Welcome to the Elysian Fields Bar and Grill, where the patrons have no doubt that Don Nelson was the genius behind the Dallas Mavericks and all others merely on-lookers…

The Rangers have ten players who can be free agents in the off-season and word is Mark DeRosa may be the first and most important to be re-signed because he can play multiple positions. If the Rangers sign DeRosa early, it gives them a variety of ways to improve the club. They could trade Hank Blalock if they can get pitching in return or they could keep DeRosa in the outfield and spend that money on pitching.

The Rangers want Vicente Padilla back. Both he and Adam Eaton will likely be offered arbitration as free agents. So too will DeRosa, catcher Rod Barajas and outfielders Gary Matthews Jr. and Carlos Lee.

If the Rangers don't sign them any of them, they could get somewhere between 6-12 draft picks as compensation. But there is also the possibility of that compensation could be done away with in the next Collective Bargaining Agreement

Club officials have made it clear that they are prepared to keep Brad Wilkerson and tender him a contract in December despite his poor season. Rangers still feel he is a much better player than this.

Rangers Minor Leaguers joke about "The $600,000 Jinx." Basically a number of players who signed for that amount or close to it have turned out to be major disappointments. Among the victims of the jinx are pitchers Omar Beltre, David Mead and Kiki Bengochea, infielder Jason Bourgeois and outfielder Patrick Boyd.

George Steinbrenner's favorite restaurant is the International House of Pancakes. He eats there 3-4 times a week in his hometown of

Tampa

Ian Kinsler played soccer in high school back in

Tucson

Ivan Rodriguez has played second base for the Detroit Tigers. Said he's still working on the double play pivot but Tigers coach Don Slaught, himself a former Rangers catcher, said, "The runners have no trouble getting out of the way of that throw."

The great newspaper columnist L.M. Boyd wrote: A fastball pitcher is much admired today, but not as was his prehistoric predecessor. The tribal champion before device weaponry was the man who killed game with thrown stones. He fed his followers, and defended them, and maybe even won the Fred Flintstone Award or whatever. Some aspects of baseball were devised before the written word.

           Golf is the favorite hobby among Rangers players with fishing second. Kameron Loe is into kick-boxing and C.J. Wilson is into surfing. Michael Young likes to play billiards. Akinori Otsuka is the only player who lists ping pong.

            The Athletics are hoping Rich Harden can be available as a reliever for them in the final two weeks of the season.

Indians catcher Kelly Shoppach, to three Cleveland Indians' reporters, asking them about their job: "So you write stuff in a notebook and then you write it into a computer? No offense, but it sounds like a pretty easy gig to me."

The media gets two hours and 45 minutes of pre-game access to a Major League clubhouse. The players are trying to get it cut down to one hour in the next CBA.

Indians manager Eric Wedge on the Little League World Series: "They make such a big deal out of it on TV, but if they really cared about the kids, they'd make sure the pitchers threw only a two-seam, a four-seam fastball and a change up," said Wedge. "I hate to see those kids breaking off curveballs and sliders. That's a lot of torque on a young arm. I hate to see anyone peak out at 12."

            Rangers outfielder Matt Stairs (right) is the best player to ever to come out of

New Brunswick

            Surprised to see that Braves general manager John Schuerholz is not well-liked on those Atlanta Braves message boards. A lot of fans there would like to see him go. Wrote one guy: "Schuerholz is a Yankees type of GM. He is good when he has a lot of wiggle room and a lot of room for error. But he's not good on a fixed budget because he always waits until the last minute to get a deal done "under the radar" and that doesn't work when the other teams know you only have a certain amount to spend."

            Wonder how Rangers fans would feel about a general manager who put together 14 straight division championship teams, including three pennant and one World Series winner.

            Asa Brainerd was the pitcher for the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first professional baseball team. According to legend, other teams started referring to their pitcher as "Our Asa" and that morphed into "Our Ace."

           Chan Ho Park is on the disabled list with the San Diego Padres after undergoing surgery to repair intenstinal bleeding and his season appears over.

            So too is the five-year, $65 million contract that he signed with the Rangers in the winter of 2001-2002            

            What's stunning is the huge difference between Park in 1997-2001, when he was a front-line starter for the Dodgers and one of the better pitchers in the game, and what he did after signing the big contract with the Rangers.

           Here is the breakdown, five years before the contract and the five years after:

            From 1997-2001, he was 75-49 with a 3.79 ERA. From 2002 he was 33-33 with a 5.53 ERA.

            In 1997-2001, he pitched in 169 games and pitched 1,067 innings. Since then he has pitched in 101 games and 563 innings.

            In 1997-2001, he struck out 8.15 batters per nine innings, allowed 7.69 hits, 4.07 walks and 12.31 baserunners. In 2002-2006, he struck out just 6.54 batters, allowed 9.98 hits, 4.14 walks and 14.90 baserunners per nine innings.

            Here is the most stunning one. In 1997-2001, he had 108 quality starts where he pitched at least six innings and allowed three runs or less. He had just 35 quality starts over the past five years.

