Friday Happy Hour at the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill

Welcome to the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill, where we remember what they once sang at Fenway Park: "Better than his brother Joe! Dominic DiMaggio."

* Marlon Byrd on supplements: "You have to take them to stay healthy. It's a long season. There are two ways to go. You can do the MLB way and take only NSF approved supplements, which is very lean, but it's the only way you're sure you won't be tested positive, or you can go the other route and take supplements from different sources and take a chance. You never know."

* The Rangers have hit 50 home runs this year in 28 games. They've hit 25 in 14 games at home and 25 in 14 games on the road. The Rangers have hit a home run in all 14 road games.

* Byrd is hitting .458 with runners in scoring position, third highest in the American League. He is also swinging at 46.9 percent of the first pitches thrown to him. That's the highest in the American League.

* The Rangers as a team swing at the first pitch more than any other lineup in the American League: 34.1 percent. They also have the highest percentage of swings and misses in the league and the lowest percentage of pitches taken. Also the lowest percentage of swings that put the ball in play.

* The Rangers, like all clubs have a team bus on the road that takes them from the hotel to the ballpark. Arrives about three hours before the game, in plenty of time for stretching and batting practice. A couple of the young players took it one day and were immediately set straight by some veterans: You get to the ballpark much earlier than the team bus.

* That reminds of what Mike Scioscia once told young catchers: never let a pitcher beat you to the park.

* Elvis Andrus was told in no uncertain terms in Spring Training: do not let Michael Young or Ian Kinsler beat you to the clubhouse in the morning.

* Cardinals' outfielder Rick Ankiel, to MLB.Com's Matthew Leach, on his crash into the wall: "Right before the wall, I thought, 'Oh [no]. This ain't going to work out good. And then as I hit it, I remember my eyes were open and I could pretty much see my whole head twist around on this side. And then when I hit the ground, I don't know, I thought there was a chance I had broken my neck or my back."

* Just for the heck of it: Bob Tewksbury.

* White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko on Zack Greinke: "There are some arms out there that have the raw stuff but aren't in the same ballpark. He's got the command going right now. He's got the feel going. Any time you've got a power pitcher with that feel for throwing quality strikes -- not just right down the middle -- he's going to be tough.

* John Madden was a catcher in college at Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo.

* Nate Gold, who was released by his Taiwan team last week, to RedHawks writer Bob Hersom on his return to Oklahoma City: "It's great to be back. I love it here. Hopefully I can help the team by contributing and getting us going back in the right direction. Hopefully I can add to our home runs. That's probably why they brought me here. You can't think about hitting 'em, but hopefully you can just go out there and play your game and those things will happen for you."

* It was on May 8, 1926 that a fire burned down the grandstand roof and left field bleachers at Fenway Park. The Red Sox needed the insurance money to operate the club and never replaced the bleachers. That's why the Green Monster is there now.

* Think the Rangers hit a lot of doubles? Reds catcher Ernie Lombardi once hit four in one game. So? Hit them in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth inning off four different Phillies pitchers.