Stars look for call-up to the bigs

Thursday, Aug. 21, 1997 | 9:29 a.m.

Entering the final 12 games of the Pacific Coast League season, the Las Vegas Stars already have been eliminated from the second-half Southern Division title chase. But that doesn't mean the Stars have nothing for which to play.

"Our accomplishments at this time will all be on a personal note which could transpire into some pretty good baseball -- which we played on this (past) trip," Stars manager Jerry Royster said as his team prepared for its next-to-last homestand, which begins tonight at 7:05 with the first of four games against the Phoenix Firebirds.

With the lure of a possible September promotion to the San Diego Padres dangling in front of most players, Royster said it won't be hard to motivate them during the final two weeks.

"There's always enough out there in the minor leagues to motivate (players)," Royster said.

"The guys have actually been working extremely hard even though our goals normally at this time would be to try to win a pennant. (In the minor leagues), there's always the chance that you have another month to go. Not only that, you want to finish strong so the guys who need to will have a job for next year."

For the past month, Royster has been stressing to his players the importance of finishing the season on a strong note to guarantee either a major-league call-up, a job next season in the Padres system or a shot with another organization.

One player in just such a position is former major-league pitcher and longtime Las Vegas resident Mike Maddux. The 35-year-old right-hander will be on the mound tonight for the Stars and, like the rest of his teammates, he has some work to do before the minor-league season ends.

Maddux, released last month by the Seattle Mariners after appearing in only 10 games as a reliever, was signed by the Padres and assigned to Las Vegas on Aug. 12. He made his first start for the Stars last Thursday and gave up six runs on nine hits, walked six (one intentionally) and struck out five in four innings of an 8-2 loss at Calgary.

Royster said he was impressed with Maddux's first outing in more than a month.

"He did a pretty good job -- the numbers don't say that but for a guy who had been sitting around playing golf for five weeks, he looked pretty good and his stuff was really good," Royster said.

Royster said the plan is for Maddux to pitch five innings tonight against the Firebirds. Because the Stars are not in contention for a playoff spot (Phoenix clinched the second-half title in the Southern Division earlier this week), Royster will allow Maddux to get in his work regardless of the results.

"Hopefully he'll be able to go five innings," Royster said. "We'll try to get him to a certain amount of pitches or five innings, whichever (comes first)."

* STARS NOTES: First baseman Derrek L. Lee has hit safely in 21 consecutive games, the longest streak of the season by a Stars player and the second-longest in franchise history. Joey Cora holds the Stars' record by hitting in 37 straight games in 1989. Lee, who has raised his batting average to .329, is hitting .487 (38-for-78) during the streak with six home runs and 20 RBIs. Lee, who also has hit safely in 29 of his past 30 games and 37 of 40, leads the club in home runs with 13 and RBIs with 62. ... Mike Maddux (0-1, 13.50) will be opposed by Phoenix right-hander Dan Carlson (13-3, 3.44) in tonight's series opener. ... After four games with Phoenix, the Stars travel to Vancouver for a four-game series before closing out their 15th anniversary season with a four-game set at home against Salt Lake. ... The Stars, who are 26-33 in the second half and 51-79 overall, must win at least five of their remaining 12 games to avoid having the worst season in franchise history. The 1994 Stars, managed by Russ Nixon, were 56-87.