            The other staggering difference was the time he missed.

            In 1997-2001, he missed ten games because of two suspensions. He never missed a game because of the disabled list. He was on the disabled list seven times in the past five years.

            Park started 165 games between 1997-2001, tied for the seventh most in the Major Leagues. Only ten pitchers threw more innings and only 12 pitchers won more games.

            Park started 98 games over the past five years. There were 97 pitchers who started more. There were 109 pitches who pitched more innings and 103 who won more games than Park.

            Park made a total of just over $17 million between 1997-2001. That was $226.666 per victory or $15,932 per inning pitched. During his five-year, $65 million contract, he made $1,969,696 per victory and $115,453 per inning pitched.

            Park was also paid approximately $24.5 million of his $65 million contract for days that were spent on the disabled list.            

           When Park was a free agent in the winter of 2001-02, the assumption was that his agent, Scott Boras, would demand a five-year contract.

            People were surprised then when Park only signed a five-year deal with the Texas Rangers worth $65 million. But Boras insisted he had a plan. Park would be 33 years old, Boras explained, when the contract was over.

          Assuming that he pitched as good as he did in the five years before the deal was signed Boras expected that he would be able to sign Park to one more big contract.

       If he decides to pitch next year, he'll likely have to come to Spring Training with somebody on a Minor League contract.

Rangers owner Tom Hicks had a lengthy session with the media before Friday's game with the Oakland Athletics and made his feelings clear on his ballclub.

This edition of Monday Morning Manager simply allows you to express your thoughts to what the owner said. Here's what he said:

1. "Underachieved? Yes. I don't want to call them underachievers, [but] I think they would say it about themselves."

2. "It's very frustrating. I know it's frustrating to the players. Maybe we press a little bit. I think the teams that become champions learn to relax and come through more often than not. We'll develop that ability."

3. "Buck's our manager. Buck doesn't swing the bat or throw the ball. He just needs to manage. Buck's a great manager. ... He's our manager."

4. "The reality is, whether we're seven games out or five games out at this point isn't really the issue. The issue is, how do we play from now on?"

Welcome to the Elysian Fields Bar and Grill, where the consensus among patrons here is once a planet, always a planet...

* Three losses in Tampa Bay certainly left the feeling that the Rangers season is over but that's not the case. A sweep of the Oakland Athletics would do wonders, not only mathematically but also psychologically.

The Athletics are a good team - even without Bobby Crosby, Rich Harden and Huston Street - and have been on a pretty good roll. But if the Rangers can sweep them - a difficult proposition given the opening matchup of Barry Zito vs. Edison Volquez - then maybe the Athletics will start feeling a little pressure.

* Okay, Carlos Lee probably isn't going to be his own agent and it may end up that the Players Association has to intervene in the Scott Boras-Adam Katz cat fight over who does get to represent a guy who could command big bucks in the off-season.

But the feeling is he could end up with the Houston Astros, no matter who gets the commission. Lee has a ranch outside Houston and that short left field wall would be highly attractive to him, offensively and defensively.

* The story is a Rangers draft pick represented by Jeff Frye - now in the agent business - told the club before the draft that he would sign for slot money, then changed his mind after he was taken. The Rangers called Frye, who called the player and said he would not longer represent him. The player apologized and signed, but Frye still wouldn't take him back.

* Kenny Rogers is his old self talking to the media in Detroit but after beating the Rangers last week, he asked anybody he didn't recognize at his post-game session, "You're not from Texas are you?"

* Major League baseball players love watching the Little League World Series and Akinori Otsuka was jumping up and down after a victory by Japan. Said pitcher C.J. Wilson, "It's fun to watch because they're trying so hard. It's like watching the playoffs. It's fascinating to watch any athletic competition."

* The Rangers don't have a high number of position player prospects in their farm system but first baseman Nate Gold is having a breakout season at Double A Frisco. A 10th round pick out of Gonzaga in 2002, Gold, 26, is hitting .288 with 31 home runs and 93 RBI for the Roughriders.

* If you have been around the Rangers for any length of time you have to be rooting for the Cincinnati Reds because of general manager Wayne Krivsky and manager Jerry Narron. They've also added pitcher Chris Michalak, a former Ranger who is back in the big leagues for the first time since 2002.

* Former pitcher Dave Stewart on his NBX.Com Throwin' Heat show about manager Terry Francona and the Boston Red Sox: "If anything there's stuff going on in the front office. The biggest question is why didn't something happen at the trade deadline. They're an organization capable of doing something. They've got enough money to pull something off and they did absolutely nothing. They need catching help. I didn't think their starting rotation was solid. They didn't go out and get any pitching help. They don't need any hitting, that's for darn sure, but they didn't do anything.

If the Hindu religion is correct and there is something to this reincarnation thing, I already know what I want to come back as in my next life.

A Cownose Ray.

