Gary Matthews = Karate Kid

The Rangers drop to 0-1 as they get a quick lesson in what is so great about the Angels. Bartolo Colon and Vlad Guerrero were awesome last night just carrying the halos to victory. Ryan Drese and Mark Teixeira attempted to match them, and did pretty well in doing so, but in the end, it was too much Bart and Vlad. Good to have baseball back.

Angels 3, Rangers 2 …

While Colon was shaky early, he avoided big-time trouble and stuck around 6 2/3 innings, allowing only a run. Since joining the Angels, he's 7-0 with a 2.03 ERA against the Rangers. He's 12-12 with a 5.75 ERA against everyone else.

Guerrero's been great against everybody else, simply unfathomable against the Rangers. The reigning AL MVP went 2-for-4 with a pair of two-out, run-scoring hits Tuesday: A first inning home run and a sixth-inning double. Since last September, he's 20-for-33 (.606) with eight homers and 14 RBIs in eight games against the Rangers.

The Mavericks hammered the Orlando Magic last night to secure their 5th straight 50-win season, and a few things did jump out at me from the game, despite it being a relatively anonymous night in the context of a full season.

First, Devin Harris had a shining moment versus Jameer Nelson . Nelson saw Harris guarding him, and thought he was going to show Devin a thing or two. He immediately decided to launch into the Tim Hardaway killer cross-over and attempt to make Harris look silly. One problem. Harris picked his pocket easily just as Nelson was trying to go between his legs. Before the play was over, Harris was down court, dunking on Nelson’s head. What a play, what a moment. And Nelson had to be throwing down some serious failed-smile.

Meanwhile, the Marquis Daniels “lack of confidence” world tour continues. He just looks out of rhythm and almost helpless right now. I cannot explain what happened, but it seems directly linked to the coaching change. All I know is that despite his exceptional play over his tenure with the club, he is almost too poor to play right now.

Jason Terry was really good, and Jerry Stackhouse and Erick Dampier appear back and ready to roll. Stackhouse is such a smooth player with the ball. In fact, the Mavericks thoughts on Daniels may be related to Stackhouse the more you think about it. Surely, it will be very difficult to keep Jerry this summer, so the thought process may be this: Use the seasoned Stackhouse now while they can, and then when/if they lose him, expect Daniels to return in his full confident form next fall. Marquis has never been fully healthy or in top form in 2004-05.

Links:

Terrell Owens wants a new deal …exactly one year after signing his last 7-year deal…

Miami wants out of #2 spot …and have signed Mario Edwards to a 1-year deal…

Cavs to fire GM Paxson …Lebron to be named coach/general manager soon…



Liverpool 2, Juventus 1 in 1st leg of Quarterfinal…Liverpool still the underdog as they head for Italy…

Ratings big for NCAA …

CBS' coverage of the Tar Heels' 75-70 win got an overnight rating of 16.0 with a 23 share. That's up 43 percent from last year's 11.2 with a 17 share the network got for Connecticut's win over Georgia Tech. It's the best rating for an NCAA title game since Connecticut's win over Duke in 1999 got a 16.9 with a 25 share.

FWST’s FC Dallas Insider …

Follow Gabe all season long, with Japanball.com …

Mike Vick not enjoying his off-season …

Claiming that Michael Vick gave her herpes, a Georgia woman is suing the star NFL quarterback for negligence and battery. According to the below lawsuit, Sonya Elliot, a 26-year-old health care worker, was infected with the sexually transmitted disease in April 2003 after an unprotected encounter with Vick at the athlete's Duluth, Georgia home. Elliott alleges that after testing positive for Herpes Simplex 2, she confronted the Atlanta Falcons star, 24, about her condition. "I've got something to tell you. I've got it," Vick admitted to her, according to Elliott's State Court complaint, which alleges that Vick then told her that "he had not known how to tell her about his condition, and that it was not something that he liked to talk about."

Every time I watch Pat Garrity play in a game against the Mavs, I think about how much he played a role in the building of this team. Check out his bio …

Selected by Milwaukee in the first round (19th overall) of the 1998 NBA Draft...Draft rights traded by Milwaukee with draft rights to Dirk Nowitzki to Dallas in exchange for draft rights to Robert Traylor (Jun. 24, 1998)...Draft rights traded by Dallas with Martin Muursepp, Bubba Wells and a 1999 first round draft pick to Phoenix in exchange for Steve Nash (Jun. 24, 1998)...Traded by Phoenix with Danny Manning and two future first round draft picks to Orlando in exchange for Anfernee Hardaway (Aug. 5, 1999)...

One last thing. I know I have said this before, but let me say it again. Thousands of people visit this blog on a regular basis according to the statistics, and yet about 0.1% leave comments each day. On the other hand, hundreds email me each day. If you want my preference, I would much rather you leave comments at the bottom of each day’s blog for everyone to see, than the email. But I guess it is ultimately your call.