And so we wrap up the spring and descend into the Land of Preseason Predictions.

Which obviously is God's way of keeping baseball writers humble and grounded.

I don't know of any of my colleagues who don't feel foolish in September when they look back at how they projected the season in April. See, a lot of us go by what's on paper in the spring, and you know what they say about that's why they actually play the games on the field.

A few days ago, new Oakland manager Bob Geren and I were talking in the brilliant Arizona sunshine at Phoenix Municipal Stadium, standing on the emerald green grass and discussing the Athletics as the hitters trotted in and out of the batting cage and 2007 was as wide open as the desert.

Geren was raving about how well Rich Harden was pitching this spring, to the point where he said that Harden is a legitimate Cy Young candidate.

You're preaching to the choir here, I interrupted. I told Geren that Harden has been my preseason pick as the AL Cy Young winner in two of the past three years.

"Did you pick him this year?" Geren asked.

"No way," I told him. "He's burned me twice in three years. What do you think, I'm going out on that limb again?"

"Good," Geren replied, laughing. "You've probably been jinxing him."

If you only knew, I told Geren.

Two years ago, I had the White Sox fourth in my preseason predictions. My good buddy Tim, who is my daughter's godfather, was in town at the time, is a Chicago native and Sox fan and mercilessly ragged me for picking them so low. Of course, seven months later, Ozzie Guillen's club was winning the World Series.

Tim hasn't let me forget it. He now badgers me constantly, begging me never to pick the Sox to win again.

Meantime, my cell phone buzzed in Arizona this week and it was another good friend of mine from Michigan, Sam. A few minutes into the conversation the Tigers came up, and Sam wondered if I had finished my predictions yet. Not quite, I replied, but close.

"DON'T pick the Tigers to win," Sam quickly said.

No doubt, he recalls me picking Detroit to sweep St. Louis in the World Series last fall, and that prediction didn't quite go so well either. And let me tell you: For a group of fans who are supposed to be nice, friendly and respectful, I got so many unprintable and vicious e-mails from Cardinals fans who were poor winners following the Series and my prediction, it would curdle your milk.

All last summer, I heard from Mets fans who didn't think I gave their club enough respect in the preseason predictions. And I got more than a few "Told-ya-so's" in October when the Mets were making a strong bid for the World Series.

So we come to another spring, and all I can say is: My friend Sam will not be happy because I've got the Tigers beating the Dodgers in the World Series (hey, I try to look at this objectively and play no favorites). My friend Tim will be thrilled, because I've got the White Sox back down to fourth (which, he'll say, will give them a chance to win it all).

As for your team, whatever it is, I wish it only the best of luck this summer and I hope you have many, many enjoyable hours following it.

And if your club doesn't do as well as expected, go blame Sports Illustrated for jinxing them.

Likes: Reading as many baseball previews as I can scrounge up in the days before opening day. Sports Illustrated's is always terrific. USA Today is always stacked with good information. Most of the special newspaper sections are entertaining. Read and enjoyed the New York Post's section on the flight home from Arizona last night. ... The Sopranos returning a week from Sunday. ... Entourage, too. ... After almost six solid weeks on the road, home in time to see opening night of my fourth-grade daughter's school play tonight. Can't wait. ... Mets-Cardinals on television in the opener Sunday night, following a Saturday of Final Four games. ... Cincinnati for opening day on Monday. ... Summer right around the corner, it's hard to top this time of year, isn't it?

Dislikes: Can we never hear another word, please, about the Murderer's Row of Britney Spears, Nicole Ritchie, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan?

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

"With his head cocked sideways
"At streetcorners
"As if he is just about to have
"His picture taken for Victor Records
"Listening for his master's voice
"And looking like a living question mark
"Into the great gramophone of puzzling existence
"With its wondrous hollow horn
"Which always seems
"Just about to spout forth
"Some victorious answer to everything."

-- Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Dog

While everybody guffaws over Kansas City signing Gil Meche to that five-year, $55 million contract, what's completely overlooked is the potential benefit of the other free-agent pitcher the Royals signed over the winter.

That would be, ah. ...

Remember a closer named Octavio Dotel?

The Royals gave him a one-year, $5 million deal, which pretty much is pennies when you consider how important Dotel could be to this club.

Much of the reason the Royals kept getting their guts ripped out last summer was because their bullpen kept collapsing. Kansas City's 31 blown saves were an American League worst.

Dotel mostly has remained under the radar thanks to Meche, but he won't stay there for long if the Royals actually begin to hold onto some leads this summer.

"We knew we needed somebody at the back end who has done it before," Royals GM Dayton Moore says. "This was the perfect marriage. I think Octavio really wanted to go back to the Yankees, but there's no closer job open there, and he wanted to close.

"When we met with him in the Dominican Republic, his enthusiasm was evident. He's a winner, and he's a full year recovered from Tommy John surgery."

Nobody's picking the Royals to win or saying that they've patched all of their holes. But one interesting thing that continued to occur during travels through the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues this spring was the frequency with which, unprovoked, players, front office personnel and scouts, when discussing the AL Central, volunteered that they thought Kansas City had improved itself.

Likes: Scottsdale Stadium. Beautiful Cactus League park. ... Tim Flannery, third-base coach of the San Francisco Giants. ... Milwaukee entering the season with a real chance to stay in the race. ... The Best of Mary McGrory: A Half-Century of Washington Commentary. McGrory, a former columnist at the Washington Star and Washington Post, live on JFK in the 1960s is illuminating reading. ... Gonna have to look into the new compact disc release of Warren Zevon's Stand in the Fire, recorded live at the Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles in 1981. ... Difficult not to stop flipping the channels when you come across a Michael Douglas movie late at night on the road. ... The UCLA-Florida rematch Saturday in the Final Four. Should be great entertainment.

Dislikes: Absolutely nothing today. How can there be -- headed home for a couple of days, the Final Four games are on Saturday and another baseball season begins Sunday.

Sunblock day? I suppose you can never be too careful, but it was only 61 degrees when San Francisco and Milwaukee started in Scottsdale on Wednesday afternoon.

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

OK, so the planes were to Florida and Arizona over these past six weeks, not to Spain. Still. ...

"So I bought me a ticket
"I caught a plane to Spain
"Went to a party down a red dirt road
"There were lots of pretty people there
"Reading Rolling Stone, reading Vogue
"They said, 'How long can you hang around?'
"I said a week, maybe two
"Just until my skin turns brown
"Then I'm going home to California

-- Joni Mitchell, California

He was The Greatest, and if you doubt that, you should see the way Muhammed Ali still fills a room.

Not much causes major league baseball players to stop whatever they're doing and gawk, but from the moment Ali shuffled into the Los Angeles Angels' dressing room at Tempe Diablo Stadium on Tuesday, it was as if a pope or a president had entered the joint.

Ali has a home in Paradise Valley, Ariz., and as you might expect, likes to get out from time to time despite the fact that he's 65 and suffering from debilitating Parkinson's Disease. Tuesday, he came to watch the Angels play the Chicago White Sox and was more than obliging in posing for pictures in the Angels' clubhouse.

Sadly, he no longer floats like a butterfly, nor does he sting like a bee. He shuffles along with a walker now, and there isn't much body movement. He doesn't talk -- at least, he didn't during his 30 minutes or so inside of the Angels clubhouse.

But his eyes are alive, darting back and forth, and it sure appears as if he's taking everything in.

His handlers sat him in a chair in the middle of the clubhouse, and counting players, staff, clubhouse guys and a couple of media members, probably 60 people had their photos taken with Ali.

"It was fun, because we did a similar situation in Houston in 2004, with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America at the All-Star Game, and you had All-Stars from both leagues," said Jerald Gibbs, who works with the Los Angeles-based marketing company employed by Ali. "It's kind of neat to see athletes pay their respects to former athletes."

Ali, given his stature and the way he transcends sports, is not just a former athlete, and you could tell by the reactions around the room. The normal laughter, teasing and banter of the clubhouse ceased as soon as Ali entered. Suddenly, it was library-silent.

"I've never seen the clubhouse get so quiet, with everyone just in awe, like it was today," infielder Robb Quinlan said. "That was pretty painful to see."

Pitcher Kelvim Escobar was first in line to have his photo taken with Ali.

"The Champ," Escobar said. "He's one of the athletes I admired most. Him and Michael Jordan. This was very exciting."