I know the gig about reincarnation. Everybody who had a previous life was always somebody famous. Nobody was ever a Mongolian sheep herder in a previous life or a sports writer for the Mayan News-Press.

But being a Cownose Ray is the life for me.

What is a Cownose Ray? Well....it's an aquatic animal that is similar to the Devil Ray, but with a better public relations image.

So the Tampa Bay Devil Rays - who have learned to seriously downplay the Satanic portion of their name - have adopted the Cownose Ray instead even though their official habitat is not Tampa Bay or even the Gulf of Mexico but Chesapeake Bay, several hundred miles to the north.

Thirty of these aquatic bovines currently enjoy their own luxury box at Tropicana Field, a 10,000 gallon water tank located on a porch just above the center field fence and roughly 420-440 feet away from home plate.

The front is 20-feet wide, made of clear acrylic, meaning the Cow Rays get a great view of the mighty Devil Rays.

Not surprisingly, it's the only "ray touch tank" at a professional sports venue, which I guess means it's a glorified petting zoo.

Anyway, the Cownose usually hangs out in Chesapeake Bay, but is also been known to migrate as far north as Massachusetts and as far south as Brazil, with the occasional sidetrip to Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago.

Sounds like some Beacon Hill-born, Harvard-educated yuppie to me.

Their diet includes clams, oysters, shrimp, squid, lobsters and crab.

In other words, they spend all their day hanging out at the local Raw Bar. Apparently though, the Tropicana Field bunch, who are watched over by the Florida Aquarium, dine on squid.

Or Calamari as it's known in fine restaurants everywhere and no word yet on what kind of wine they like to go with that.

But apparently they are having a grand old time because at least two of the Rays are pregnant.

Or as the St. Petersburg Times wrote: "The Rays are hitting homers at Tropicana Field."

Writer John Barry says it's not the baseball team but the 20 male and ten female Cownose Rays in the tank.

"They're the ones who seem to be scoring," Barry said.

Nicholas Burch, the enviromental scientist who has the arduous duty of looking after his yuppie fish, says he thinks two are pregnant because they have swollen bellies.

But what does he expect when they're hanging around a Raw Bar all day, swimming in their luxury box and able to watch baseball games all night long.

The only danger is a home run landing in the tank, but it's covered with a net during batting practice.

If a Devil Rays player hits one into the tank during a game, the team donates $5,000 to charity and no doubt the Cownose Rays have had a good chuckle over that one. So far, no money has yet to pass hands.

No such deal is in place if an opponent splashes one in the tank and the Cownose have no doubt learned by now it's far more important with this baseball to pay attention when the visiting team is up.

Then it gets a little risky but otherwise, what could be better than coming back to life as fat lazy Cownose Ray? Just hope the male-to-female ratio is a little more equal in the next tank.

Actually we are done in Detroit and are on our way to Tampa Bay.....

Here are the burning issues that need your comments on. But you don't have to stick to the questions. I get too many rants by e-mail that really belong here.

So tell us what's on your mind...

1. What impact will Huston Street's injury have on the A.L. West race?

2. What do you think of the David Dellucci-Robinson Tejeda trade right now?

3. Given all the evidence, did the Rangers make the right move in making that six-player trade with the San Diego Padres.

4. Who would you rather have in the Rangers rotation right now: Jamie Moyer or Edinson Volquez.

5. Is there a center fielder in the Rangers history that you would rather have right now than Gary Matthews. Jr.?

All right, let's take it round-by-round, then go to the ringside judge. Your turn on this special edition of Monday Morning Manager comes afterward.

1. On Tuesday, Vicente Padilla hits Vladimir Guerrero in the third inning, throws up and in on him in the fourth,then gives up a three-run home run and finally gets tossed when he hits Juan Rivera two batters later.

Judge's call: Padilla is dead wrong, out of control and putting his own teammates in danger of retaliation. Of course he doesn't have to worry about it because of the designated hitter rule.

2. Wes Littleton goes up and in on Vladimir Guerrero in the eighth inning of Tuesday's game, infuriating Angels manager Mike Scioscia.

Judge's call: The Rangers couldn't possibly that malicious. Littleton gets the benefit of the doubt.

3. Scioscia says before Wednesday's game that the Angels don't believe in the beanball as retaliation.

Judge's call: Flimsy but plausible. If the Angels aren't getting trounced in this one, cooler heads probably prevail and they might let the Rangers slip away unpunished.

4. Angels reliever Kevin Gregg throws behind Ian Kinsler in the bottom of the eighth, drawing a warning from umpire Sam Holbrook. He then drills Michael Young, and later tells Scioscia there was no intent.

Judge's call: Shut up and just admit you did the right thing.

5. Brendan Donnelly then hits Michael Young and says the same thing afterward, that it was an accident. Then he says, "I don't think there's anything between the two teams. Do you?"

Judge's call: Nope, and that international peace-keeping force in Lebanon probably isn't necessary either.

6. Scott Feldman drills Adam Kennedy, setting off the inevitable bench-clearing brawl.

Judge's call: A pitch too far. This one should have ended 2-2.

