He may hate Dan, but what a Player!

Fraley commends the Rangers for getting the 2001 pick of Teixeira right …

Teixeira overwhelms everyone else from the class of 2001.

Minnesota took high school catcher Joe Mauer with the first pick. Mauer has shown power and defensive skills, but he has also struggled with knee problems. That is an ominous sign for a 22-year-old catcher.

Chicago Cubs right-hander Mark Prior, the second overall choice, is Teixeira's closest challenger. Prior won 18 games and made the National League All-Star team in 2003. He is 11-6 since that season and has struggled with injuries.

Tampa Bay has had no luck with the third pick: college right-hander Dewon Brazelton. He is 8-23 in the majors and lost standing within the organization by balking at a minor league assignment this season.

Philadelphia wanted Teixeira with the fourth pick, but agent Scott Boras chased away the Phillies. They settled for a high school right-hander from his Maryland neighborhood: Gavin Floyd. He is 3-1 with a 7.02 ERA for 10 major league appearances.

Teixeira, taken fifth by the Rangers, dwarfs them all.

Wakefield, Manny beat Rangers …

Marquis Daniels – back for summer league a third time …

Daniels' situation is a primary reason why Johnson is coaching the Las Vegas portion of the summer-league team. Usually, it's a job farmed out to an assistant or developmental staff members.

But Johnson wants a firsthand look.

"I've got to find out what kind of player Marquis can be," Johnson said.
In his rookie season, the 6-6 Daniels finished with a rush, averaging more than 20 points over his last 11 games. He also was the Mavericks' second-leading scorer in the playoffs. Last season, he often was an afterthought because of the injuries.

Two issues stand out: Can Daniels master the midrange jump shot, eventually extending his range, and can he function as a point guard for 10 to 15 minutes per game.

Daniels said he's spent most of this off-season working on his jump shot.
"It's going to be a good chance to figure out what the fit is," said Donnie Nelson, president of basketball operations. "Is he the perfect utility guy coming off the bench? Or is he a starter. It's a process.

"But shooting is a huge priority for him. He's got to be able to make that outside shot and extend it to the 3-point line, because he's got everything else."

Do you think American Sports are out of control? Consider the story of English Footballer Steven Gerrard, who is the best player on my favorite team, Liverpool:

Yesterday 1:00 pm (Dallas Time) – Gerrard announces he has demanded to leave Liverpool
Yesterday 3:00 pm (Dallas Time) – Liverpool admits Gerrard has demanded his exit
Yesterday 6:00 pm (Dallas Time) – Liverpool asks its fans to move on with the club
This morning – Gerrard has change of heart, will sign new deal with Liverpool today

Gerrard changes mind, will sign new deal immediately …

'I do not want to get into attaching blame to anyone. If I blame anyone it is myself.

'I wanted my future sorted out as soon as possible after the Champions League final but the longer it went on the more misunderstandings there were.

'I will be signing a deal, maybe even today.

Last night, I watched Game 2 of the St Louis series of the 1999 Dallas Stars Stanley Cup run via the Fox Sports Net Dallas Stars Collection Series, and wow, I had almost forgotten how dominant Joey Nieuwendyk was! Amazing player with speed, decent size, and a wicked snap shot going to his right and shooting back to the top left hand corner of the net in full flight!

Pudge is divorced …

For the first time in print, Pudge Rodriguez has acknowledged that he's getting a divorce from his wife of 15 years, Maribel.

"Tell them all now that I'm a single man," he was quoted as saying in Monday's Flint Journal.

The Tigers have known for months that Rodriguez and his wife were divorcing, but felt they shouldn't comment until Pudge did -- and even when he did, they were courteously hesitant.

"It's not my place (to talk about it)," Trammell said. "but as you can imagine, it's been tough. It's been an issue for him for four months now. I know it's been a burden for him, but he still comes to the ballpark and prepares himself as he always has."

A’s making their annual run …

To the generation before us, Hank Stram was Coach of the Chiefs, but to my generation, He was the radio voice of Monday Night Football with Jack Buck …They were fun to listen to…

Vin Scully and his sweet rules …

Although he insists he has no timetable for retirement, Scully has made concessions to age in recent years. His contract (always year-to-year, never long term) stipulates he is not required to travel east of Denver, and he only does three innings per night on radio -- always solo. Those three innings are simulcast on radio and TV, and beginning with the fourth, he is only on TV -- and it is a poor substitute, as even Scully admits.

"With radio -- and I've almost made this a cliche -- you come into the booth, and there's an empty canvas," Scully says, describing the difference between the media outlets. "And you get all your paint and brushes, and you mix your paints. And then you have a broad swath here and fine line there. And at the end of three hours, you say, 'Well, that's the best I can do today.' On television, you walk in and the picture's already there. So what you're doing is shading, subtle things."

In a typical three-hour baseball game, the ball is only in play for perhaps six minutes, and Scully is a master at interspersing biographical material and anecdotes about the batter or the pitcher between pitches -- information he keeps on notebook pages in front of him