Ali patiently signed several bats and baseballs while he was there, a painstaking process because it is so hard for him to move with the Parkinson's. But he appeared to summon all of his concentration powers and got the job done -- small, neat signatures.

"I'm going to put this up at the house," said Quinlan after having a bat signed. "That's pretty cool."

Likes: Equipment trucks heading north. ... Goodbyes at Cactus League and Grapefruit League sites. ... Home in just a couple of days.

Dislikes: How can I not have one Final Four team still alive in my bracket?

Sunblock day? Warm, in the 80s, but very windy. Still, ya needed sunblock.

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

I rarely do repeats here, but listening to one of Bonnie Raitt's greatest (lyricist: John Prine) the other night, despite using it last spring, I figured this is definitely worth it at least once a year:

"There's flies in the kitchen
"I can hear them, they're buzzin'
"And I ain't done nothing since I woke up today
"But how the hell can a person
"Go to work in the morning
"And come home in the evening
"And have nothing to say?

-- John Prine, Angel from Montgomery

It becomes a numbers game at this point in the spring, and the stuff is about to hit the fan in San Diego, where the Padres have informed second baseman Todd Walker that they are going to release him on Tuesday.

Result? An expected grievance to be filed by the players' union and a loud uproar from within the clubhouse, where the affable Walker was a popular teammate.

Walker's sin was to beat the Padres in arbitration. He won a $3.9 million salary this winter, but Marcus Giles is going to be the club's second baseman and owner John Moores isn't in the business of paying bench players excess cash.

Maybe he should think about it, because the whole key to winning these days after pitching is depth, but Moores doesn't want to win so much as he wants to spend just enough money to stay competitive.

So the Padres, after winning consecutive division titles for the first time in club history before being quietly bounced out of the playoffs each time, again will field a team that had better have its front-line players stay healthy. Or else.

And Walker, a solid clubhouse guy and very good hitter, will go job-hunting at the one of the worst times a player can do so.

The Padres, who will save $3 million or so by whacking Walker, will argue that he had a poor spring (just .225 with one RBI in 14 games) and that they already have enough lefties for their bench -- Russell Branyan, Paul McAnulty and switch-hitters Geoff Blum and Jose Cruz Jr.

The players union will point to the fact that Walker, 33, has a solid resume -- lifetime batting average of .289 with 107 homers and 541 RBI in nine full seasons, and argue that you can't cut a guy like that on the basis of 14 lousy spring training at-bats.

In fact, only one other player is known to have been released after winning an arbitration case over the winter -- Brian Hunter, the old outfielder who was released by Seattle on March 27, 2000. Four days later, he signed with that wayward home for free agents and other vagabonds, the Colorado Rockies.

Good luck to Walker, who already has played for Minnesota, Colorado, Cincinnati, Boston, the Cubs and, now San Diego, in finding work from here.

The cold, cruel facts of the business: When the Padres acquired him from the Cubs at last July's trade deadline, they had a gaping hole at third and asked him to play there immediately. He readily complied -- even though he had played second all season with the Cubs and hadn't done any work at third in years.

He made a throwing error in his first game and committed six total errors in 44 games in San Diego. He never complained or made excuses when he botched a ball while out of position at third base.

For that alone, he was owed more than a late-spring "see ya" from the Padres.

Likes: Zack Greinke having a good spring and rejoining the Kansas City rotation. Everybody should pull for the Royals, a class act trying to recapture some of their proud days of old. And Greinke, who left camp a year ago for personal reasons, is a great comeback story. His projected matchup against Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka in the third game of the season in Kansas City will be great theatre. ... Late spring trades: Florida needed a closer, and acquiring Jorge Julio from Arizona on Monday gives the Marlins something to dream about. ... Pitchers making their final starts of the spring. ... Players talking about breaking camp. ... Dmitri Young back in the starting lineup for Washington. ... T-shirt seen in the hotel restaurant: "Party 'Til She's Cute." ... The blackened scallops at Richardson's, a southwestern cuisine joint here in Phoenix. A party for your taste buds. Man, are they good.

Dislikes: The feeling that Tuesday's Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing regarding baseball's exclusive Extra Innings deal with DirecTV is simply another colossal waste of taxpayers' money and Congressmen's time. All signs point to the hapless committee being powerless to do anything other than conduct a day of hearings and listen.

Sunblock day? Back in business. Sunny and 80s in the desert. Opening day can't be far away, can it?

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

"Now every one of us was made to suffer
"Every one of us was made to weep
"But we've been hurting one another
"And now the pain has cut too deep

-- Annie Lennox, Walking on Broken Glass

Right about now, all 30 teams have one thing in common:

Get through what's left of spring training in one piece. Make it through five weeks, it's a nightmare if something happens to wreck good health at the tail end of camp.

Here in Tempe, the Los Angeles Angels, favored by many to win the AL West, are doing their best to avoid the injury plague. But it's nipping at their heels.

Third baseman Chone Figgins fractured two fingers in his throwing hand (middle and index) fielding a ground ball the other day and is expected to miss up to five weeks. That puts him on the sidelines pretty much for the entire month of April, and it opens up an opportunity for Maicier Izturis.

Meanwhile, Kelvim Escobar was lifted early in Saturday's Cactus League start against Colorado with a strain in the left side of his lower back. The Angels removed him for precautionary reasons, and he'll be re-evaluated on Sunday. They don't think it's anything that will sabotage him or them -- and they sure hope not.

Already, they may open the season without rotation fixtures Bartolo Colon and Jered Weaver -- but not for long.

First, Escobar. Angels team orthopedist Dr. Lewis Yocum looked at the back Saturday and the club doesn't think it's anything serious.

"We feel a little better after they examined him," manager Mike Scioscia said. "There was no sense in pushing him and setting him back.

"We'll have the opportunity this week to get him where he needs to be, but anytime something happens with a pitcher and they're holding that area, you're worried about a rib cage or an oblique."

Colon, rehabbing a torn rotator cuff (he opted against surgery) and yet to appear in a Cactus League game, threw a bullpen session Saturday and the Angels were thrilled.

"Bartolo had a terrific workout," Scioscia said. "Better than last time, and last time was good. He's very close. He can possibly get in a game next week."

That happens, the Angels are likely to have him make a couple of starts at Single-A Rancho Cucumonga and he could join the rotation by late April.

As for Weaver, who was set back by forearm tendonitis, "he was lights out in the bullpen" on Saturday, Scioscia said.

If Weaver, last year's rookie sensation, isn't in the opening day rotation, he'll likely only miss one turn before rejoining it.

Likes: Tempe Diablo Stadium, home of the Angels, one of the most scenic ballparks in the Cactus League. Or Grapefruit League, for that matter. ... Khalil Greene's total game. I wrote about him yesterday, and his troubles with fractured fingers and toes. The kid is excitement on spikes when he's healthy, and I'd love to see what he can do over a full season. ... Projected opening day lineups. ... One week until opening day. ... Buddy Miller's Universal United House of Prayer album. ... The fact that two of the 30 major-league managers now are named Buddy -- Kansas City's Bell and San Diego's Black. ... Chipotle, the fast-food burrito joint. In a hurry, you could do a whole lot worse. ... Reign Over Me and Blades of Glory both look like pretty entertaining films. Looking forward to seeing both.

Dislikes: Just not nearly enough hours in the day at this time of year for baseball, the NCAA tournament and everything else you've gotta fit into your life.

Sunblock day? Yep, but hot in the sun and cool in the shade. Desert high of only around 70 -- though Sunday's predicted high is 80.

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

"Freedom's just another word
"For nothin' left to lose "And nothin' ain't worth nothin' but it's free
"Feelin' good was easy, Lord, when Bobby sang the blues
"And buddy, that was good enough for me
"Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee

-- Kris Kristofferson, Me and Bobby McGee

Well, now, there was new Arizona pitcher Doug Davis the other day, slithering around the Diamondbacks' clubhouse like a snake, hissing at all of his new teammates to get their paperwork in.

Some kind of rental forms for housing when the season starts?

Nope.

Something to do with scouting reports?

Uh, sort of.

Basketball scouting reports.

One of the entertaining things about this time in spring training, aside from guys fighting for the final few spots on the roster, is the way every camp shifts into NCAA basketball pool mode. And after the first weekend, when the 64 teams are reduced to the Sweet 16 and brackets are reduced to red ink, most clubs start anew with a Sweet 16 pool.

That's where Davis' organizational skills come in.

