestick Park might have cost him his first victory of the season.

Early in the game, Phillie first baseman John Kruk hit a drive to deep center. But the wind knocked it down and Cory Snyder caught it at the warning track. Then catcher Darren Daulton hit a sixth-inning fly ball into the wind that Kevin Bass caught at the base of the fence in left.

“Even the weather was against him,” Phillie Manager Jim Fregosi said. “On most nights, both of those balls are out.”

Five days later in San Diego, Abbott gave up two earned runs and struck out seven in seven innings before giving way to a pinch-hitter in the eighth with the score tied, 2-2. Abbott struck out Padre first baseman Fred McGriff three times, but he couldn’t get past Tim Teufel. The second baseman tagged Abbott for two home runs.

The four runs the Phillies scored in those two games raised their support for Abbott to 13 runs in 13 starts. They have not scored more than three runs in any of his defeats and were shut out by the Chicago Cubs, 3-0, at Wrigley Field on June 26, Abbott’s ninth defeat.

But the 6-foot-4, 195-pound Abbott says he can’t dwell on the lack of support.

“You can’t do anything about that,” Abbott said. “What it’s teaching me is how to pitch, and once I get a lead to keep it. Every outing I take a lesson and apply it to my future in the game because I don’t think, by any stretch of the imagination, this is it for me.”

Neither do the Phillies, who got Abbott and outfielder Ruben Amaro from the Angels last December for Von Hayes. Some thought the trade was a steal for Philadelphia, particularly because Abbott was a first-round pick by the Angels in 1989 and performed respectably in the minors.

Fregosi, for one, still believes in Abbott.

“He’s got a nice arm,” Fregosi said. “He’s pitched some games he should have won. . . . He’s still going out there and busting his (butt).”

Among Abbott’s better performances were a 2-1 defeat by the Giants on May 2, and 3-2 losses to the New York Mets on April 25 and Pittsburgh Pirates on April 10. The game against Pittsburgh was his first start of the season.

Fregosi, however, is toying with the idea of moving Abbott to the bullpen to take pressure off his pitcher. There could also be a return trip to the minors, but neither Fregosi nor Abbott believes that would accomplish much. Abbott was 0-7 when the Phillies sent him to their triple-A club at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in May, and he was recalled a month later after posting a 4-1 record with a 1.57 ERA in the minors.

“I don’t think that going down there would solve anything,” Abbott said. “It’s just a few things I have to work out at this level.”

Once, not long ago, Abbott hoped to ply his trade with the Angels. He signed with the club after his junior year at Cal State Long Beach, where he was 15-3 with a 2.73 ERA in 21 games and led the 49ers to the College World Series. Abbott previously won 13 games in two seasons at UC San Diego and still holds the school’s ERA record, 1.94.

After turning pro, Abbott played at Class-A Quad City, double-A Midland and triple-A Edmonton, where in 1991 he was 14-10 with a 3.99 ERA. He made his debut with the Angels at Anaheim Stadium last Sept. 10, losing to the Texas Rangers, 6-1. Abbott also lost his next start, 9-2, to the Chicago White Sox and finally picked up his first major league victory on Sept. 21 by beating the White Sox at Comiskey Park, 4-3.

Then came the trade to Philadelphia that Abbott and his wife, Kathy, had feared.

“At first we were disappointed,” Abbott said. “We had hoped to settle down a little bit in Southern California. But once we had a chance to think what the trade meant and the opportunities it presented, we got happier about it. Now we’re really happy to be in Philadelphia.”

And the normally unforgiving Phillie fans seem satisfied with Abbott, too. Or at least they’re willing to cut him some slack. Although Abbott is one short of the club record for consecutive defeats, Philadelphia fans have refrained from more than occasional jeers. No one appreciates it more than Abbott.

“The fans have been very patient with me,” he said. “I’ve heard a few boos when I give up runs in situations when I can’t afford to, but the fans know the game really well and I can’t complain about them at all.”

Abbott hopes to give those fans little reason to criticize him during the second half of the season. With any luck, and a few timely runs by his teammates, he could rebound and gain not only that elusive first victory of the year, but a few more to boot. He would like to do it as a starter but knows it could be as a reliever. Either way, Abbott is keeping a positive outlook.

“I’d like to remain a starter and keep going, but I can also understand (Fregosi) might not want me to get into a situation where this (losing streak) keeps going and going,” Abbott said. “Johnny Podres (Philadelphia’s pitching coach) and Jim Fregosi have been great. They’ve had a lot of compliments for me still. They keep it very positive.

“I want to help any way I can. If it’s in the bullpen, so be it. And I wouldn’t feel I could never be a starter again. This (losing) is a great lesson and you have to learn it at one point or another in your career. It’s been unfortunate that I’ve learned by failure.”

Kyle Abbott’s Long Season

Date Opponent Score IP H ER BB SO ERA* April 10 Pittsburgh 3-2 7 5 3 3 7 3.86 April 15 New York 7-2 6 6 5 4 1 5.54 April 20 Chicago 8-3 5 4 5 3 4 6.50 April 25 New York 3-2 7 7 3 1 5 5.76 May 2 San Francisco 2-1 7 7 2 2 4 5.06 May 8 San Diego ND 6 5 3 2 8 4.97 May 13 San Francisco 5-3 6 8 5 2 8 5.32 May 18 Houston 4-2 5 2/3 6 4 4 1 5.44 June 20 Chicago 5-2 5 2/3 8 4 2 1 5.53 June 26 Chicago 3-0 6 7 3 0 3 5.43 July 1 Montreal 6-3 6 7 5 2 2 5.61 July 6 San Francisco 4-2 6 6 2 1 2 5.40 July 11 San Diego ND 7 6 2 3 7 5.15 Totals 0-11 80 1/3 82 46 29 53 5.15

*Season-to-date earned-run average