Kirk McCaskill did not have a terrific first month as a member of the Chicago White Sox.
But the other night in Boston, after losing his third start in a row, he said something curious.
”I spent all last year just really beating myself up,” he said. ”And I`m not going to do that this year.”
This, clearly, was something he had been thinking about for awhile. The next day, it was still there.
”My whole athletic career,” said McCaskill, ”I`ve been real hard on myself. To the point where last year was a negative.”
OK, it`s tough to get real positive about 10-19-last year`s record with the Angels-but that isn`t really what McCaskill was talking about. What he was talking about was what goes on within the mind during a 10-19 season, or this year, when things haven`t gone particularly well.
Being dissatisfied with your own performance can be a positive motivator. Frank Thomas talked all spring about never being satisified.
”That`s me,” said Thomas.
That`s also McCaskill. Sometimes, though, an athlete (or an accountant, for that matter) crosses the line, and that`s what happened to Kirk McCaskill in California.
”Last year, it just felt harder and harder and harder, and it became a negative,” he said. ”The peripheral stuff got bigger than it should`ve been. The focus got away from pitching.”
He sensed it starting to happen here, too.
”I think I put a lot of pressure on myself, coming into the organization, and a lot of it undue,” McCaskill said. ”I really wanted to prove myself to my teammates and the organization.”
He still does, of course. But from time to time everyone has to step back a little, regain some perspective-stop beating himself up-and just trust his talent. That`s what McCaskill was talking about.
”I firmly believe every pitcher, and all the great pitchers have one thing on their mind: throwing that ball to that batter,” he said. ”The less you surround yourself with negative thoughts, the better off you`re going to be.
”If you have the tendency to be extremely self-critical, then you`re defeating the purpose-the purpose being one solitary thought on your mind. The focus has to be on one thing. There can`t be a hundred things going on in your mind.”
Then focus on this: McCaskill`s friend at California, Jim Abbott, started last season 0-4. He wound up 18-10. Source: Kirk McCaskill.
Positive on Pall: Four weeks into the season, Gene Lamont still is discovering things about his people and still wants to learn more.
For example, there`s Donn Pall.
”I didn`t really know how well he`d pitch with such little action,”
said Lamont, who has gotten an affirmative answer. This season, Pall came back after a nine-day layoff to retire three straight Tigers on eight pitches, one of them on strikes. ”Those guys are invaluable.”
What he doesn`t know yet is how Pall responds to pitching back-to-back games. There has been some question in the past.
”I need to find that out,” said Lamont, who really hasn`t had the chance. ”Donn says there`s no problem with it, but I`d like to see for sure.”
Ozzie`s back: It was quite a scene: Ozzie Guillen on one of trainer Herm Schneider`s padded tables, illuminated by television lights, surrounded by reporters and thoroughly enjoying it.
His hospital experience, more than the TV lights, had been illuminating.
”I never thought people in Chicago loved me that much,” he said. ”I can`t get over how many phone calls I got, how many letters I got. I never expected people to be so nice to me. I never expected so many good things to happen to me.
”I told my family, `I had to wait to be hurt to know how many people loved me in this town.` ”
Now he knows.
He does it all: He`s the trainer. He`s the doctor. He`s the confidant. Schneider is all these things.
He also repairs gloves.
”It sounds silly,” he said as he looped the leather lace around the heel of one, ”but it`s almost relaxing. The only way I don`t like it is if I have to rush.
”It`s like knitting a blanket or crocheting. In the minor leagues, I used to take about eight or 10 of them and do them on a bus trip. Some guys read. I`d take a bunch of glove and re-lace them.”
Not so Big Three: In his last 22 starts entering the weekend, the Twins` Scott Erickson is 8-9 with a 5.43 ERA. In the 21 starts before that, he was 17-2, 1.38.
Word is hitters aren`t chasing that rising fastball anymore, and Erickson has yet to adjust. His own analysis: ”Just a horse(droppings) start.”
He`s not alone. Erickson, John Smiley and Kevin Tapani, are a combined 1-8. A year ago, the three were 56-25.
Around the league: Last year, the Indians were outhomered 41-22 at home. So they moved in the fences, as much as 30 feet in the power alleys. This year, through their first 14 home games, they were outhomered 15-5. ”Coming out of spring training,” said manager Mike Hargrove, ”the one thing I thought we`d do is hit and score runs. For whatever reason, we haven`t done that. It`s a concern.” . . . The Rangers passed over a reasonably healthy Nolan Ryan at Fenway last weekend, citing the cold weather. Ryan`s career record at Boston: 2-8, with one victory since 1974. . . . Whispers in Boston are that Butch Hobson isn`t exactly thriving on the pressures of being a big-league manager. California manager Buck Rodgers, on the brawl his people had with the Mariners earlier in the week: ”I love it. I wouldn`t want to go through this every night, but we needed something. . . . There was some blood out there. I took inventory, though, and nobody was a pint low.” . . . Robin Yount on George Brett: ”The best hitter I`ve ever seen in the game. How can you not enjoy watching a guy like him play?” George Brett on Robin Yount: ”He`s a lot better athlete than I am. He`s a scratch golfer. I`m about a 10 handicap.” . . . Cito Gaston and Dave Stieb, just off the DL, swapped loud words Wednesday night, loud enough to leak through the thick closed door of the manager`s office. The night before, Stieb grazed the Angels` Bobby Rose on the helmet after giving up a homer. No way of knowing if Gaston`s displeasure and Stieb`s angry pitch were related. Said Gaston: ”We just had a talk to straighten things out.”