"They would say I've been running too many NCAA pools," Davis said, chuckling, regarding his new -- and young -- teammates. "But it's something I've learned in the past: It unites guys. It pulls guys together. It's something to help team unity."

Feel free to clip and save that quote for your boss next year, if he's short-tempered with office pools.

"I think we have eight or nine pools going right now," Davis said. "Everyone seems to like it and want to be in it. Some of the young guys are saying they can't afford it, but I'm not sure of that."

How much is it if the young Diamondbacks can't afford it?

Twenty bucks.

Sure sounds more like Bob Melvin's team might be cheap rather than fiscally tight.

"You said that," Davis said, laughing. "Not me."

Likes: Kansas City acquiring Tony Pena Jr. from Atlanta on Friday. What it means: The Royals are done with Angel Berroa, realized they had no shortstop going into the season and GM Dayton Moore decided he needed to move. ... Freddy Sanchez's versatility in Pittsburgh. If this is a new season, he must be playing, yep, second base instead of third. The Pirates feel about deposed second baseman Jose Castillo roughly the same way the Royals do about Berroa. It's the time of spring when something's gotta give. There's no more time to mess around. ... Ohio State and Tennessee trading 3-pointers during a scorching game Thursday.

Dislikes: Calvert DeForest passing away. Calvert, Larry "Bud" Melman, whatever name you knew him by on Letterman, a classic character. ... Rat poison found in the tainted pet food that's been making cats and dogs ill. What kind of sicko does that?

Sunblock day? I suppose, but it's down to 70 or so, 20-some degrees cooler than last week. The storms that blew in and either canceled or shortened the entire Cactus League schedule Thursday definitely cooled things off.

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

"Well our hearts beat like thunder
"I don't know why they don't explode
"You got your hands in my back pockets
"And Sam Cooke's singin' on the radio

-- John Mellencamp, Ain't Even Done With the Night

Part of the reason Jonathan Papelbon will open the season as Boston's closer is because Mike Timlin will open the year on the disabled list.

But that's just semantics -- even if Timlin were healthy, he is not a closer. And the notion that he was a candidate to actually take the job was about as realistic as thinking Ted Williams would make a comeback as Boston's designated hitter this summer. Even if Boston handed him the closer's job, it wouldn't be long until he handed it back.

Mark Thursday down as the day the Red Sox came to their senses. Papelbon in the rotation is an intriguing prospect, but the guy was so good as a closer last season that it almost demands an encore. He's like the guy in your office who periodically talks about doing something else, but he's so good in his role that nobody wants to see him switch.

Papelbon compiled a 0.92 ERA last season, eighth-lowest in major league history among pitchers with at least 50 innings, and converted 35 of 41 save opportunities. Though the Red Sox suffered their lowest finish in the standings since 1997 -- third -- the addition of Daisuke Matsuzaka and a healthy Curt Schilling should improve their rotation.

The biggest issue will be Papelbon's health. His season ended last Sept. 1 with a subluxation of his right shoulder, and Boston is on record as saying that the club's medical staff had encouraged moving Papelbon back into the rotation for health reasons, that it would be easier on his arm.

That said, if he goes down again, it will set off another of those Great Boston Debates at which New Englanders excel. But the bottom line is, no matter what the doctors and trainers say, there are no guarantees. The kid is just 25, and as a starter or reliever, pitching in the majors is hard. There is no way to alleviate stress on the arm in any role.

Likes: Arizona veteran Tony Clark telling infielder Orlando Hudson, "O, did you know Wrigley's Extra gum doesn't cause cancer?" It was another genuine and loving nudge to steer a teammate away from smokeless tobacco. Hudson assured Clark he was going to give it up after this season. From the sound of it, Clark isn't going to stop badgering him for that long. ... Scottsdale Stadium. Great spring training venue. Really feels like a neighborhood park. ... The way spring camps shift into a sudden urgency about this point in the spring. Jobs are now being won and lost daily, and the players know it. ... Butler guard A.J. Graves, the kind of underdog everybody should pull for.

Dislikes: The Diamondbacks' new colors. They look like the Houston Astros. ... Bad day for Southern California infielders. X-rays show that Angels third baseman Chone Figgins has a fractured finger and Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal is carted off the field with an ankle injury. Figgins' absence will leave a huge hole for the Angels, because Dallas McPherson's back issues have sidelined him. And they were counting on Shea Hillenbrand to DH. Erick Aybar, who had been taking fly balls in center field, might begin taking ground balls at third base. As for the Dodgers, hello Ramon Martinez?

Sunblock day? Clouds. Lots of clouds. And morning rain. It was stunning, leaving the hotel early this morning and walking outside into rain. I cannot remember the last time I saw rain. I thought the sprinker system had gone awry.

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

"Like a Mississippi bullfrog
"Sitting on a tree stump
"Like a Mississippi bullfrog
"Sitting on a tree stump
"I've got so many women
"I don't know which way to jump"

-- Big Joe Turner and Jesse Stone, Flip, Flop & Fly

Time was when pepper was played on baseball fields throughout the land.

But as boys began playing other sports like basketball, football and that infernal sport, soccer, and as big money entered professional sports, it sort of went the way of pregame infield, flannel uniforms and the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Well, for you old-timers out there and for you baseball-loving kids who are intrigued by pepper, make sure to check out the Texas Rangers before batting practice this year.

Each day this spring before they hit, the Rangers' catchers and infielders gather in three groups down the right-field line for a spirited game of pepper, and manager Ron Washington says they will continue it throughout the season.

Essentially, pepper is this: One player bunts ground balls and line drives, briskly, to three or four fielders who stand 15-20 feet away. The fielders field the ball and toss it back to the batter as quickly as possible, and the batter hits the return throw back to the fielders, and they keep it going. The point is to sharpen reflexes and hand-eye coordination.

Washington asked shortstop Michael Young over the winter what he thought, Young replied that it sounded like fun and now it's become the rage of Texas' camp

The players have concocted a point system, and the individual winner each day gets a designated bat to keep for 24 hours as the prize. The winner signs the bat with a Sharpie, dates it, and keeps it until the next day's winner is declared. Then that winner signs it, dates it, and keeps it for 24 hours.

It's highly entertaining watching the players trash talking with each other in the midst of a game -- "Yeah, have a taste of your own medicine!" "It don't matter if it hits your glove, it doesn't count! You have to catch it!" -- as well as watching the postgame "ceremony."

Catcher Gerald Laird won the other day ("This is my third straight!"). But whoever wins, the key is to remember to bring the bat to the practice field the next day. Because if you forget, you are stripped of your hard-earned title from the previous day.

Among the many signatures on the bat are a couple of X's through names with the notation "Forgot bat" written in Sharpie next to the crossed-out name. It must feel like the NCAA has put you on probation. Second baseman Ian Kinsler had his title stripped on 3/13 ("Forgot bat") and someone else did about a week or more ago.

Is that ... hmm, hard to read ... is it Young's signature that's crossed out?

"No," Young says quickly. "Gerald Laird. If I win, that bat's coming with me."

"The players just love it," says Gregg Elkin, Texas' media relations director.

Elkin should know. Laird forgot that bat in his locker again the other day -- and recruited Elkin's son, 8-year-old Jaret, to run back to the clubhouse and retrieve it before the other Rangers infielders could strip him of another title.

Says Rangers general manager Jon Daniels: "It's a beautiful thing. Here are some of the biggest stars in the game, and they're having fun. How critical is that?"

Likes: Padres center fielder Mike Cameron saying the health is good but his swing isn't this spring. Told him, isn't that like a fat guy being blessed because he can diet while an ugly guy is ugly forever? If Cameron's healthy, he'll hit, eventually. But if he isn't, he's got no chance. I think the guy felt a little better about his spring after our conversation. ... Watching a triple play in Peoria on Tuesday night, the Angels pulling off the ol' K-2-6-3-5 against San Diego. Ervin Santana fanned Josh Bard, and then the Angels picked Todd Walker off of first and then threw over to third to nail a straying (and sleeping) Brian Giles. ... Richardson's Cuisine of New Mexico off of Bethany Home Road in Phoenix. Outstanding, from the blue corn turkey enchiladas to the incredible fish they prepare with pineapple relish and all kinds of other innovative ideas. ... The mountains in the distance beyond the right-field fence at Tucson's Hi-Corbett Field.

Dislikes: Desert dust. ... Desert allergies. ... Laundry on the road. ... Gray and cool spring training days.

