Pre-game chatter to Sox-Angels opener
Oct 3rd, 2007 by Bill Burt
Without having the ability to give a plausible explanation why, it is 5:35 p.m., an hour or so from the first pitch, and it doesn’t feel like a playoff game.
Why?
I can’t explain it. There just isn’t a buzz yet. Maybe it’s too warm, about 70 degrees, and maybe the Angels come to town with little or no fanfare, but the Sox-Yanks season finale felt 10 times more important than tonight’s game.
Of course, I expect that will change when Josh Beckett throws out the first pitch, but it is weird, especially everything that went into getting here over the last week to 10 days.
***
I just had a nice conversation with with Rick Shebib, a native of Michigan, who is among a group of seven guys from the 134th Fighters Squadron in Burlington, Vt. He is part of the ground crew for tonight’s pre-game “fly-over,” which seems to happen a lot around here with playoff games and Super Bowl berths on Route 1 in Foxboro.
Shebib returned with four of his fellow fighter pilots from a two-month mission in Iraq.
“There’s not a lot I can add about what’s going on over there (in Iraq),” said Shebib. “The ground guys are really the ones have the hardest job. We are running missions to protect them from the air.”
Two days ago, his squadron got the call about the Fenway fly-over. A few Red Sox came over for a meet-and-greet, with Curt Schilling signing a case of 12 balls for the crew.
“I’m still hurting over the Tigers and the way they just fell apart,” said Shebib, who flew 15 missions while in Iraq. “I’m a big Tigers fan. I was really thinking this would be their year. But then (Gary) Sheffield got hurt playing right field and we never recovered.”
***
A few observations during warmups and batting practice:
Manny Ramirez looked great during batting practice. He hit several homers high over the Green Monster in left. If there is any lingering pain from his oblique strain, it was not noticeable.
Sox reliever Hideki Okajima looked very sharp warming up before the game with a Red Sox trainer. His fastball appeared to be near the 90 mph range.
Maybe the rest did both of these guys a lot of help.
***
I will have a story in Wednesday’s Eagle-Tribune Publishing newspapers on former Angels owner Jackie Autry, wife of the famed Gene Autry. She was very open with her husband’s love affair with the Angels, baseball and how disappointed they both were when the Red Sox shocked them in the 1986 ALCS.