7. Suspensions to come.

Judge's call: Padilla deserves it more than anybody.

Opinions anybody?

Spring training may be returning to Port Charlotte.

That's right, the ballpark that was left without a Major League team when Tom Hicks took the Rangers to the Arizona desert in 2003 may once again be hosting Spring Training.

Dennis Maffezzoli, our old friend from the Port, writes in the Sarasota Herald Tribune that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are working on an agreement to move Spring Training to Charlotte County Stadium.

The state still needs to approve $25-30 million worth of improvements but the Devil Rays could start training there in 2009.

The Devil Rays currently hold Spring Training right there in St. Petersburg, the only Major League team that does so in their regular season city. Port Charlotte makes much more sense because the Devil Rays desperately need to improve their visibility along the Southwest Coast of Florida and both Sarasota and Fort Myers are already taken.

The Rangers old facilities are still there although they need serious upgrading and that before Hurricane Charlie went roaring through the area on Aug. 13, 2004.

But they still use the facility for a number of baseball activities, including the Port Charlotte Invitational, a college tournament that has drawn more than 90 teams in each of the last three years. The Kia Tigers from the Korean Baseball Organization held Spring Training there last year and were planning to come back next year.

Apparently a Harley-Davidson shop has also opened right in front of the stadium although the old fruit stand beyond the center field fence is no more.

The good news is that the osprey are still there, although they have left their nest on the left-field light pole and moved to a new suburban home overlooking right field.

Maybe the view is better from that spot but no Spring Training in Port Charlotte would be complete without our favorite birds watching the action from high atop their perch, as well as the alligators sunning themselves on the banks of the ponds that were all around the 63-acre complex.

Not to mention sunsets at Englewood Beach or stopping by the End Zone Sports Bar and Grill, or shuffle board at the Sportsmen's Lounge, and still remember the time the local gent told Tom Schieffer that the shuffle board tables were closed until the dart tournament was over.

"I'm a little too old to be getting in a bar room brawl," Schieffer said as he suggested a game of pool but the gent came back later and thanked us for our understanding.

"No problem," said Schieffer, probably the only future United States ambassador to visit The Sportsman's and I don't think a future President ever made it down there. He was more of a Boca Grande/Gasparilla Inn guy.

All right, it wasn't the Riviera or Palm Beach but it was our home away from home on the Myakka River for 16 years and the osprey always made for the most devoted baseball fans around.

It's time for Spring Training to return to Port Charlotte.

So these next two weeks will be interesting, but then what two weeks aren't during the course of a 162-game season. The Rangers are riding a five-game winning streak and their single biggest problem this year has been their inability to stay hot for more than a week at a time, if that long.

The Angels are here for two games, then it's off to Detroit and Tampa Bay before returning to Arlington to greet the Oakland Athletics.

If they can stay hot for two more weeks, it could be a fun September. But the Rangers have reached a point where they can't afford another extended skid.

The A.L. West race is starting to accelerate and the Athletics have their foot mashing on the pedal.

Stayed tuned, chime in and have your say....Don't think you need to stick to the following five questions. This is free verse if that's your style...

1. Is the Rangers starting rotation going to be strong enough to catch the Oakland Athletics in the next six weeks?

2. What is the one thing you'd like to see Buck Showalter do differently as a manager.

3. What's the one area of this team that concerns you right now?

4. Do you think Edinson Volquez is finally ready for prime-time?

5. Who is absent from the Rangers Hall of Fame who should be inducted next year?

The late Johnny Oates was there spiritually, if not physically, on Saturday night when the Rangers honored the 1996 division championship team. Just about every player had something to say about what their former manager meant to them and Chuck Morgan read a moving letter from his widow Gloria Oates.

Juan Gonzalez?

He was not there physically, spiritually or any other way. If there was anything strange about Saturday's ceremonies - other than so many fans arriving late and missing it - it was there was no mention of the 1996 American League Most Valuable Player and maybe the greatest player to ever wear the Rangers uniform.

It's almost been a Soviet-like expunging of his name from the collective memory of the franchise and there's little doubt the Rangers still seeth over getting very little from his two-year, $24 million ill-conceived return in 2002-2003.

But Gonzalez truly has been banished to baseball Gulag. A two-time MVP who once seemed well on his way to the Hall of Fame, Gonzalez is now playing for the Long Island Ducks in the independent Atlantic League.

That's right, while former teammates Will Clark, Rusty Greer, Mark McLemore and others were taking their bows at Ameriquest Field in Arlington, and while Ivan Rodriguez's Hall of Fame career marches on with the Detroit Tigers, Gonzalez was presumably swinging the bat at Citibank Park in Central Islip, N.Y.

Wait a minute.

Sorry...

The Ducks were on the road Saturday night playing the Camden Riversharks at Campbell's Field across The Delaware River from Philadelphia. Yes, the park is named after the soup company.

