Yankees stunned by car crash death of Angels rookie Nick Adenhart.Only a handful of Yankees knew Nick Adenhart personally, but the news that the Angels pitcher had been killed in a car accident early Thursday morning hit the Bombers' clubhouse hard.
Players stood in stunned silence as the news of the car accident that took the Angels prospect's life was being delivered from the television hanging on the clubhouse wall, blank stares on most of their faces.
Adenhart, a 22-year-old righthander rated by Baseball America as the Angels' top prospect, was killed shortly after midnight in Fullerton, Calif., when a minivan ran through a red light and struck the car Adenhart was riding in. Adenhart had thrown six scoreless innings against the A's earlier in the evening, his first start of the season and just the fourth of his brief career.
"It's difficult for all of us in the baseball family," Girardi said. "You dream your whole life about playing in the big leagues, you make your first start and have a good start and then it's over."
Mark Teixeira didn't play with Adenhart during his two-month stint in Anaheim last year, but the first baseman, who had been informed of the news by Girardi just a few minutes before the story appeared on television, looked particularly shaken up.
"I feel for the organization," Teixeira said.
Girardi said Teixeira took the news hard, though the manager was clearly having a difficult time with it himself, tearing up as he spoke about the situation.
"It's terrible," Girardi said. "Just brutal."
Jose Molina and Edwar Ramirez both played with Adenhart in the Angels organization, and each of them remembered the 22-year-old as a terrific teammate.
"He was an awesome kid," said Molina, who was in spring training camp with Adenhart in 2006-07. "He was kind of quiet, but that may have just been because he was a rookie."
Ramirez said he used to hitch rides with Adenhart every day in spring training. He was thrilled when he heard the pitcher had made his big-league debut last May, then watched the highlights Wednesday night after Adenhart pitched six scoreless innings against the A's.
"It's shocking. He was a great guy," Ramirez said. "When I saw that he made it to the majors, I was so happy for him. And after last night? It's horrible."
It is unknown whether the driver that ran a red light and caused the crash was intoxicated, but the incident hit home for Joba Chamberlain, who had spoken on Wednesday about how fortunate he was to escape his own drunken driving incident without being hurt or hurting anybody else.
"Life is short and this is a perfect example," Chamberlain said. "It sounds like he was just driving home after the game, and now he's not coming to the ballpark the next day. You can't take anything for granted, ever."
Chamberlain didn't know Adenhart personally, but the incident was still hard for him to handle.
"We're all a family in the game of baseball," Chamberlain said. "We all have to go through things that are tough, but you can never put this into words. A young man pitches his tail off the night before for his team and the next thing you know, it's all over with. It's unfathomable."
Original Source : http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2009/04/09/2009-04-09_yankees_react_to_death_of_angels_rookie_pitcher_nick_adenhart.html