Sunblock day? Not even close. Cloudy, cool and a 20 mph wind. What happened to 90 degrees and smoking?

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

"Girls, if you got a good man
"And don't want him taken away from you
"Don't ever tell your friend, woman
"What your man can do
"Lord, Lord, I'm getting up in years
"Lordy, Lordy, Lordy, I'm getting up in years
"But mama ain't too old to shift her gears
"And I'm a big fat mama
"Got the meat shakin' on my bones
"I'm a big fat mama
"Got the meat shakin' on my bones
"And every time I shake
"Some skinny gal loses her home

-- Ida Cox, Four Day Creep

Texas outfielder Nelson Cruz and shorstop Michael Young were hit in the head with pitches in consecutive games earlier this month, so you can understand Rangers general manager Jon Daniels saying, "We've been knocking on a lot of wood lately."

The Rangers will continue doing so on several fronts, not the least of which is former uber closer Eric Gagne. But indications -- aside from a hanging curve ball -- were all good for Gagne on Tuesday as he made his first Cactus League appearance.

The first batter he faced, San Francisco's Kevin Frandsen, pounded a 1-and-2 flat curve over the left-field fence. After that, Gagne retired Jason Ellison on a ground ball to shortstop, fanned Omar Vizquel and then induced another 6-3 ground ball from Ryan Klesko.

"It feels good," said Gagne, who says he will be ready for opening day. "I had some adrenalin and a little bit of nervousness. But it was good to be out there."

Gagne had worked in an intrasquad game, a simulated game and a "B" game over the past several days, but his one-inning stint against the Giants marked another step in his comeback from elbow surgery in 2005.

The days of high heat may be behind Gagne. A flamethrower whose fastball once zoomed between 95 and 98 mph, Gagne's fastball on Tuesday was clocked by scouts between 90 and 92. The curve Frandsen smoked was 70.

"If it was a real game, I don't think I would throw that curveball on 1-and-2," Gagne said. "I'd probably throw a fastball up-and-in or a backdoor changeup."

He looked bigger than he has, but said he hasn't gained weight.

"I'm still 245, 250," he said. "You saying I'm fat?"

He was joking, of course, simply happy to be back doing what injuries mostly have prevented him from doing since 2004.

He also just missed providing a highly entertaining moment. When Gagne retired Klesko to end both the fifth inning and his day, Barry Bonds was on deck.

Gagne chuckled at that, and kidded that he had no idea who was on deck. He wasn't sorry to have missed him, either.

"I've got to get my work in," Gagne said. Besides, "Did you see what he did in his next at-bat?"

Akinori Otsuka, the reliever who replaced Gagne, sure did. He served up a booming home run to Mr. Bonds.

Likes: Good for Dodgers skipper Grady Little, whose contract was extended by a year on Tuesday. He's a far better manager than those who blame him for Boston's 2003 ALCS loss believe. ... Texas playing pepper on the fields this spring. ... Havana Café on Camelback near 42nd St. in Phoenix. The Bisteca Cubana rocks. Terrific restaurant, and seeing Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez dining there the night before one of the 2001 World Series games when he was pitching for the Yankees simply reinforced that opinion. ... The return to the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, and that pesky corporate name disappearing.

Dislikes: The daily updates on Angelina Jolie adopting babies, caring for her adopted babies, dragging Brad Pitt along to adopt more babies, planning for her adopted babies. ... Can I please get through a newspaper while I eat my morning oatmeal without any Jolie update? Pretty please?

Sunblock day? Yep, but it's nowhere near the 90s anymore. Low 80s, and actually saw clouds for the first time in weeks.

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

"London calling to the faraway towns
"Now war is declared, and battle come down
"London calling to the underworld
"Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls
"London calling, now don't look to us
"Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust
"London calling, see we ain't got no swing
"'Cept for the ring of that truncheon thing"

-- The Clash, London Calling

Prince Fielder is always outgoing and friendly, but after one full season in the majors, a .271 batting average, 28 homers and 81 RBI, he appears to be even more comfortable than he was a year ago. Which bodes well for his continued development, and poorly for opposing pitchers.

Several Brewers think Fielder is even more chatty and comfortable in the clubhouse this spring than last.

"I think he's feeling more in place," Milwaukee shortstop J.J. Hardy says. "He should, with the year he had last year. He's a big piece of this team."

Fielder says it's nothing conscious, but acknowledges that perhaps it's true.

"It's not on purpose," he says. "My wife will tell anybody that when I first meet you, I look like a big mean guy, with this bald head. But when I get to know you, I'm a big Teddy bear."

Difficult to imagine that watching him at the plate, what with the way he crushes the baseball, but we'll go with it.

As the son of former major leaguer Cecil Fielder, Prince, 22, has grown up in major league clubhouses. And the combination of his personality and production will make him a natural team leader -- especially as he grows older. So, too, will his smarts.

"I don't want to be the guy who talks just for no reason," Fielder says. "I don't want to just be the loud guy."

Likes: Hall of Famer George Brett hitting pop flies to one of his sons on one of the Kansas City practice fields following the morning workout. ... Kansas City designated hitter Mike Sweeney, one of the game's friendliest players, leaving me with, "Have a great Easter, Scott" on Monday morning. I don't think a player has ever wished me a happy Easter, let alone two weeks early. What a guy. ... The thin pizza at Oregano's. ... The Macadamia nut cookie, half-baked, topped with ice cream for dessert at Oregano's after the pizza. One of the top three desserts anywhere. ... Twilight in the desert, with the sun casting just the right shadow to make everything shimmer. ... Scouts with expert back-road directions. Learned of a shortcut to Surprise this morning that saved at least 15 minutes of driving time.

Dislikes: Parking so far away from the stadium in Surprise that they shuttle you there in a golf cart. I mean, that's very nice and considerate, but for a new facility, come on. At no other camp in the majors is the parking so far away.

Sunblock day? Can't remember the last time I've seen a cloud. It's cooled off some in the desert, 80s instead of 90s, but still spectacular -- and prime sunburn time, if you don't break out the SPF.

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

"One, two, princes kneel before you
"(That's what I said, now)
"Princes, princes who adore you
"(Just go ahead, now)
"One has diamonds in his pockets
"(That sounds great, now)
"This one, said he wants to buy you lockets
"(Ain't in his head, now)

-- Spin Doctors, Two Princes

Time was, Ben Broussard was climbing the charts with a bullet. He slugged between 16 and 19 homers for Cleveland between 2003 and 2005 before Travis Hafner overshadowed him and the Indians traded Broussard to Seattle last July.

After hitting just .236 in 55 games with the Mariners last summer -- with only eight homers and 17 RBI -- Seattle signed Jose Vidro from Washington to be the designated hitter, and Broussard is second on the depth chart to Richie Sexson at first base.

Now, it's Broussard's music that is climbing the charts with a bullet.

The latest television show to pick up some of his music is The Black Donnellys, a mid-season replacement show on NBC. They used his song I Hate Goodbyes in one episode and then used a second song, Hold On To Me in another episode.

"It's cool," Broussard says. "I watched it because I'm interested in the show, and they play a lot of great music in there. You're watching and you're like, 'Who's that? Who's that?'

"It's quite an honor to have songs in with those (artists)."

Previously, Broussard's music has been heard on Dog The Bounty Hunter on A&E and on MTV's The Real World.

He writes songs during down time on trips, and he recorded a CD a year ago to raise money for charity.

"People want to know when the next one's coming out," Broussard says. "I'm like, 'Man, I've got a day job.' Baseball's my real job."

He doesn't have a lot of time for his music now, and producer Scott Schorr of Lazy Bones Records was adept at doing all the leg work to get Broussard's first CD out.

But given the reaction to his work so far, Broussard, 30, just might have something to occupy himself whenever his baseball career finally comes to an end.

Likes: Milwaukee's Ben Sheets, healthy. ... Seattle's Felix Hernandez, lighter. ... The Brewers' complex in Maryvale. Bad section of the city, outstanding complex. ... Opening day starters being named. Welcome to the club, Erik Bedard in Baltimore. ... The Geico commercials featuring Little Richard currently running during some of the basketball games rock. ... Dick Enberg is still exquisitely good at the microphone. ... Coffee Plantation on Mill. St. in the heart of the Arizona State campus.

