ARLINGTON, Texas _ Relievers stretched and played catch in the outfield and hitters took turns swinging at pitches in the batting cage late Tuesday afternoon as the Angels prepared to face the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park.
Two hours before they were scheduled to play their first game without Tyler Skaggs, the 27-year-old pitcher found dead in the team's Southlake, Texas, hotel room Monday, the Angels tried their best to find some sliver of normalcy, as difficult as that will be.
"I talked with some of the guys on the club, and I don't want to speak for them, but it felt like, one, it was what Tyler would want," Angels general manager Billy Eppler said of the team's decision to resume play Tuesday night after Monday night's game was postponed.
"Also, it's a time to allow them to get back into a routine and to have a period of time where they feel disconnected. A lot of problems go away when the first pitch is thrown until the last pitch is thrown. These guys will be there fighting for each other, with Tyler weighing heavy on their hearts tonight, I'll tell you that."
Players huddled in a news conference room on the basement floor of the stadium 2 { hours before the game, arms draped over shoulders, hoodies covering several heads and tears filling many eyes as Eppler, manager Brad Ausmus, owner Arte Moreno and team president John Carpino addressed the media.
Behind the group at the dais hung two of Skaggs' jerseys, one showing Angels and No. 45 on the front and the other showing Skaggs' name and number on the back. The Angels did not replace Skaggs on the roster Tuesday, deciding to go with 24 players.
"The first day back, whether it was today or tomorrow, was going to be one of the toughest, other than yesterday," Ausmus said. "So I think Billy hit the nail on the head in a sense that the game itself can be a refuge for the players where they can turn their minds off and focus on baseball. I don't know that sitting in a hotel room would do them any good."
The Angels decided to leave the Southlake hotel they stayed at Sunday night and relocate to another hotel in the Dallas-Fort Worth area Monday night. Ausmus said the team held "a couple of meetings" throughout the evening and Tuesday to discuss when to resume playing and to reflect on Skaggs.
"We lost a member of our family yesterday," Eppler said. "Tyler Skaggs was a teammate, a brother, a friend, and, most important of all, he was a husband and a son. 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 in our hearts.
"Grief is personal to all of us. It doesn't have a timeline. It doesn't have a road map. What is more important is we'll all be here for each other as a team, as an organization and as a family."
The Angels had black patches with the number 45 sewn over the hearts of their uniform jerseys, and the Rangers planned to have a moment of silence in memory of Skaggs before the game. The grounds crew painted No. 45 behind the mound.
The Angels don't play at home again until July 12, the day after the All-Star break, but Carpino said the team will honor Skaggs at Angel Stadium much the way it did for Nick Adenhart after the 22-year-old Angels pitcher was killed along with two friends by a drunk driver three days into the 2009 season.
A mural of Adenhart in mid-delivery was affixed to the center-field wall. Adenhart's locker was kept intact, and his jersey hung in the dugout for every game.
The makeshift memorial, filled with flowers, balloons, stuffed animals and heartfelt messages from fans, that quickly sprung up around the mound outside the stadium's main entrance after the accident remained all season. A similar memorial for Skaggs was begun Monday and grew Tuesday.
"There's not a playbook, but there are a lot of similar things you do to honor him," Carpino said of Skaggs. "You're never going to honor him enough. The way we'll honor him most is watching these guys play. We'll honor him so much more with our thoughts and our hearts."
Ausmus said several people have reached out to him, "including managers who have gone through similar experiences," but he did not say whether Mike Scioscia, who guided the Angels to a division title and to within two wins of the World Series after Adenhart's death in 2009, was one of those managers.
"To a man, it's the same advice, and that is: There is no handbook for this," Ausmus said. "You've just kind of got to go with your honest feelings. If you do that, then you're not going to be wrong."
Emotional tributes to Skaggs continued to pour in from all around baseball.
Washington Nationals pitcher Patrick Corbin, who was drafted by the Angels along with Skaggs in 2009 and was a teammate of Skaggs' with the Arizona Diamondbacks, wore No. 45 for Tuesday night's start against Miami.
"They came up together _ he was (Corbin's) best friend," Nationals manager Dave Martinez told reporters. "He was emotional earlier, but he wants to pitch. He feels that's what he needs to do."
Angels right fielder Kole Calhoun penned a message to Skaggs on Instagram early Tuesday.
"Can't even explain how tough this day has been and how heavy our hearts are," Calhoun wrote. "As ball players, we lost a teammate and a leader, but as people we lost a really amazing person. You will truly be missed my friend."
Ausmus was asked how difficult his task will be given that he is grieving himself, and it's his job to lead this group of players.
"We're all kind of in the same boat on this one," he said, his voice breaking up with emotion. "We all feel a tremendous loss. We understand that life has to go on, and the baseball season has to go on, and it will move forward at different paces for different guys.
"But this is just a reminder that professional athlete or not, we're all human, and it can strike us the same. These guys will get ready to play, but it will be with heavy hearts, and probably for a while. As far as wearing the manager hat, I'm just wearing an Angels hat right now."
