Success Hasn't Spoiled Castillo

Frank Castillo hopes the beginning of this season resembles theend of the last one.

And not just because Castillo flirted with a no-hitter Sept. 25against the St. Louis Cardinals, but because the Cubs flirted withthe National League wild-card berth.

"With the way we ended last year, it built our confidence up,"the right-hander said of the final series against Houston. "It madeyou realize that no matter what happens and how you start, if youkeep playing hard, you can be there at the end."Today is Castillo's turn to pick up where things left off asthe Cubs complete a two-game series with the San Diego Padres (1:20p.m., Ch. 9, 720-AM). The 1995 season finished as the best ofCastillo's five major-league seasons: an 11-10 record and a 3.21 ERA,eighth in the NL.The most memorable victory was his last, a dramatic performancethat fell one out short of a no-hitter when Bernard Gilkey tripled tothe opposite field. Castillo settled for a one-hit, 7-0 victory anda career-high 13 strikeouts."It was the best season of my career, and the way it ended madeyou look forward to this year even more," said Castillo, who turned27 on Monday.Much of the Cubs' hopes this year are tied again to Castillo, aproduct of the farm system who has worn the "star potential" labelsince being drafted in the sixth round in June, 1987."I think his breakthrough year was last year," pitching coachFerguson Jenkins said. "I think that was the platform for him lastyear, and now he has something to build on. And he's very capable ofbuilding on it. He has four very good pitches, and he's a goodball-and-strike pitcher. We're looking for him to be a horse for us."I think he's capable of getting 15 to 18 wins. With some luck,he would have had 15 last year. We didn't score a lot of runs forhim."Especially in Wrigley Field.Castillo had a sparkling 2.78 ERA in 14 starts at home butfinished just 5-6. Among the losses: 2-1 to Atlanta, 3-1 to St.Louis and 3-2 to San Diego.But the victories included his first career shutouts, Sept. 4against Colorado and the one-hitter against St. Louis. He struck outa career-high 10 on June 15 against San Francisco, matched it July 12at Montreal and surpassed it in the one-hitter.What ended as Castillo's most successful season started with aspring training full of questions."It was a deal where I had to win the fifth job," he said, "kindof a make-or-break year for me."Things were more calm this year. We (he and wife Tracy) movedinto a house we built, and there was more peace of mind knowing thatthings were better with the (labor situation) and that there would bea spring training.""But I decided to approach this spring the same way I did lastyear, as if I had to win a job. I only had one start againstColorado that was shaky."Castillo righted that outing in his last spring start March 29,working six innings against Milwaukee and allowing one earned run onfive hits.NOTE: The Cubs' game April 25 in San Diego will start at 4:05p.m., not 3:05 as originally listed.