Tuesday, April 9, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
The Las Vegas Stars have three games under their belts going into tonight's home opener, but you will have a difficult time convincing manager Jerry Royster that the Pacific Coast League season is under way.
"For me, our season will start when we're able to play three days in a row and have some kind of conditions that are favorable to playing baseball," Royster said after the Stars went 1-2 in the season-opening series at Vancouver.
As far as Royster is concerned, those games merely were tuneups for tonight's home opener at 7:05 against the Tacoma Rainiers -- the triple-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners.
After being forced to move the Vancouver series to Canada to accommodate the Oakland Athletics' six-game series at Cashman Field, the Stars lost a 5-1 decision last Thrusday in the -- sorry, Jerry -- season opener. Two and a half days of rain washed out Friday's and Saturday's games, and the Stars eventually split a doubleheader with the Canadians on Sunday.
"The first game is opening day, so it doesn't even count," Royster said, rattling off the events of the past few days. "The weather was bad, it was opening day -- and it wasn't even opening day because we had to play our home games on the road.
"It was unbelievable. I was pretty happy that we got to play some baseball games (Sunday), for a change. Prior to that, we had three games in 10 days and that's not good for a ballclub -- especially for one that had limited workout time."
Because of Big League Weekend at Cashman Field two weekends ago and last week's invasion of the major leaguers, the Stars were limited to two exhibition games and a few brief workouts at Cashman since they arrived in Las Vegas on March 29.
So starting the season 1-2 has hardly caused Royster to lose sleep at night.
"I haven't concerned myself with what happened on the road, but I was still happy with the way we played," said the Stars' first-year manager. "I though we would be even rustier than that. The first game there, we made errors that I hadn't seen our guys make -- ever.
"It's unfortunate that we got off to a 1-2 start, but I'm not concerned about it. It's been a crazy start, and I'm glad it's over with. Now we can start playing baseball."
The Stars will send right-hander Denny Harriger (0-1) to the mound in the series opener to face the Rainiers' Mike Butcher. Harriger spent last season with the Stars and compiled a 9-9 record and led the PCL in complete games (7) and shutouts (2).
Harriger, who is beginning his 10th season in pro ball, is the only starter on the Stars' staff who has no major-league experience. Nevertheless, pitching coach Galen Cisco counts the 26-year-old right-hander among the veterans who should be able to handle pitching in hitter-friendly Cashman Field.
"The problem is they can get out of their game plan and start to pitch defensively, which is the complete opposite as to what you should do," Cisco said of Cashman's launching-pad reputation. "You have to stay with your game plan and pitch the way you know how to pitch and take things as they come. I think the veteran staff should help in that regard, because that can be a mind game."
Cisco said he was pleased with what he saw from his pitching staff during the Vancouver series.
"For no more activity than we have had in the last week, I thought it went pretty well," he said. "I was pretty pleased, actually. I was expecting a couple more walks than we had, but fortunately we didn't have too many of those and we kept the ball in the park pretty well. If we keep our walks to a minimum and keep the ball in the ballpark, we're going to be in a lot of games."
The Stars' veteran look is not limited to the pitching staff, as shortstop Rico Rossy, third baseman Mike Sharperson, outfielders Doug Dascenzo and Riccardo Ingram and catcher Craig Colbert all have major-league experience.
Royster is bringing two players who played for him last year at Class AA Memphis -- second baseman Homer Bush and first baseman Jason Thompson. Thompson had two home runs and five RBIs in the Stars' 8-3 victory Sunday, in the second game of the doubleheader at Vancouver, and Bush has averaged 30 stolen bases a year in four full seasons in the minors.
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