Friday Happy Hour at the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill

Welcome to Friday Happy Hour at the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill, where we will put Charley Pride up against Billy Crystal any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

* Milton Bradley on his new teammates: "It’s a good atmosphere. I’ve been on a few teams. Oakland was a great atmosphere, San Diego is a great atmosphere and here it is even better. I’ve played against a lot of these guys and with some of them previously. They are guys that want to win and take that attitude on the field with them. Some guys that have something to prove and maybe have been giving up on somewhere else and I’m in that same boat."

* Jason Jennings, coming off elbow surgery, is normally 87-90 miles per hour when he is at his best but was around 84 in his last start. Said Jennings, "I'm trying to keep my eyes off that. I'm six months off my surgery and I wasn't able to do my normal off-season routine. I'm still building up strength and endurance. Some guys come in here blowing and going from the get-go. I'm never going to be a Spring Training All-Star. It's a six-week process for me."

* Jason Botts on the uncertainty of his situation: "I play baseball because it's fun. When Spring Training is over, I'll be playing baseball because it's fun. There are a lot of things I can do to help this team win. I feel like I've improved in a lot of areas."

* Supreme Court justices David Souter and Samuel Alito are both big baseball fans. Word is Alito is a statistical seamhead who devours box scores.

* Marlon Byrd on Bradley: "He brings some fire. He can take that intensity to another level. Just like batting practice, you can see he's really focused and locked in. You follow that lead."

* Fox Sports Southwest is airing a 30-minute special on the Rangers involvement in building homes for Habitat for Humanity. The first showing is 10 p.m. (CT) on Sunday, March 23.

* Kameron Loe on the Rangers bullpen situation: "It feels very competitive. There are a lot of guys fighting for very few spots. I enjoy the competition. It's only good for the team; it means we have more depth. Like always, you learn from adversity. I'm not letting it take me out of my game."

* Just for the heck of it: Dave Hostetler.

* If you want to make a prediction on American League Rookie of the Year, you can throw David Murphy in the mix. He still qualifies as a rookie even though he was the Rangers Rookie of the Year in 2007.

* Charley Pride once played in the Yankees farm system. He was with the Birmingham Barons in 1953 when he and teammate Jesse Mitchell were traded to the Louisville Clippers. What did the Barons get back? A team bus. Said Pride, "Jesse and I may have the distinction of being the only players in history to be traded for a used motor vehicle."

* You know Mickey Rivers had one of the weakest throwing arms of any Rangers outfielder ever. He still holds the club record for assists by an outfielder with 19 in 1980.

* Ruben Sierra had 15 assists for the Rangers in 1991. So? That's the last time a Rangers outfielder had more than 10 assists in a season. Since then an American League outfielder has had at least 11 assists in a season no less than 111 times. But none by the Rangers.

* Pitching coach Mark Connor on Frank Francisco's scoreless inning against the Royals on Thursday: "Frankie looked good. Instead of pitching the other day, I gave him a bullpen instead. He spent some time working on the curveball and the split. He was much improved today. We were trying to create more arm speed with it. He threw some real good off-speed pitches today."

* Juan Gonzalez is sidelined in the Cardinals camp with a strained abdominal muscle and manager Tony LaRussa said: "He's shown a lot of good things in this camp, but one of the things he's got to show is durability for the role he has."

* Jim Thome has struck out 19 times in 31 at-bats against Rangers reliever Eddie Guardado. The only pitcher who got Thome more was Brad Radke, who struck him out 21 times but in 71 at-bats.

* By the way, among active left-handers with at least 700 innings pitched, Guardado is sixth with 7.89 strikeouts per nine innings. He is eighth with 8.52 hits per nine innings allowed.

* If you were keeping score, the Royals won all three B games with the Rangers this spring.