Evening Red Sox Delight – 4/10

While tonight marks the first regular season game for the alternate blue road uniforms and the “Hanging Sox” hats for the Boston Red Sox, it also marks the first game for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim since the tragic passing of their pitcher Nick Adenhart and his friends Courtney Stewart and Henry Nigel Pearson. Their friend and former Cal State Fullerton catcher, Jon Wilhite remains in the hospital.

It’s going to be a hard game to watch as a fan but it’s going to be even more difficult for the Angels and the Red Sox players in a sense. For the Angels, they’ve lost a family member, a teammate, a friend. For the Red Sox, they’ve lost a member of the elite baseball fraternity. And PLEASE let’s not forget the Stewart, Pearson and Wilhite families. They’ve suffered losses as well and they should not be overlooked one bit.

Our friend Texy from Center Field, I think summoned it up very well:

Tonight’s game is going to be difficult.

Not in the athletic sense, of the matchup of abilities on the field of play – but what a family of teammates is going to have to go through just to make it out onto that field of play. To walk past an eerily vacant locker, even though #34 jerseys still hang inside. To gaze across the ballpark as though it were just another day, just another game. To stand on the pitching rubber so recently occupied by a kid who had such a shining future ahead of him just two days ago.

The Angels will pay tribute to Adenhart before the game.

A replica of the tribute patch the team will be wearing has been added to the outfield wall in center field. A 90-second video tribute to Adenhart and the other victims of Thursday morning’s fatal accident will be shown on the scoreboard screens before tonight’s game and a moment of silence will be observed.

Adenhart’s parents, Jim and Janet, are expected to be in attendance for the ceremony.

The patch in tribute to Adenhart will be on the heart of the Angels home and road uniforms. The Angels will keep his locker intact at home and will have a locker set up in his honor at each road game. It should be noted that the moment of silence will also be done in the memory of Stewart and Pearson.

Tim Wakefield gets the ball for the Red Sox tonight. In his career against the Angels, Wakefield is 9-12 with 1 save and a 4.80 ERA in 28 games (23 starts). He is 5-7 with a 4.80 ERA in 15 games (13 starts) at Angel Stadium.

The Angels hand the ball to Jered Weaver for the start. He was originally scheduled to start yesterday but for obvious reasons the game was postponed. In 6 career starts against the Red Sox, he is 1-2 with a 5.35 ERA.

The game is scheduled to start at 10:05 PM EDT and will be broadcast on NESN and MLB.tv. You can also catch the game on the Red Sox Radio Network. NESN’s coverage will start with Red Sox Gameday Live at 9 PM.

Fans show up early to honor Adenhart [Orange County Register]

Angels fan has a great idea [Orange County Register]

Pitching coach Mike Butcher recalls the tragic night [Orange County Register]

Remembering Nick Adenhart [Baseball Prospectus]

Fans pay tribute to fallen star [Projo Sox Blog]

Sox, Angels set for renewal [Tony Mazz]

Sox intend to be ‘respectful’ … and competitive [Extra Bases]

Kottaras to make first big-league start [Projo Sox Blog]

Here are tonight’s starting lineups:

And here is how the hitters have fared against tonight’s starting pitchers: