War Would Dictate Opening-Day Plans

TEMPE, Ariz. -- For 42 years, the Angels and their fans have waited to share the joy in raising the team’s first World Series championship flag. That wait will be over in 11 days, but the imminent war with Iraq is expected to mute some of the pageantry and exuberance on opening day.

“It’s going to be hard to be upbeat and happy, and to celebrate as much as you want with something like that going on,” pitcher Jarrod Washburn said. “We deserve to have a ceremony, and the fans deserve to have that celebration. We’re not going to forget about the war. But we can’t live our lives depressed and not celebrate good things.”

If the United States is at war, the Angels will pause during the ceremony to salute the nation’s military personnel, spokesman Tim Mead said. The celebration also is scheduled to include a flyover by four Navy F-16 Super Hornets, confirmed as of Tuesday, Mead said.

“The banner will go up,” Mead said, “in recognition and respect of what happened last year. We’re not going to have dances and sing-alongs. Even in good times, the ceremony would be a distinguished ceremony. The overwhelming emotion is pride, and I think we’re all going to have goose bumps.”

Shortstop David Eckstein believes the ceremony -- and the regular season -- should go on.

“Everybody wants us to live our lives,” Eckstein said, “and not let [Osama] Bin Laden or Saddam [Hussein] affect our everyday life.”

Pitcher Scott Schoeneweis, the Angels’ player representative, said he believes most players stand behind President George W. Bush and said he endorsed military action given the rising global threats of terrorism and the specter of the use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

“Something needs to be done,” Schoeneweis said. “You can’t sit back and wait for something to happen before you can convince the rest of the world to act on it. I’m tired of us having to be the ones to deal with stuff every time and not get support from most of the democratic countries around the globe.”

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Washburn said he is unlikely to develop enough stamina to start the opener. “I can go out and pitch two innings,” he said. “That won’t do the team any good.” Washburn, slowed by a sprained shoulder, has pitched 3 2/3 innings this spring. The Angels tentatively have targeted him to start one of the games in the Oakland series, April 4-6, giving him an additional week of workouts.... Ramon Ortiz pitched five shutout innings in an 8-2 victory over the Athletics. In 14 innings this spring, Ortiz has struck out 13, walked one and given up one earned run. And, despite the thin air of the Cactus League, Ortiz has not given up any home runs after giving up the most in the major leagues last season.... Darin Erstad homered and drove in four runs, raising his spring average to .478.