Gonzalez was hitting .308 with six home runs and 19 RBI in 29 games and 107 at-bats and the Ducks were tied with Newark for second place in the Northern Division, three games behind the mighty Bluefish of Bridgeport.

In June, Gonzalez sat down with Ryan Dunleavy, a sports writer with the Bridgewater (N.J.) Courier News and gave the following interview, including his reaction to Jose Canseco and his time in Texas:

http://www.c-n.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006606180349

Yes, ten years after leading the Rangers to their first division title and winning the first of two American League Most Valuable Player Awards, Juan Gonzalez is playing at a 6,000-seat ballpark somewhere east of New York City and wearing a uniform with the name DUCKS written across it.

Hey, it was only six years ago that he turned down a contract offer from the Detroit Tigers that was rumored to be eight-years and $150 million or something like that.

But make no mistake and never forget, Juan Gonzalez played for the Rangers from 1991-99 and during those nine years, he was one of the best players in the game, an RBI machine who could hit a ball often, hard and very very far.

He had his injuries, he had his rough moments in the field and there were so many times when nobody could quite understand what he was really thinking or what was going on in an extremely complicated but ultra-private personal life.

What is known is he had immense talent, immense pride and the Rangers were more successful with Gonzalez on their team than any other point in their history, and it may have been Johnny Oates' greatest single achievement is he was able to somehow tap into that talent better than anybody.

There was little doubt the two had tremendous respect for each other even if Oates was sometimes baffled by his superstar as much as anybody.

Gonzalez is still the Rangers all-time home run and RBI leader and it's going to be a long-time before anybody catches him, and they'll have to around longer than the minimum six years to do it.

So sometime in the future, when the Rangers do have another Alumni Legacy Weekend, Juan Gonzalez deserves to be remembered by the franchise in some meaningful way.

The best of the best usually deserve that much.

Doug Melvin put the team together but gave credit to his predecessor Tom Grieve for assembling the core group of talent, and Johnny Oates brought them home with a 90-win season and the first division championship in club history.

On Saturday night, they are honored at Ameriquest Field in Arlington.

Roll call:

SP Ken Hill - The Rangers Opening Day pitcher and No. 1 starter, he was 16-10 with a 3.63 ERA and three shutouts. He beat the Angels at the end of September that ranks as one of the two biggest victories in club history.

SP John Burkett - He had the other big victory in Anaheim when the Rangers were in danger of blowing the division. He made ten starts after being acquired from Florida in August and was 5-2 with a 4.06 ERA. They don't win the division without him and he may be the most important in-season acquisition in Rangers history as far as impact on a pennant race.

SP Bobby Witt - A 16-game winner on a division championship team. The ERA was 5.41 but who cares. In the end, he helped bring a division championship to Arlington.

SP Roger Pavlik - A 15-game winner and an All-Star that year, he was great in the first half, then all but disappeared in the second half and that funy cross-body delivery ultimately couldn't be fixed.

SP Darren Oliver - He was brilliant for eight innings against the Yankees in Game 3. A 14-game winner that year in his second full year, he seemed on his way to being a big winner. That never happened but he's still pitching for the Mets.

SP Kevin Gross - He was in the second of a two-year contract, general manager Doug Melvin's first pitching acquisition. He did win 11 games but lost his spot in the rotation to Burkett.

RP Mike Henneman - He did save 31 games and was part of a strong cadre of clubhouse leaders. Still think he was the Rangers best option in that ultimately critical ninth inning of Game 3.

RP Mike Stanton - People forget he was acquired on July 31 for Kerry Lacy and Mark Brandenburg, a great addition to a bullpen that was much better than people remember.

RP Jeff Russell - Long time Rangers closer proved to be valuable as their right-handed setup reliever.

RP Ed Vosberg - A steady middle reliever, he had the lowest ERA of any Rangers reliever. He was traded the next season for Rick Helling.

RP Dennis Cook - Another key member of the Rangers bullpen and it was huge for Johnny Oates to have three pretty good left-handed relievers.

RP Danny Patterson - A September callup, he was added to the post-season roster. The Rangers thought he had a bright future but injury curtailed his career.

RP Gil Heredia - A free agent signed in the off-season, he ultimately had better years before in Montreal and after in Oakland.

SP Rick Helling - He only pitched six games for them but one was a huge victory over Kansas City in May that started a six-game winning streak.

C Ivan Rodriguez - At least one member of the 1996 team will eventually be enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Simply one of the greatest ever.

C Dave Valle - "Are you willing to do what it takes to win?"

1B Will Clark - In the end, all that mattered was he taught the Rangers how to win. He has to be in the Rangers Hall of Fame.

2B Mark McLemore - The Doctor of Defense. A winner, on and off the field.

SS Kevin Elster - Maybe the best individual story of 1996. He came to camp as a non-roster player, won the job when Benji Gil got hurt and ended up driving in 99 runs in the No. 9 spot. He literally saved the Rangers at shortstop.

3B Dean Palmer - He hit .280 with 38 home runs and 107 RBI. In 1996, Dean Palmer was simply everything the Rangers ever hoped for from him.