Dislikes: Motorcyclists in Arizona not having to wear helmets. I don't even ride, but driving along with some of these bikers on the freeways at 60, 70 mph makes me cringe. Man, one small thing happens and I shudder to think of the consequences. ... Coffee Plantation (see above) no longer stocking newspapers. Never heard of a coffee house not carrying newspapers before. Come on, people, we love you reading the Internet -- but read the newspapers, too!

Sunblock day? It cooled off a little bit -- like, from 95 to 94. Better keep lathering up.

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

"Dealing cards with the old men in the club car
"Penny a point, ain't no one keeping score
"Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle
"Feel the wheels a-rumbling 'neath the floor
"And the sons of Pullman porters
"And the sons of engineers
"Ride their father's magic carpet made of steel
"And mothers with their babes asleep
"Rockin' to the gentle beat
"And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel"

-- Steve Goodman, City of New Orleans

No, it's not an Olympic year, but that didn't stop the Seattle Mariners from holding the "Clubbie Olympics" on Saturday morning under a bright sun and plenty of laughs.

The entire Mariners team and several front office members gathered on one of the practice fields to watch their four clubhouse guys compete in four events: Pitching accuracy, home run derby, 300-yard shuttle run and pop flys.

"I walked in this morning and knew something was going on when I saw Mule and he was wearing a muscle shirt and flip-down sunglasses," Mariners media relations director Tim Hevly quipped. "He was ready to go."

Alas, Peter "Mule" Fortune placed second to Michael "Jam" Spears in the competition. Spears scored the most points in the home-run derby -- which, uh, took place with the batters standing in shallow center-field -- and in the pop-fly contest -- in which they fielded high pop-ups shot out of the machines the major-leaguers use.

And if you think catching high fly balls against a high desert sky is a piece of cake, you should have watched those Seattle clubbies attempting to do it.

It was like watching an elephant on roller skates.

"One of our major goals this camp was to get great work done and allow our athletes to showcase their physical prowess," Mariners GM Bill Bavasi said. "This competition accomplished none of that."

Maybe not, but -- as you might be able to ascertain from Bavasi's quip -- it was a whole lot of fun and produced a week's worth of laughter. The Clubbie Olympics, and ostriches in clubhouses, are no small reason why baseball remains as much fun as you can have in the sports world without getting arrested -- and why spring training remains as romantic as it is.

Likes: Seattle pitcher Jarrod Washburn, Phillips screwdriver and needle nose pliers in hand, sitting at his locker and working hard on the strings of his mitt. You just don't see football or basketball players working so diligently on their game equipment. ... Green caps for St. Paddy's Day. ... Corned beef on St. Paddy's Day. ... Former Notre Dame receiver Jeff Samardzija opening eyes in Cubs camp as a pitcher. They sent him out to the minors the other day, but he was so good that GM Jim Hendry joked that he had get Samardzija out of major league camp before everybody discovered how good he is and began pressuring the Cubs to keep him in the bigs. Still, the most entertaining part of the Samardzija story -- for now -- is manager Lou Piniella's non-attempt to tackle pronouncing that last name. Samardzija quickly became known as "Jeff ND" around Cubs' camp -- including on lists posted on the bulletin board. ... Bob Seger finishing his tour Saturday night at Detroit's legendary Cobo Arena, where the classic Live Bullet was recorded back in 1975.

Dislikes: Borat. Finally caught up with it last week and after listening to all sorts of people tell me how good it was ... there were a handful of very funny bits, but overall, it's totally overrated. Glad I didn't plunk down $9 to see it in the cinema. And truth be told, I could have saved the $3.50 and skipped it on video, too. ...

Sunblock day? Mid-90s predicted here in the Valley of the Sun for the next several days. Sunblock is needed by the gallon.

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

"I've been up and down and around and round and back again
"Been so many places I can't remember where or when
"And my only boss was the clock on the wall and my only friend
"Never really was a friend at all
"I've traded love for pennies
"Sold my soul for less
"Lost my ideas in that long tunnel of time
"And I've turned inside out and around about and back and then
"Found myself right back where I started again"

-- Jim Croce, Age

I like to mention books I've enjoyed a little lower in Bull Pennings, in the "Likes" section, but I've got to say, I just finished one that can't wait until we get to the "Likes."

If Joe Posnanski's The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America doesn't rank as the best baseball book I've read when we flip the calendar to 2008, then I can't wait to get to the book that does. This was a can't-miss proposition from the start -- one of the most engaging people in the history of baseball and one of the best columnists working today -- and it is one of those rare gems that lives up to expectations.

You know how precious those people are who lift your spirits immediately, even if you're having one of those days where you wreck the car, learn you're being audited and find out the big project at work is going to require three months of overtime? That was O'Neil.

Posnanski shadows him on several trips to publicize the Negro Leagues Museum (among other things), letting O'Neil lead us through the months while expertly mixing in terrific observations throughout. As Leigh Montville says on the book's dust jacket, "Tuesdays with Morrie? Every day with Buck." And it's true. O'Neil is every bit the teacher, philosopher and character that Mitch Albom's now-famous Morrie was, and we're all the richer for being able to read the story.

The book opens with a great anecdote from a baseball game in Houston, during which Posnanski shreds a man to O'Neil for grabbing a foul ball away from a kid and then failing to give the ball to the kid. O'Neil optimistically replies that perhaps the man has a child of his own at home.

So Posnanski, a few moments later, says, "Wait a minute. If this jerk has a kid, why didn't he bring him to the ballgame?"

To which O'Neil replies, "Maybe his child is sick."

As Posnanski writes, "I tried, as I would the whole road trip with Buck O'Neil, to see things through his eyes. For five seasons, I would watch Buck look at the bright side."

There was a whole lot of outcry last month when the Veterans Committee failed to elect anybody -- Ron Santo included -- into the Hall of Fame for a second election in a row.

But that remains nowhere close to the Hall's most outrageous voting atrocity, when the special committee set up to bring overlooked Negro League players into the Hall overlooked the delightful O'Neil, perhaps the best ambassador the game ever had, two years ago.

That the committee not only didn't vote him in, but remained ensconced behind closed doors and refused to discuss their reasons why, is an embarrassment to every person on the committee and a stain on the Hall.

Wait until you read how O'Neil handled the snub.

This book is a treasure -- one of those rare reads that I didn't want to end.

Likes: This sign on the golf cart of Gary Hughes, special assistant to Cubs GM Jim Hendry, at the club's HoHoKam Park: "This golf cart is owned and operated by Gary Hughes. Please: Do not steal, maim or mutilate Gary or the golf cart." Rumor has it that the sign was expertly concocted by Chuck Wasserstrom, the club's director of baseball information. ... Angels owner Arte Moreno wandering around Tempe Diablo Stadium in a golf shirt, shorts and sandals. Good coffee houses. ... The Boiler Room. Saw it on cable the other night for the first time and it's pretty good.

Dislikes: The several stories I've seen chronicling how March Madness lessens productivity at work. Give it up already. We work more hours in this country than just about anywhere else, everybody is constantly checking their e-mail and cell phones and we've reached the point where all we care about is the bottom line. If people slow down a bit during March Madness -- stopping to smell the flowers, to to speak -- then how about looking at it as a healthy thing? Like, something that actually helps us restore our humanity for a brief few minutes before returning to the treadmill.

Sunblock day? Let's just say the temperature was 92 degrees by noon and not a cloud in the sky. The hot weather has arrived in Phoenix a month earlier than normal. And I ain't complainin'.

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

"Wish I didn't know now
"What I didn't know then

-- Bob Seger, Against the Wind

Until the Cubs return from Cincinnati, Milwaukee and Houston for their April 13 home opener, nobody will know for sure whether the Wrigley Field gusts of wind will play Alfonso Soriano in center field or whether he'll play them.

But Soriano is athletic enough and willing enough that new manager Lou Piniella is set to go with him in center field.

"I think it's going very well," Piniella said here at HoHoKam Park on Thursday morning. "I haven't seen anything that leads me to believe that he won't play well in center field."

Talk about how radically things can change in a year. Remember a year ago, when Soriano refused to go into the field for the first Washington Nationals spring training game because he was angry the team had moved him from second base?

Now, "I have to say thank you to Jim (Bowden, Nationals' GM) for moving me to left field," Soriano said. "He saw that I could play the outfield. He believed I can do it. He pushed me very hard, and I have to thank him."

Stranger yet, according to Piniella, it was Soriano who first approached the Cubs about playing center field this winter at CubsFest. The manager said he was thinking of that anyway and wondering how to approach Soriano on the subject when Soriano actually brought it up to him and GM Jim Hendry.

