Friday Happy Hour at the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill

Welcome to the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill, where all who were not invited to the Rangers prospect game on Wednesday are welcome.

* Ian Kinsler on his hot spring: "Honestly, early on a lot of it was luck. I really wasn't in a good hitting position and I didn't feel locked in. The last few days things have been better. My strike zone recognition is better. I want to keep it going, this week, next week and into Seattle."

* Best of the Rangers pitching, as determined by Rangers pitching coach Mark Connor:

* Hardest thrower: "Franklyn German has been as high as 99 miles per hour and pitches at 93-95.

* Best fastball: "C.J. Wilson. The ball comes out of his hand good, has lift and explodes."

* Best curve: "Kason Gabbard. He's got some deception in his delivery and late break. Kevin Millwood's is very effective."

* Best slider: "Joaquin Benoit…late and quick."

* Best changeup: "Benoit's changeup is just filthy. Gabbard has a good changeup. Wes Littleton runs one up there pretty good but Joaquin's one of the best I've ever seen."

* Split-finger: "German."

* Sinker: "Luis Mendoza for sure but Vicente Padilla's pretty good."

* A fan asked Jarrod Saltalamacchia for his autograph, thinking that he was Josh Hamilton. They do have a faint resemblance but Saltalamacchia joked, "He must not have watched me take batting practice."

* All Rangers games can be heard on XM radio.

* Mariners manager John McLaren on pitcher R.A. Dickey : "He can do any role and you can use him a lot. He brings something to the table where you could possibly take another bench player, because he could pitch every day and it wouldn't bother him. He was a fastball pitcher, a traditional-type pitcher, and now he's learning the knuckleball. It's a new dimension for him. He actually throws extremely hard for a knuckleball pitcher. I've been impressed. He's a real professional and a great teammate. I like what I've seen of him."

* Just for the heck of it: Scott Fletcher.

* Former Rangers manager Buck Showalter is going back to ESPN as a studio analyst.

* In Spring Training of 1934, renown female athlete Babe Didrickson pitched an inning for the Philadelphia Athletics against the Brooklyn Dodgers. She did not allow a run or a hit, just one bases on balls.

* If you go online, you can buy a Nolan Ryan rookie card for $1,499 at goantiques.com. But if you go to homeruncards.com, you can get the same card for $350. Either way, Jerry Koosman is the other player on the card.

* Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax: "I became a good pitcher when I stopped trying to make them miss the ball and started trying to make them hit it."

  * Found this on baseball-reference.com: Jose Guzman was the Rangers Opening Day pitcher in 1986. It was his sixth Major League start. Since 1957, that's tied for the fewest Major League starts by an Opening day pitcher. Who is he tied with? Steve Busby. He made career start No. 6 for the Kansas City Royals on Opening Day in 1972. Guzman won. Busby lost.

* Rangers Ballpark in Arlington has a listed attendance capacity of 48,911. The only American League stadium that can hold more is Yankee Stadium. The House that Ruth Build holds 56,935. The new Yankee Stadium will hold 51,800.

* Three National League parks can hold over 50,000: Coors Field, Shea Stadium and Dodger Stadium.