Poor Toby's Almanac…one week to go.

Toby descends from a pack of wild dogs that have roamed the mystical lands of the Transvaal since the beginning of time. Each Sunday morning, he helps us look ahead:

The Week That Is: Rangers pitchers and catchers officially report to Spring Training on Saturday. The first workout is Sunday. Reporting simply means they have to be in the state of Arizona. Many are already there, including Eric Gagne, Brandon McCarthy and Jamey Wright.

Weather: The forecast for Arlington on Wednesday calls for 38 degrees and possible snow showers. On Sunday the forecast for the first workout in the Arizona desert is 76 degrees under cloudy skies.

The oracle of the Elysian Fields: "It the fans that need Spring Training. You gotta get ‘em interested. Wake ‘em up. Let ‘em know that their season is coming, the good times are going to roll." Harry Caray.

Notable: This is the Rangers fifth spring in the desert. They opened their facility in Surprise in 2003 after 16 years in Port Charlotte Florida. The Rangers first 15 springs were in Pompano Beach Florida…This is Ron Washington’s first camp as the Rangers new manager…Right now the Rangers have 30 pitchers coming to camp, 22 off of the 40-man roster and eight non-roster pitchers. Omar Beltre and Alexi Ogando are also eligible to come but remain in the Dominican Republic because of visa issues…Of the 30 pitchers, 24 have pitched at least one game in the Major Leagues. Still waiting to make their debut are Thomas Diamond, Eric Hurley, Daniel Haigwood, Armando Galarraga, Scott Rice and A.J. Murray…The 24 pitchers have combined to pitch in 2,889 games, including 1,051 starts, with a combined record of 448-459.

Best/Worst: Ron Mahay has pitched in 301 Major Leagues games, three more than Eric Gagne. Kevin Millwood’s 284 starts are the most by a pitcher in camp. Gagne has 161 career saves. Wes Littleton’s 1.73 ERA is the lowest of the 24 but Akinori Otsuka’s 2.43 ERA is the lowest among the 15 pitchers with at least 100 innings. Gagne (3.27) and Millwood (3.85) are the only other two with at least 100 Major League innings and an ERA under 4.00. The highest are John Koronka (5.89), Mike Wood (5.52) and Jamey Wright (5.14).

More esoterica: Only four pitchers in camp have thrown a shutout in the Major Leagues: Kevin Millwood, Jamey Wright, Vicente Padilla and Kameron Loe…In ten years in the Major Leagues, Ron Mahay has never balked…Jamey Wright has hit 114 batters in 14612/3 innings. That’s more than Kevin Millwood and Vicente Padilla, who have hit 107 batters in 2,7531/3 innings.

Looking for that first win: Scott Feldman is still winless after 44 Major League appearances. Juan Avarez pitched in 52 games for the Rangers in 2002 without getting a win. That’s the most appearances by a pitcher without a victory in Rangers history. Mike Henneman had 49.

Birthdays: John Mayberry’s dad is 58 next Sunday and Jerry Hairston’s dad turns 55 on Friday. Former Rangers pitching coach **** Bosman turns 63 on Saturday.

Last call: "Baseball teams go south every spring to cripple their players. In the old days they only stayed a couple of weeks, and they couldn’t get many of them hurt in that time, but, nowadays, they ’till they get them all hurt." Will Rogers.