Because of the "high sky" -- no clouds and bright days appear to make the backdrop higher when the ball is in the air -- and thinner air in Arizona, the Cubs this spring have been asking their center fielders to play a little deeper than usual. Piniella said that Soriano has adapted well.

"He's taking balls off of the bat, he's running good routes," Piniella said. "He's a great kid. He's going to do, within reason, anything we want him to do. I don't anticipate talking to him about moving (positions).

"I think we'll start him there (in center field), leave him there and let him get better there."

Soriano likes that fact that the whole game is laid out in front of him in center field, rather than off to an angle as it was when he played left. Even so, the strong winds off of Lake Michigan practically ensure that his transition will not be free of bumps and miscues at some point.

"When I played in Wrigley, I was not feeling comfortable playing the outfield," Soriano said of the Nationals' series in Chicago in mid-May last year. "I think I'm going to be very comfortable in Chicago because we play 81 games there."

Likes: The mental picture of former commissioner Bowie Kuhn in shirtsleeves, stubbornly refusing to wear a coat, at cold October World Series games. Sleep well, Bowie. ... Soriano's humorous answer when asked whether he or manager Lou Piniella took a better picture in their Sports Illustrated cover a couple of weeks ago: "I think I'm better looking than him in the picture," Soriano said, smiling. "I don't want him to take it personally, though, or he'll take me out of the lineup." ... Alan Trammell as Lou Piniella's bench coach with the Cubs. ... Cubs Hall of Famer Billy Williams' smile. ... The Thursday and Friday the NCAA Tournament opens, and Butler starting with a big win. ... Monti's, the classic old steakhouse in Tempe right by Arizona State University. ... The Roman Bread at Monti's. ... Plane flights that land early (kudos, Southwest).

Dislikes: Nancy Grace on CNN. That's an automatic channel change right there, every time. ... Rental cars that have that faint smell of cigarette smoke.

Sunblock day? And how. The predicted high in Mesa, Ariz., on Thursday was 93 degrees, and it's supposed to be in the 90s for most of the rest of the week. We'll take it.

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

"I even put that basketball underneath my pillow
"Maybe that's why I can't sleep at night
"I need help, ladies and gentlemens
"I need someone to stand beside me
"I need, I need someone to set a pick for me
"At the free-throw line of life
"Someone I can pass to
"Someone to hit the open man on the give-and-go
"And not end up in the popcorn machine"

-- Cheech and Chong, Basketball Jones

Pete Rose swore he was telling the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help him God, before John Dowd's investigation at the request of the late, great Bart Giammatti.

Then Rose swore he was telling the truth, the whole truth, blah, blah, blah during Dowd's investigation.

Then he swore he was telling the truth, the whole truth, yadda, yadda, yadda when he amended portions of his story for his ill-timed book on the eve of the 2004 Hall of Fame election announcement.

Now, graceful as a dog circling the grass before squatting and dumping, comes Rose's latest run at the truth.

"I bet on my team every night," he said on ESPN radio Wednesday. "I didn't bet on my team four nights a week. So I wasn't sending a signal out to the people that I'm not going to use my closer on Friday night or Saturday night. I was wrong."

Truth to this guy is a lump of Play-Doh, waiting to be shaped, molded and sculpted. He embarrasses himself every time he opens his mouth.

Three years ago, there were indications that Commissioner Bud Selig was in a forgiving mood. Rose and Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt, among the most supportive of Pete's peeps, met with Selig in Milwaukee. At that moment, the disgraced hit king moved closer to Cooperstown than perhaps he ever had been.

The commissioner wanted to hear the truth, remorse and a promise that Rose would forever more remain on the straight and narrow.

What he came away with was oily hands.

Rose, as genuine as a $30 bill, remains his own worst enemy. Fate long ago demoted him from tragic to pathetic.

I've always felt that Rose the player deserves to be in the Hall of Fame because it was only Rose the manager who was accused of -- and convicted of -- betting on baseball.

My stance always has been to separate his managing career from his playing career -- and until there is some evidence that he bet on baseball as a player, the all-time hit king (4,256) should be enshrined in Cooperstown.

But it's reached the point where it's just a waste of breath to even defend Rose the player anymore. The man has reduced himself into a cartoon character and squandered any sympathy he once had.

"I bet on my team to win every night because I loved my team, I believed in my team," Rose said on the radio Wednesday. "I was wrong, but I believed in my team. I had so much confidence in my team, and what did that make me do? I did everything in my power every night to win that game."

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Pete. Whatever. Go tell it to Geraldo.

Just a sapling among the redwoods in Mets camp -- Moises Alou, Shawn Green, etc. -- New York phenom Lastings Milledge is keeping a low profile this spring, minding his own business and quietly going about trying to prove he deserves to head north when the club breaks camp.

That first count -- keeping a low profile -- you might say is completely different from when he stormed into the majors last season and slapped high fives with fans along the right-field railing after his first major league homer. It was a bad first impression, it angered manager Willie Randolph and the organization, and a distrust developed between the fiery Milledge and the field staff.

One of the noticeable things this spring with the Mets is how often Randolph and staff members -- particularly bench coach Jerry Manuel -- make it a point to talk with Milledge. Not necessarily in a formal setting like the manager's office. Just small stuff, like around the batting cage before Grapefruit League games.

It's obvious that the Mets want to make sure to deliver every bit of reinforcement and instruction they can to their best everyday prospect.

And for his part, Milledge seems at least a little humbled.

"We'll see," he says when asked about the opening day roster. "I'm just trying to do my thing and make it tough on them. That's about all I can do. I just try to control my end, and my time will come."

He says he hasn't paid much attention to the months of trade rumors -- to Oakland for Barry Zito last July (that was never going to happen), to the A's for Danny Haren this winter (the clubs spoke, the A's love Milledge).

"No, not until I'm gone," he says. "What's a rumor? Nothing. It's hyped-up stuff. Nothing's going to happen. It's like A-Rod supposedly coming here."

Well, yes. That was the splashy news a few days ago, when third baseman David Wright said he would vacate his position if Alex Rodriguez were to opt out of his Yankees contract following the 2007 season and move crosstown to the Mets.

As Milledge says, what's a rumor? Nothing. So many things would have to happen for A-Rod to move that, right now, it's not even worth discussing.

Milledge going north in April, now that's worth analyzing. Who knows, a spring injury, a torrid month at the plate ... young players have pushed their way into the big league picture in stranger ways.

"All in all, you've gotta produce," Milledge says. "If I hold up my end of the bargain, maybe I can win a spot on the team."

Likes: Yogi Berra, Goose Gossage, Reggie Jackson and others in Yankees camp as guest instructors. Say what you will about the free-spending ways of the Bronx Bombers, but they do history beautifully. ... Wall-to-wall college hoops, beginning now. ... Troubled outfielder Josh Hamilton's comeback with Cincinnati. I hope the kid makes it. The Reds are raving about his attitude this spring. ... Smokey Bones barbecue joint over Lee Roy Selmon's in Tampa. Maybe it's me, but I think Selmon's has slipped some in the past few years. The beef brisket the other night was nothing special. ... A1A, Jimmy Buffett's most underrated album. ... Starting pitchers moving from two innings per outing to three right about now. ... Lou Piniella impatient already.

Dislikes: Butler University's hoops team plateauing at season's end. ... Keeping a scorecard during the late innings of an early spring exhibition game. Uh, who was No. 74 again? Ah, never mind. ... Calvin urinating on something in sticker-form on the back of someone's car window. First, Calvin and Hobbes was a decade or more ago. Move onto another decoration for your back window already. Second, why is Calvin always either urinating or kneeling and praying? He's never doing anything else on the back of car windows.

Sunblock day? The breeze is either a touch cool or somewhat refreshing, depending on your tolerance. But we've got blazing sun and a definite need for sunblock these days.

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

"Well now, if I ever live to be an old man
"I'm gonna sail down to Martinique
"I'm gonna buy me a sweat-stained Bogart suit
"And an African parakeet
"And then I'll sit him on my shoulder
"And open up my trusty old mind
"I'm gonna teach him how to fuss
"Teach him how to cuss
"And pull the cork out of a bottle of wine

-- Jimmy Buffett, Migration

Watch closely in July and you might see an awfully familiar -- and perhaps unexpected -- face in the AL dugout in San Francisco: Jim Leyland has asked Hall of Famer Al Kaline to be "honorary manager" of the American League team at this summer's All-Star Game.