OF Juan Gonzalez - One of baseball's biggest mysteries in the past 20 years. But in 1996-99 he was as good as there was and who can ever forget his inspired performance against the Yankees in the playoffs. He kept the Rangers going in July and August.

OF Rusty Greer - Clutch hitter, clutch fielder, he literally sacrificed his body for three division championship and if Bernie Williams hadn't taken away that home run in Game 3...

OF Daryl Hamilton - Another great clubhouse leader, he hit .293 as the leadoff hitter, scored 94 runs and did not make an error in center field. He was here just one year but the Rangers don't win without him.

DH Mickey Tettleton - Warrior.

OF Warren Newson - Critical piece as a fourth outfielder, his ten home runs and 35 RBI in 235 at-bats were significant.

OF Damon Buford - Johnny Oates loved his defense but he also hit .283 in 145 at-bats and added speed off the bench.

IF Kurt Stillwell - An All-Star with Kansas City eight years before, this was his final season in the Majors. Favorite memory was he always stood at rigid attention for the Star-Spangled Banner.

IF Rene Gonzales - Good guy and a backup infielder on a team that really didn't need over very often. But every piece fit and that's why they won.

Carlos Lee was in the Rangers lineup Tuesday night despite getting plunked in the left shoulder by third base coach during early batting practice.

The bigger suspense was if Smith was still going to be at third base after hitting the Rangers prized trade deadline acquisition.

"I've hit bigger names then him," Smith said. "I hit Tony Gwynn in San Diego. Of course I hit Alex Rodriguez.

"I even hit my son. If I hit him, I'm going to hit anybody."

The laws of probability make it almost certain that you're going to get hit by Smith, Bobby Jones or Don Wakamatsu, the three Rangers coaches who throw most of their batting practice.

The laws of physics suggest it's not going to hurt too much. Best guess is they're throwing it up there at 60-65 miles per hour.

But they throw it up there a lot, beginning in the middle of February and going through the end of the season, 71/2 months if you're scoring at home.

Smith, 53, has been doing it for 22 years, going back to when his playing career ended in 1982. He was an infielder in the Padres Minor League system who spent 31/2 years in Hawaii and another three years in Amarillo.

That may be the opposite end of the spectrum, but this is also a guy who has his degree from Pepperdine in kinesiology and did a little part-time acting as well, serving as an extra in the 1973 Best Picture The Sting.

So anyway we did a little math on his batting practice tossing and estimated he throws about 300 pitches a day or 9,000 per month. Multiply that by seven - taking off a half-month because there are days off - and that's 63,000 pitches per year.

Multiply that by 22 years - he was out of baseball for two years - and Smith has conservatively thrown at least 1.3 million batting practice pitches in his lifetime.

"I wish I had a dollar for every pitch I've thrown," Smith said. "Think I hold the all-time record?"

So all that happened Tuesday was Carlos Lee joined the club.

           The Rangers have optioned pitcher John Koronka to Triple A Oklahoma to make room for pitcher Edinson Volquez, who was called up to start Monday against the Oakland Athletics.

            Koronka was 7-7 with a 5.31 ERA in 22 starts.

            Kip Wells, who was scratched from Monday's start because of shoulder problems, is expected to pitch Friday against the Seattle Mariners at Ameriquest Field in

Arlington

            Adam Eaton is now scheduled to pitch Thursday.

Good morning from the Gold Coast of California. Are we home yet? Nope, three more in beautiful Oakland. Time for the readers to sound off and although we present a few issues, general rants are welcome as well....

1. What's your take on Adam Eaton getting ejected from Sunday's game against the Angels?

2. A radio talk show host in Dallas termed the Rangers bullpen "horrific." Do you agree?

3. Do you think Oakland is getting ready to run away with the division? Why or why not?

4. How important is it for the Rangers to re-sign Carlos Lee to validate the trade or do you think Nelson Cruz alone will make it worthwhile.

5. What is your favorite memory of the 1996 division championship team?

Yes, nobody does it better than Vladimir Guerrero against the Rangers.

STATS Inc. says so, at least for all active players with 150 plate appearances against a particular team and this is what you can find out after a long walk on the Pacific Ocean if you have a computer and the proper beverage.

Guerrero was 0-for-1 with four walks against the Rangers on Saturday, ending his 44-game hitting streak against them. But he is still hitting .440 against them.

That is the highest batting average by one player, active, against one team currently in the Major Leagues. That is, a player with at least 150 plate appearances against a team and remember that so I don't have to repeat it.

Next on the list? Turns out that Lyle Overbay, now with the Blue Jays, is batting .428 against the Reds.

No, didn't go around and check home runs and RBI. Suffice to say that nobody comes close to Barry Bonds 83 home runs and 207 RBI in 881 at-bats against the Padres.

This is all about batting average which, by the way, is still the single most famous statistic in American sports history.

