Friday Happy Hour at the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill

Welcome to the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill, where we drink a toast to Rob Matwick, the Rangers newest Vice-President, member of the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame and the guy who made the Astros public relations department by far the best in baseball.

* Rangers general manager Jon Daniels on the upcoming homestand: "It's a chance for our fans to see our guys play against three (Oakland, Cleveland, Tampa Bay) of the better teams in the American League. They are three young teams that have one thing in common and that's quality pitching staffs, especially starters. They throw the ball over the plate and they get deep into games. We've shown we can play against them so I expect to see some good baseball."

* Nolan Ryan on Kevin Kennedy's XM Radio show: "I want to see some balance with the Texas Rangers, this team has historically had a lot of offense and had no pitching, we want to change that, we want to have a balance, a good offense and a good pitching staff, we have some players in our organization that we hope can develop properly and make a difference with this team down the road. We need to stock the farm system with a balance of both, that is very key, everyone here says the team needs pitching and we do, but we also need offense."

* Also from Ryan with Kennedy: "In Spring Training, I challenged our minor league starters to go more than one inning than they normally did.  With that, the pitchers threw more on the side, threw batting practice, they became more conditioned to throw more innings and in the Minors our players are being conditioned and we've seen the results on the Major League level.  Our pitchers want to pitch more innings and I think that is something that has to start in the Minor Leagues, they have to throw more often, more side sessions, they have to do more running, by changing their routines in the Minor Leagues a difference has been made in the Major Leagues."

* Right now MLB.Com's Jonathan Mayo has the Rangers taking TCU reliever Andrew Cashner with the 11th overall pick in the draft. Don't bet against Mayo. Somebody else did the last two years and is down two lunches.

* The Rangers are the only American League team that hasn't had one of it's own first or supplemental first-round picks over the past five years to play at least one game for them. Drew Meyer is the last Rangers first round pick to have played for them.

* Rangers pitchers are averaging 1.22 strikeouts for every walk. That's the lowest in the American League. The Blue Jays lead with 2.46 strikeouts per walk.

* Did we know that the Rangers lead the American League with 12 blown saves? Or that only the Mariners throw more pitchers per inning (17.2 - 17.1) per inning than the Rangers?

* Daniels: "Jamey Wright has been a very important piece to our bullpen. He gives us some options whether it's pitching multiple innings or pitching one inning in setup he has been huge for us."

* You probably did know that Milton Bradley is tied with Raul Ibanez for most intentional walks in the American League. They both have seven.

* Rafael Palmeiro holds the Rangers record. He was intentionally walked 22 times in 1993. He has the top four intentional walk totals per season in Rangers history.

* By the way, Josh Hamilton's seven sacrifice flies are tied for 37th all-time in a single season for the Rangers. Jeff Burroughs, Juan Gonzalez and Ruben Sierra all had 12 in a season.

* That Golden Tee golf video game that's in your favorite watering hole? It's also in the Indians visitors clubhouse at Progressive Field. Michael Young and Ian Kinsler in particularly love it.

* Just for the heck of it: Willie Davis

* Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin on Randy Johnson: He's got better rhythm, better command of where he's throwing it. He's not thinking about it anymore. He's not thinking about his mechanics. Now he's throwing the ball where he wants to, so it's about selecting the right pitch, being committed to it and throwing it."

* The St. Louis Browns tried a sports psychiatrist in 1950 but he resigned two months into the season because of a lack of cooperation.

* When you vote online the maximum of 25 times at texasrangers.com and select the Rangers as your "favorite" or "other favorite" team, you will receive two free tickets to the game of your choice between August 15-24, excluding August 16 and 23. Free tickets are available in sections regularly priced up to $25.

* Oakland outfielder Jack Cust: "It's embedded in my brain, that whole [Minor League] lifestyle. I was down there for so long, been through so many things, that I'm really just cherishing this opportunity to play in the big leagues."