Kaline's response? A tentative yes, but first he's got to double-check with his wife.

"I'm sure you guys know what that's like," Kaline kidded reporters Wednesday in Lakeland.

Said Leyland: "I think he accepted. ... I'm thrilled. I told him I'm going to call him 'honorary manager' because there's no way in hell I'm ever going to call Al Kaline a coach for me. So that's pretty good."

Leyland spoke at length about his admiration for Kaline, 72, who remains a regular in uniform at spring training in Lakeland.

"He handles everything like a Hall of Famer," Leyland says. "Everything. In here (the clubhouse), he never steps on anybody's toes, but if you ask him his opinion on something, he'll give it.

"He's an absolute prince, and I mean that sincerely. An absolute prince."

Meanwhile, Tigers owner Mike Ilitch was making his annual appearance in camp Wednesday, and that brought up another story from Leyland. Sometime after he was named AL Manager of the Year over the winter, a package arrived at Leyland's house: A Rolex watch, engraved on the back with an inscription noting the award, from Ilitch.

"I told him it was like putting earrings on a pig," Leyland quipped. "What am I going to do with a Rolex watch?"

Leyland phoned Ilitch to say thanks and said he's only worn the watch a couple of times since because he just doesn't wear anything that fancy. Rather, he's keeps it in a display case at home with some other memorabilia, including his 1997 Florida World Series ring.

And as he spoke of home, a thought struck him.

"There's a good chance my son's wearing it to a sock hop," Leyland said wryly, referring to 15-year-old Patrick.

Seriously, Leyland said, "I about fell over. This will be something special in the family forever."

Likes: Vero Beach, Dodgertown. It's as beautiful as many college campuses, and it will be a sad day when the Dodgers pack up for good next spring for their move to Arizona. I hope another club moves in. There's a buzz in Florida that the Red Sox are investigating the possibility. ... The continued intelligence, professionalism and enthusiasm of Tom Glavine and John Smoltz. Talked with each in the past two days and it is always an entertaining, interesting and educational conversation. ... Glavine casually filing his nails in the clubhouse following his start in Kissimmee against the Astros the other day. What, he's going to start throwing a late-career knuckleball? ... Hall of Famer Bob Feller emerging OK from an auto accident. ... Keith Olbermann in Lakeland, responding, when someone asked him about crumpling up a piece of paper and tossing it at the camera as he signs off of his "Countdown" show each evening, that New York Yankees executive Gene Michael once told him he needs to wad the paper into a tighter ball for better accuracy in his throws.

Dislikes: Scooter Libby, lead news story.

Sunblock day? Now we're talkin'. Sun-splashed day, zooming toward the 80s.

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

"Have you seen the flags of freedom?
"What color are they now?
"Do you think that you believe in yours
"More than they do theirs somehow?
"When you see the flags of freedom flyin'"

-- Neil Young, Flags of Freedom

As if the New York Mets already aren't getting razzed enough for being so old, here was one of the spring's more mesmerizing sights:

Moises Alou doubled in Tuesday's Grapefruit League game with Houston, Julio Franco followed with an infield single and Sandy Alomar Jr. followed that with a walk.

Which meant not only that the bases were loaded, but that there were 128 years worth of baseball players on the bases: Alou (40), Franco (48) and Alomar (40).

Then it became more mesmerizing: First baseman Mike Carp doubled, sending the 40-somethings into motion. There was a lot of gasping, but all three runners scored.

Pitcher Tom Glavine noted the birds circling around that time, invoking the buzzard image.

"So they got word," Glavine said.

Someone mentioned to Mets manager Willie Randolph after the game that Alomar absolutely sailed around the bases.

"No, he didn't," Randolph said, chuckling. "The monkey jumped on his back around third and he barely made it. It might have been a gorilla. I thought (Carlos) Gomez's home run trot might have been faster."

Likes: Atlanta manager Bobby Cox wearing a fielder's glove in the dugout pretty much the entire day Sunday as the Braves played the Dodgers in Vero Beach. Cox spent plenty of time pounding his right fist into the glove while he managed. Great spring training sight. ... Randy Wolf signing with the Dodgers for less money than he could have gotten elsewhere simply because he grew up in Southern California, spent plenty of time in Dodger Stadium as a kid and always wanted to play there. ... The gold carts the manager, coaches and front-office execs use to tool around the grounds and go from field-to-field at Dodgertown. ... Late-night Seinfeld reruns. ... Passing through Yeehaw Junction on the Florida turnpike.

Dislikes: Practically a dragnet of Florida State Troopers on I-95 the other night between Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. Must have seen seven or eight cars pulled over. When I looked up from closely watching my own speedometer, that is.

Sunblock day? Strong sun, cool breeze. Game-time temperature in Kissimmee for the Mets-Astros was only 67.

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

"She don't mean nothing to me "That's just how it goes 'round here
"It's a cartoon town
"I play my part
"And I ain't spoke her name in years."

-- Drive-By Truckers, Marry Me

It's still slow going, but Cardinals closer Jason Isringhausen, recovering from hip surgery that caused him to miss the entire postseason, fully intends to be back at full strength this season.

He threw a side session the other day and was scheduled to pitch live batting practice Tuesday, another momentous occasion.

"Then we'll start checking things out from there," Isringhausen says. "I feel better than I have in three or four years. But all that can change on one pitch. I have to be patient and take things as they come."

Isringhausen was force-fed patience in October as he was traveling with the team but unable to contribute. Game 7 of the NLCS in Shea Stadium, with Adam Wainwright on the mound? Isringhausen spent the ninth inning running back and forth between the dugout and the clubhouse.

Don't ask.

Ah, OK, go ahead and ask. It's one of those ballplayer superstition things.

"The first base hit (Jose Valentin's single), I ran back inside from the dugout," Isringhausen says. "When there were a couple of outs, I ran back out to the dugout. There were two out and we were leading. But then he walked (Paul) Lo Duca, and I ran back inside.

"With a couple of strikes on Beltran, I ran back out again. So I got to see the infamous curve to Beltran."

Likes: The Angels' Vladimir Guerrero explaining that his mom's side of the family has one leg longer than the other, so sometimes it appears as if he's hobbling when he's not. Very entertaining -- and reasonable, I guess. My mother is a tailor, makes beautiful suits -- among other things -- and I learned a long time ago from her that almost every one of us has uneven legs. ... Ideas spawned by St. Louis manager Tony La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan. Braden Looper as a starter? Never a dull moment. ... The back page headline of the New York Daily News on Monday after Carl Pavano actually pitched two innings in the Yankees' Grapefruit League game Sunday: "Carl Pavano pitches ... and lives." ... Warren Zevon's last album before he left us far too soon, The Wind. It's a couple of years old now but worth picking up. ... St. Louis pitcher Adam Wainwright confirming that he's not related to singer Loudon (Dead Skunk) Wainwright III but knowing who he is.

Dislikes: Is there any road in South Florida that isn't under construction? Anywhere? Just one? ... The cold mornings have returned. Come on, this is March, Florida -- can't we just start out around 70 degrees and go from there?

Sunblock day? Eventually. It was a chilly 53 degrees come departure time from the hotel this morning and still kind of cool in the shade most of the morning, but it did turn into a gorgeous, 75-degree day with plenty of sunshine.

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

"Bein' a dad isn't so bad
"Except that you gotta feed 'em
"You gotta shoe 'em and clothe 'em
"And try not to loathe 'em
"Bug 'em and hug 'em and heed 'em

"Bein' a dad can sure make you mad
"Man it even can drive you crazy
"It's as hard as it looks
"You gotta read them dumb books
"And you end up despising Walt Disney"

-- Loudon Wainwright III, Bein' a Dad

Baseball may be out as an Olympic sport, but it remains a distant relative in some areas.

Or, a close relative.

Katie Uhlaender, daughter of San Francisco scout and former major leaguer Ted Uhalaender, has moved up to No. 1 as the top-ranked women's skeleton pusher in the world. Katie, who was on the United States skeleton team in the winter Olympics in Italy last winter, now has won seven consecutive contests.

"I told her, 'You know, Katie, now everybody is going to be gunning for you,'" said Ted, who played the outfield over eight seasons for Minnesota, Cleveland and Cincinnati between 1965 and 1972.