So we checked who had the highest career average against every Major League team and it turns out that Guerrero is also hitting .360 against the Brewers, which is one point higher than Bonds.

You would think that greatest hitters would be at the top of every list and Ichiro Suzuki does have the highest average against the Blue Jays and the Orioles, Todd Helton has the highest against the Nationals and the Phillies, and Nomar Garciaparra is best against the Indians and the Athletics.

There is also Ivan Rodriguez, who has the highest against the Devil Rays and the Indians.

But there are some interesting ones as well.

The Tigers? That honor right now goes to none other than the Royals slick-fielding shortstop Angel Berroa. He has an overall career batting average of .267 but he is hitting .366 in his six-year career against the Sons of Ty Cobb and Al Kaline.

Speaking of Tigers, you remember Craig Monroe, who spent a brief time with the Rangers? Turns out he is hitting .345 against the Twins, the highest against that club

That's also the second lowest batting average that's the highest against one team. Jim Edmonds is hitting .346 against the Padres and, check this out, the one and only A.J. Pierzynski is hitting .347 against, yes, the Chicago White Sox. He plays for them now but apparently used to wear them out while with the Twins.

Think that's strange? Guess who has the highest average right now against the Yankees. Yes, Alex Rodriguez and it's his .334 average against his current employer that is the lowest highest.

But that's no more strange that Kenny Lofton hitting .363 for the Astros and you know baseball if you remember that he started out in the Houston organization before getting traded to the Indians for catcher Eddie Taubensee.

Always thought that was John Hart's best trade with the Indians but he prefers shortstop Felix Fermin to the Mariners for Omar Vizquel.

By the way, speaking of shortstops, Derek Jeter has been known to rise to the occasion on the big stage and his .374 average against the Mets is proof of that.

But nobody is bigger than Vlad the Impaler when it comes to facing the Rangers.

Gaily bedight, a gallant knight

In sunshine and shadow

had journeyed long, singing a song

In search of El Dorado

But he grew old, this knight so bold

And o'er his heart fell a shadow,

As he found, no spot of ground

That looked like El Dorado.

That was Will Clark with the Rangers in the magical summer of 1996 when a variety of physical ailments had left him something less than the marvelous first baseman for the San Francisco Giants.

But he played on every day and so did Mickey Tettleton and the rest of them, a team of consummate professionals managed by an unforgettable special man in search of the first division title in Rangers history.

Still remember the night at famous baseball watering hole in Chicago where a dozen of them convened after midnight. They had won their seventh straight to open the season and Dean Palmer said, "You wouldn't believe what's happening in the dugout, everybody high-fiving each other. It's incredible."

Mark McLemore - the Dr. of Defense as Mark Holtz called him - would gather them together right before first pitch and yell out, "27 outs, we have a job to do, let's go."

They did it over the course of 162 games and they would gather at Bobby Witt's house on an off-day for a barbecue and everybody would show up except Juan Gonzalez who would forever go his own way. But it wouldn't matter because he would ultimately carry them in July and August and Bill James was wrong when he said in his Historical Abstract that Alex Rodriguez, then with Seattle, deserved the Most Valuable Player Award.

But there were many MVPs on that team and maybe none more so than the backup catcher, Dave Valle, who called a team meeting in Detroit and went around the clubhouse, looking each player in the eye and asking them if they were prepared to do what it takes to win.

The Rangers responded with a seven-game winning streak, which included John Burkett throwing a complete game shutout on Aug. 11 just after being acquired from the Florida Marlins, a trade made by general manager Doug Melvin that still may rank as the most important in-season transaction ever in club history.

They kept winning with a left fielder, Rusty Greer, who would hit .332 and throw his body at any ball he thought he could catcher, a shortstop, Kevin Elster, who would save them at a troubled position and drive in 99 runs, the best catcher in baseball and a starting rotation that proved to be the best ever in club history.

No, Bobby Witt did not have the career that everybody expected but he won nine tough games after the All-Star break and Darren Oliver won 14 that year, including a 6-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at The Ballpark in Arlington on Sept. 15 when people were starting to get nervous.

They were up six at that point, then went to Seattle and lost four in a row, cutting their lead to two and now it was getting quite hairy.

But manager Johnny Oates kept his cool and I still remember sitting alone with him in his office in the Kingdome and asking him what he was going to do.

"Nothing," he said. "We have the right guys out there and I believe in them. I still believe they'll get it done."

They went to Anaheim and led 5-4 in the 10th before the Angels rallied in the bottom of the inning. The lead was down to one, but they were tied with Seattle in the loss column, and the clubhouse was deathly quiet until Daryl Hamilton started chirping and getting on people, and the sense of doom was lifted from their shoulders.

Then came the two most important games in Rangers history - bigger than the no-hitters, the perfect game and nickle beer night in Cleveland - as Burkett and Ken Hill delivered complete game performances to beat the Angels and the division was basically theirs for the taking.

This is the team they are going to honor next weekend in Arlington, a team that was just that in every sense of the word and a team that was a part of four of the best baseball games ever played in the Division Series and came close, so very close, to derailing the Yankees dynasty before it ever got started.

