BYRD DRAWS INSPIRATION FROM PASTOR'S BATTLE.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

ANAHEIM - Chuck Obremski delivered his final Sunday message to the Angels over the weekend, inspiration they'll carry through September and October, and forever.

Obremski served as chaplain to the Angels and hockey's Mighty Ducks, and had done the same for football's Los Angeles Rams. His Baseball Chapel meetings before Sunday games at Angel Stadium so touched a few players that he was given a 2002 World Series ring. But his presence was never stronger than this year, when he couldn't make those Sunday prayer services, as a two-year battle with cancer was coming to an end.

Paul Byrd felt it early, after the pitcher lost his first Angels start to his former Royals teammates in April.

``He called me,'' Byrd said late Sunday afternoon. ``He said, `Hey, you're going to come back from this. We're both going to fight as hard as we can, we're going to fight together, and we're going to have a great year.' Here he was, encouraging me. It should have been the other way around.''

Obremski, 48, fought his illness long enough that Angels players were able to visit him in the hospital after returning Wednesday from the season's last long road trip.

Byrd saw him Saturday night and, believing Obremski would be watching the Sunday game on television as always, promised to give him ``a sign.''

The pitcher gave the sign before each inning, turning to the center-field camera and bringing his fingers together overhead, his arms forming an ``O.''

Only later did Byrd come to realize that this was Obremski was giving a sign right back.

As Byrd tells the story, his routine was thrown off slightly before the game against the Detroit Tigers that was scheduled to start at 1:05 p.m.

Normally, before games at Angel Stadium, Byrd goes to the mound for his final warm-up tosses as the ballpark clock reads :03 or :04 after the hour. In the Angels' choreography, Byrd taps Darin Erstad on the leg with his glove, and Erstad leads the charge out of the dugout.

This time, 1:04 came and Byrd saw that Erstad was still at the far end of the dugout, taking care of some business at the water cooler. The Angels wound up taking the field at exactly 1:05.

The significance of that didn't strike Byrd until the middle of the fifth inning, when injured outfielder Tim Salmon told him that Obremski had died.

Officially, pastor Chuck Obremski had drawn his last breath at 1:05.

``It could be coincidence, (or it) could not,'' Byrd said after the game. ``It gives me chills talking about it.''

Obremski, a Pittsburgh native, is survived by his wife Linda, three children and two grandchildren. By the congregation at Kindred Community Church in Anaheim Hills. And by grateful baseball and hockey teams.

Recently, Byrd said, Obremski had been on medication to slow his heart rate, which sped up to 130 beats a minute for five or six days as the one-time marathon runner fought for breath.

``He was a competitor, I guess, one of those who finished strong,'' Byrd said. ``I admired the way he battled.''

As if to follow that example, Byrd worked through hard early innings to hold Detroit to one run in 6 2/3 innings and improve his record to 3-1 in September (the right-hander has a 0.91 ERA this month). The Angels held on to win 5-3.

As he left the mound in the seventh, Byrd asked the home-plate umpire if he could keep the ball. He handed it to designated hitter Garret Anderson, who planned to give it to Obremski's widow.

Before ducking into the dugout, Byrd tipped his cap to the applauding crowd. Then he made the ``O'' one more time.

``We'll miss him,'' Byrd said of his friend. ``It's sad for us. But it was time. His family was ready. He was ready. It's the way death should be.''

Byrd, 34 and a veteran of parts of 10 major-league seasons with the Mets, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Kansas City, is blessed with what appears to be a heightened sense of propriety. He knows what to say and what not to say.

Sunday, he spoke of the Baseball Chapel's value to its attendees but tried not to sound as if he was pushing religion. He was careful not to exploit a man's death for the purpose of inspiring a mere baseball team.

And yet, hearing Byrd speak, it was hard not to think the Angels won one for Chuck Obremski on Sunday. And hard to shake the feeling they won't stop there.

After a Monday to collect their thoughts, the Angels open their 13-game final push to the American League West championship by hosting Texas tonight.

They hold a 1 1/2-game lead over Oakland, a lead they'll have to protect to reach the playoffs in this league of thoroughly mortal contenders.

They're going to have to fight as hard as they can.

``I think just this game should be a special memory for (Obremski's) family,'' Byrd said in the clubhouse Sunday. ``But he's going to be in our thoughts and in our hearts. He finished strong. That's what we want to do. If any of the guys in here take inspiration from how he finished, maybe we can do the same on the field.''

CAPTION(S):

photo, 2 boxes

Photo:

(color) Chuck Obremski, who died Sunday after a two-year battle with cancer, served as the Angels' chaplain.

The Orange County Register

Box:

(1) WILD CHASE IN THE AL

(2) WILD CARD STANDINGS