The Temperature at which Texas Rangers Leads burn.

New Links

I've added 3 new links at left:

• The Dugout. Lisa Gray writes an excellent, well-written Astros blog on Most Valuable Network.
• 1300 The Zone. Even though they are "The Longhorn Station," and they carry all the Texas Longhorn games, they are the station to turn to if you want the pulse of sports in Austin.
• San Antonio Express-News. With the NBA playoffs coming up, I figured it would be a good idea to link the paper that covers the Spurs daily.

Back from Iraq to watch his son.

Rick Cantu of the Austin American-Statesman, chronicles the story of Leander High School ace Andy Sorensen, who threw a no-hitter with his dad Steve, a soldier just back from Iraq, was in attendance.

Fahrenheit 90 MPH Fastball

Bullpen pitchers are often called "firemen" because like firemen, they often come in in tough situations and "put out the fire" (i.e. get the team out of a bad situation).

Not the Rangers. Their "firemen" are more like the firemen in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. They start fires rather than put them out. Their bullpen ERA: 6.46 (Last year's bullpen ERA was 3.46)

Further evidence of the Rangers' struggles: They were lit up by the Anaheim Angels in the last few innings of their home opener.

Not that the other Texas team did any better yesterday.

The Astros kept shooting themselves in the foot on the way to a 8-4 loss on the road in New York.

Playoff Preview(?): Rockets beat Sonics.

In what could be a preview of their opening round series, the Houston Rockets beat the Seattle Supersonics 90-78 at KeyArena. Granted, the Sonics are without some key players, but there's no telling who will be healthy for that franchise come playoff time. Besides, even when everyone's healthy, the Sonics' defense has been suspect.

Colorado Hires New AD.

In what could be the first step towards straightening out the mess that is the University of Colorado, the school hired San Diego State's Mike Bohn to be the new Athletic Director.

Now all they need is a new President, a new Chancellor, a new Head Football Coach, and a new Ethnic Studies professor and they will be all set.

Tomorrow: Flare up in Milan