Grieving Angels take field after Skaggs’ death
Reeling from Tyler Skaggs’ death the day before, the Los Angeles Angels returned to action Tuesday against the Texas Rangers.
With the memory of Tyler Skaggs weighing heavy on their hearts, the Los Angeles Angels prepared Tuesday to play their first game since the death of the much-loved 27-year-old pitcher who got to play for his favorite childhood team.
“He was an exceptional young man with an entire life so full of promise yet to live. For some reason, that is incomprehensible to all of us, he lives on now only in our minds and our hearts,” general manager Billy Eppler said. “Our team will never be the same without him. But forever we’ve been made better by him.”
The Angels decided to play
a day after the postponement of the series opener against the Rangers. Skaggs was found unresponsive in his hotel room in Texas on Monday.
“The first game back, whether today or tomorrow was going to be one of the toughest other than yesterday,” manager Brad Ausmus said.
“The game itself is going to be a refuge for players, where they can turn their minds off and concentrate on baseball,” he added. “I don’t know that sitting in a hotel room would do them any good.”
Eppler said he spoke to several players about the situation.
“It felt it’s what Tyler would want, and also allow them to get back in a routine, and to have a period of time where they feel disconnected,” the GM said. “A lot of problems go away when the first pitch is thrown until the last pitch is thrown.”
While Angels players weren’t made available to talk to the media, they sat in the room when Eppler and Ausmus addressed the pitcher’s death along with team owner Arte Moreno and Angels president John Carpino.
“There are no words to express our sadness today,” Moreno said.
All-Star center fielder Mike Trout sat in a second row of seats against the wall, at times with his head down, like many of his teammates around him.
Ausmus said the team gathered together a couple of times Monday at the team hotel about 20 miles from the ballpark.
“Some of the guys spoke. I think most importantly in the end, we were able talk about Tyler and laugh about some of the stories and some of the goofy things he did, and listen to some of his music,” Ausmus said before wiping away tears.
Asked about his message to his players, Ausmus said that was a “family conversation” that would remain between them.
Eppler described Skaggs as a teammate, a brother, a friend and most importantly a husband and a son who “brought joy to everybody around him.”
With the team out of town, fans went to Angel Stadium, where they left flowers, hats, baseballs, signs, photos and other memorabilia in a makeshift memorial mound.
The poignant display resembled the fan-created memorial for Nick Adenhart in 2009 after the rookie pitcher was killed by a drunk driver. That tribute stayed out front of the Big A through the summer.