Meanwhile, Uhlaender's son, B.J., is recovering from a serious accident on the mountains of Colorado this winter. Looking to qualify for the Olympics in the half-pipe, B.J. Uhlaender smashed into a tree on the side of a mountain and suffered multiple fractures, had dozens of stitches and, according to his father, lost half of his blood.

Ted says that B.J. is mending well after the horrific accident and that he's still determined to follow in his sister's footsteps to the Olympics.

As for Ted, he's a special assistant to Giants general manager Brian Sabean and in his 46th year in professional baseball. He batted .263 over those eight major league seasons and was on two postseason teams -- the '69 Minnesota Twins, who lost to Baltimore in the first year in which baseball held playoffs, and the '72 Cincinnati Reds. He went 1-for-4 in that year's World Series.

Likes: Florida pitcher Dontrelle Willis, anytime, anywhere. Willis on new manager Fredi Gonzalez: "He's good. Very informative. Very hands-on. He loves to see people working hard. It's quality, not quantity with him." ... The sign over Florida pitcher Logan Kensing's locker. It reads "Opie Taylor." Look at him, and you'll say to yourself "I've seen that guy somewhere before." And the Andy Griffith theme will be playing in your head. ... This T-shirt at a Cardinals-Mets game the other day: "The Mets are Still Pond Scum". ... This one, too: "Listen to Bob Marley". ... Runyon's Restaurant in Coral Springs, Fla. The parmesan crusted dolphin was splendid, but you've gotta get the bone-in filet mignon. ... The bright red Lamborghini parked in front of the hotel the past several.

Dislikes: Walking into a Barnes and Noble the other night just because it's been a few weeks since I've had a chance to get into a bookstore ... and finding personal finance expert Suze Orman, a regular on the New York Times best-seller list, just starting an in-store visit. The place was mobbed. I tried to get to over to the music section and was told by about five employees -- all clustered together -- that the section was temporarily closed. I got out of there as quickly as I could. ... That the new album from the Eagles, due later this year, will be available exclusively at Wal-Mart for the first year. Sorry, I don't do Wal-Mart. Dear record producers, I'll just wait a month or two and buy it at a used CD store.

Sunblock day? Eventually. It was cloudy and cool all morning, mid-to-upper 60s. The sun finally broke out this afternoon and warmed things up but, until then, brrr.

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

"You're out on the streets looking good
"And baby, deep down in your heart
I guess you know that it ain't right
"Never, never, never, never, never, never
"Hear me when I cry at night
"Babe, I cry all the time
"And each time I tell myself that
"Well, I can't stand the pain
"But when you hold me in your arms
"I'll sing it once again"

-- Janis Joplin, Piece of My Heart

It ain't exactly Paul Bunyan's Ax (Wisconsin-Minnesota) or the Little Brown Jug (Michigan-Minnesota), but if the Boston-Minnesota Mayor's Cup competition isn't the most entertaining ongoing sidelight of the spring, I'd like to see what is.

For years in Fort Myers, spurred by local officials, the winner of the annual Twins-Red Sox spring series receives an actual trophy -- the Mayor's Cup -- and gets to keep it until the games the following spring.

Well, the Twins won last year, and guess what they did in opening their exhibition season across town at Boston's City of Palms Park on Thursday night?

Ron Gardenhire, one of the funniest managers going, placed the Cup on the dashboard of the team bus for the ride across town as if it were some sort of Holy Grail.

"That (expletive)," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said, sharply -- while laughing.

Meanwhile, the Twins and Red Sox played to a 10-inning tie Thursday night, which puts Boston in a bad spot to regain possession of the Mayor's Cup: Four more Grapefruit League games remain between the two after the tie, meaning that Boston must win three of four to take it. If the teams go 2-2-1, the Twins keep it for another year.

So you know what the theme was following Thursday night's game. Yep, the Red Sox were accusing the Twins of playing for the tie in the late innings.

Likes: The Ted Williams statue they transported from Williams' Hitting Museum in Hernando, Fla., to Boston's City of Palms Park in Fort Myers. The statue, a nice depiction of Williams and a little boy, standing together and each holding a bat, stands in front of the stadium. ... Francona discussing in the dugout the other day the best outfield arm he's seen in his career -- Ellis Valentine. ... This observation from Franona, a Pittsburgh native: That new Boston shortstop Julio Lugo runs with a style very similar to another product of the Caribbean. A legend by the name of Roberto Clemente. ... The big, fierce Jupiter, Fla., police car parked in the lot outside the Cardinals clubhouse Friday. It was ... a PT Cruiser? Yes, you might say Jupiter is a sleepy little retirement community -- at least, parts of it. ... Speaking of which, you should have heard the elderly security guards working the St. Louis clubhouse and press workroom excitedly discussing a singer who was coming to Friday's Cardinals-Mets game. Vic Damone.

Dislikes: Seeing San Francisco scout Ted Uhlaender at the hotel Friday morning. Not that I don't like Uhlaender, I do. I've known him for years, and it is always great to see him and talk baseball with him. But it was sad running into him Friday simply because, normally, the late Pat Dobson covers this part of Florida for the Giants. Dobber was a true baseball character who was smart, opinionated and funny. He passed away unexpectedly and far too soon over the winter. Normally, he's here and Uhlaender is working the Cactus League in Arizona. It was good to see Ted, but it would have been even better to see Dobber here and Ted in Arizona later this month.

Sunblock day? Yes, Nice and steamy, predicted high of 87 or so. And I'd say it got there.

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

"You can fool some people sometimes
"But you can't fool all the people all the time
"So now we see the light, what you gonna do?
"We gonna stand up for our rights

-- Bob Marley, Get Up, Stand Up

Want a darkhorse candidate who could return to pitching success in 2007?

You could do worse than Ramon Ortiz, now fighting to win a job in Minnesota's rotation.

Ortiz always has had a live arm and at one time was an integral part of the Angels rotation. In fact, he was a key part of the rotation that pitched the Angels to the 2002 World Series title, and after five seasons there, he signed with Cincinnati in 2005 and Washington in 2006.

Though his ERA has been 5.00-plus in each of the past two seasons, he still has been able to shoulder a nice load (171 1/3 innings pitched for Cincinnati in '05 and 190 2/3 for the Nationals last season).

Backed by a powerful Minnesota lineup, if Ortiz can keep the ball down and in the park, he can be successful again.

"He has to keep himself under control," Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson says. "He's headstrong, he's excitable, and he wants to go all out."

Problem is, when emotions get the best of Ortiz, that's when his pitches have a tendency to rise in the strike zone. And that's when they get blasted. He served up 31 home runs with Washington last year and 34 in Cincy two years ago.

On the flip side, he also was the only pitcher who did not miss a start for the Nationals last year.

No guarantees, but the Twins are pretty solid at identifying players who still have some baseball left. And so far this spring, they have been very impressed at how consistently he's keeping the ball down in the strike zone.

One other thing: Sidney Ponson, the source of much amusement over the past few years -- not all of it good -- has himself in a very odd visa situation. A native of Aruba, Ponson is in camp, but because of a paperwork issue, as of the other day, he wasn't allowed to pitch in a game in which admission is charged. So he can practice with the Twins and pitch in a "B" game on a back field, but he can't yet pitch in the big stadium in a Grapefruit League game.

Ponson was given permission to leave Minnesota's camp on Wednesday to visit some government office to get it cleared up. Meantime, Anderson said he had Sir Sidney scheduled to work a "B" game on March 5, but after that, he sure hopes the issue is cleared up.

Likes: Sparky Anderson into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. ... These early spring games against college teams. A split-squad Boston team played Northeastern University on Thursday, and you can just see the excitement in the kids. ... Bat-girl.com. ... That Law IV kid from Texas A&M. What a shooter -- I saw just a few minutes of the A&M-Texas game on television Wednesday night, and I swear he made a 3-pointer from the scorer's table. ... Nino's Italian Restaurant in Fort Myers. Terrific food, and fresh. And very nice portions.

Dislikes: Fort Myers traffic. It gets worse and worse.

Sunblock day? Yep. Upper 80s and humid. Though the sun did duck behind the clouds off and on all day.

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

This isn't exactly set against guitars, but with exhibition games starting, a moment here for the words with which Hall of Fame Detroit broadcaster, the now retired Ernie Harwell, annually signed on for the first Tigers broadcast of the spring:

"For, lo, the winter is past
"The rain is over and gone
"The flowers appear on the earth
"The time of the singing of birds is come
"And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land"

-- Song of Solomon, 2:11,12