"If you didn't love those games," Tom Schieffer said afterward. "Then you just don't love baseball."

It came down to that last game, the Yankees leading 6-4 in the ninth with John Wetteland on the mound, Will Clark up with two on and one out.

Clark drove one to left-center but the strength just wasn't there, Tim Raines caught the ball and that magical season finally came to an end.

Wrote Roger Kahn once, "Failure after great striving is the story of man, whose sweetest song tells of saddest thought."

Afterward Clark went into the manager's office and told Johnny Oates, "I'm sorry, I gave it everything I had."

The 1996 Rangers did that to the end and it is still the greatest team in franchise history.

And when his strength, failed him at length.

He met a pilgrim shadow

Shadow, said he, where can it be

This Land called El Dorado

Over the Mountains of the Moon, Down the Valley of Shadow

Ride boldly ride

The Shade replied.

If you search for El Dorado.

Thursday afternoon in Anaheim
The Rangers have activated Kameron Loe off the disabled list and assigned him to Triple A Oklahoma. He allowed four runs in 42/3 innings against Tacoma and is not ready to return to the Major Leagues.... John Wasdin is being given his release....

Carlos Lee carries the nickname "El Caballo" and he's not the first in Rangers history.

Ruben Sierra was the original "El Caballo," which means "The Horse" in Spanish, and he was exactly that as the Rangers right fielder from 1986-92, and it was Bill James who once wrote, "I wouldn't trade one Ruben Sierra for ten Jose Cansecos."

My favorite memory of Sierra from back then was the line drive over shortstop. As the center fielder went over to cut the ball off for a routine single, Sierra would put it into high gear around first and be sliding into second base with a double.

Former Rangers manager Bobby Valentine was probably right when he once said that "everybody knows Ruben goes harder on offense than he does on defense" but it's also true that there may not have been a more talented player to wear the Rangers uniform than Sierra at his best in his first seven years in the Major Leagues.

Lou Gehrig was "The Iron Horse" because he played in 2,130 games and they also called him "Biscuit Pants" which may have been a reference to the size of his uniform rather than any comparison to the legendary race horse "Seabiscuit."

John "Pepper" Martin, hero of the 1931 World Series, was the Wild Horse of the Osage because of the way he ran the bases and, in baseball history, there has been a "Wild Horse," a "Crazy Horse, a "Horse Belly" and two who were called "Harry the Horse," which has nothing to do with the gangster in the musical "Guys and Dolls" who was played by Sheldon Leonard in the movie.

Harry the Horse was the guy who showed up at Nathan Detroit's **** game with $5,000 to spend.

"Five thousand?" Nicely Nicely Johnson asked. "If it can be told, where did you take on this fine bundle of lettuce?"

Said Harry the Horse, "I collected the reward on my father."

The Rangers weren't as resourceful in coming up with enough money to keep Sierra around and they finally traded him to the Oakland Athletics along with pitchers Jeff Russell and Bobby Witt for Canseco on Aug. 31, 1992 and, at the time, people were wondering if there had ever been a trade involving one Hall of Famer for another.

Of course we all know now that it's extremely unlikely neither Canseco or Sierra will ever be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Sierra did come back to the Rangers in 2000-2001 and again in 2003 but he was no longer "El Caballo" but a part-time outfielder and designated hitter.

The Twins signed him this year but he was let go in May and it seems likeky that his career is over.

But it does seem appropriate to compare the two El Caballos to see which one is Secretariat and which one is Mister Ed.

Lee, through Tuesday, had played in 1,149 Major League games with a career batting average of .285 with a .339 on-base percentage and a .494 slugging percentage.

Sierra, in his first 1,149 games, batted .278 with a .323 on-base and a .467 slugging percentage.

Lee has 212 home runs with 682 runs scored and 748 RBI while Sierra had 636 runs scored and 737 RBI.

What's interesting is that Lee lost two balls in left field in Monday's game against the Twins that cost the Rangers in a 15-2 loss.

My feeling is that Sierra's time with the Rangers started going downhill on Aug. 22, 1989. That was the night that Nolan Ryan struck out Rickey Henderson for his 5,000th strikeout but the Rangers lost, 2-0, because Sierra lost two balls in the lights out in right field.

There were others who lost balls in the lights while playing right field at the old Arlington Stadium but Sierra took a beating that night and it would forever bother him that people blamed him for Ryan losing such an important game.

From that point on it seemed like the relationship between Sierra and the Rangers and their fans seem to sour, which was wrong for such a great player.

As the original Mister Ed said, "Don't be sore at me Wilbur, I'm only a nine-year old kid!"

Said Wilbur, "Well nine years old in a horse is equal to sixty in a human being."

Retorted Mister Ed, "Well stop yelling at an old man!"

Wait a minute. Most of you reading this have never seen one single episode of Mister Ed.

No matter. There is a new "El Caballo" in town.