114 Days to Opening Day 2008

Opening Day 2008 for the Timber Rattlers is April 3. That is 114 days from today. This off-season, the countdown will be based on books. Each day between now and Opening Day 2008, I will pick a random book out of my library and excerpt a passage off the page number corresponding with the number of days remaining to the first pitch of the new season. I will try not to repeat a book during the countdown.

It’s X-Files week at Rattler Radio. I freely admit to you and the world that I own seven X-Files novels. These are books based on the series and were not turned into episodes. Well, six of them are like that. One is the novelization of the movie.

Today’s novel is Ruins by Kevin J. Anderson. Did you know that the FBI has jurisdiction when American archaeologists go missing in Mayan ruins? They do.

At the edge of the jungle, the stressed ground split apart like a newly broken scab, bleeding foul gases from beneath the earth’s surface. Mulder grabbed Scully’s arm to help her keep her balance.

“We better get away from these large structures,” Scully said. “One of them could collapse and bury us.

Together they helped the old archaeologist stagger out into the middle of the open plaza while the ground swayed and shook beneath them. The trees thrashed about like gnashing teeth.

From his vantage Mulder could see the ziggurat rocking from side to side like a Chicago skyscraper in a windstorm. He grabbed Scully’s shoulder. “Better hang on!”

But then, before the quake seemed ready to reach its peak, the tremors subsided, dampening to a faint vibration that might well just have been Mulder’s nerves misfiring with fear.

Rubicon smeared his goatee flat, occupying his shaking hands with some nervous gesture. “Uh, I could be wrong about that seismic stability,” he said.

Put today’s excerpt in a baseball context.