Scott Miller

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- So what, exactly, was Sidney Ponson doing throwing two scoreless innings deep in Texas' 5-4 Cactus League victory over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday and behaving as, dare we say it, a real, live major league pitcher?

First, let's get the automatic chuckle out of the way with Sir Sidney (hey, he was knighted in his native Aruba).

"You look like you're in pretty good shape," I told the notoriously hefty Ponson -- in all seriousness -- when I saw him before Wednesday's game.

His replay was classic: "I thought so, too, until I weighed in today. That was a little disappointing."

Last week, Ponson said, he was at 250 pounds and happy.

Upon stepping on the scale here Wednesday morning, he said he was "255, 256."

"I don't know why. Altitude?" he joked. "I'm just worried about throwing today, getting people out."

He did that, too. Faced the minimum six batters over two innings, walking one and fanning another.

He's not exactly a lock to make this team -- he just signed a few days ago, and arrived here on Sunday -- but he's certainly in the right place. Last time Texas had any pitching, they were defending The Alamo down in San Antonio. Or something like that.

Ponson hasn't pitched in the majors since Minnesota released him last May 15. He was 2-5 with a 6.93 ERA. Year before that, he struck out with both the Cardinals and Yankees.

He went home to Florida last May, took a couple of months off and then started working out again. He pitched a bit in the Dominican winter league, making three starts.

Though it seems as if he's been around forever, he's just 31. "I'm still pretty young," he says. "I'm a young veteran."

If this latest comeback road takes him back to Triple-A for awhile, he says, "I'm fine with that. I just want to get back to the big leagues."

Rangers starters last season combined to pitch the fewest innings of any rotation in the majors. There is a definite need here. And, conversely, if Sir Sidney can't hang on here -- whatever his weight -- then, well, maybe it will be time to remove the "Sir" from his title.

Likes: Nice complex in Surprise that the Rangers and Royals share, but how anybody ever thought to build anything out there in that part of the desert, I'd love to hear the explanation. ... I could do without his tattoos, but Josh Hamilton's is the kind of story you can't help rooting for. ... Tampa Bay at Yankees April 4-5-6-7, the first weekend of the regular season. Boxing gloves, anyone? ... Gov. Eliot Spitzer jokes. ... Make that former Governor. ... New Texas president Nolan Ryan's reply when general manager Jon Daniels asked how he dealt with the heat when he pitched for the Rangers: Ryan told Daniels that, on any given night, his goal was to last longer in the game than the opposing starting pitcher. ... This dry bit of humor from Bob Dylan on XM's Theme Time Radio Hour on Wednesday's program, with birds as the theme: "The average wingspan of a duck is 27 inches. Though if you own one and its wingspan is a little less, don't be concerned." ... Dairy Queen drive-thrus.

Dislikes: Cell phone batteries that don't last as long as they should.

Sunblock day? Yep. Perfect. Not too hot, but a warm upper-70s with a bright sun.

Rock-n-Roll lyric of the day:

"My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
"My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
"Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
"'Til then I'll walk alone"

-- Green Day, Boulevard of Broken Dreams

PEORIA, Ariz. -- National League Cy Young winner Jake Peavy was clubbed by the Los Angeles Angels in the first inning of an 8-4 Cactus League loss Tuesday, surrendering four runs and five hits.

To those in the crowd of 5,784, and in the raw box score, it no doubt appeared that Peavy was getting hammered.

Well, yes.

But this also was the textbook example of a pitcher taking time in the spring to work on a few things, which is why Peavy was very pleased afterward.

Mostly.

"I hate the fact that in spring training you get ambushed," he said.

Translation: The Angels had some young guys in their lineup who came out swinging more aggressively than usual in the first inning.

Being that Peavy's goal for the afternoon was to work on locating his fastball, it wasn't an optimal matchup for him. Because as he threw a steady stream of first-inning fastballs, Robb Quinlan, Erick Aybar, Kendry Morales, Jeff Mathis and Nathan Haynes made him pay for it.

So Peavy adjusted his strategy in the second and third innings -- and held the Angels hitless.

As he said, even though it's the spring, there comes a point when pride takes over. So after the rocky first inning, he mixed his breaking balls in, which didn't allow the Angels to sit on first-pitch fastballs, which transformed the game away from glorified batting practice. Peavy went from throwing and locating to pitching.

"There's just something in me," he said. "I just couldn't go to bed tonight without mixing in some breaking balls with those heaters to those young kids."

By the end of it, Peavy said, he "got a ton out of it." He threw 65 pitches. He threw all of his pitches. He worked some pickoff plays with Angels on the bases. And he worked on speeding up his delivery to home -- he was clocked in 1.1 seconds on a couple of occasions -- while attempting to give catcher Josh Bard a chance to throw out some would-be stealers.

Two summers ago, Peavy was as slow as 1.35 to the plate, and when he tried to speed it up, pitching coach Darren Balsley thought his arm suffered.

"I was rushing it, and my arm (slot) was down a little, and I wasn't feeling that good anyway," Peavy said of a summer in which he battled shoulder tendinitis.

Morales nailed an 0-and-2 "back foot breaking ball", Peavy said, a cutter. "That's the only time I tried to put somebody away and it didn't happen."

By the end of the outing, Peavy was smiling in the clubhouse and couldn't stop talking about what a perfect spring outing it was.

"I couldn't let some of those guys go to bed tonight thinking, 'Man, that Peavy was a little flat,'" he said.

The regular season soon will be here.

For now, this is pretty good.

Likes: San Diego manager Bud Black's sense of humor. He was downright giddy Tuesday morning before leaving for China. ... Terrific facility here in Peoria that the Padres and Mariners share. ... Mark DeRosa back playing with the Cubs. Thank goodness that heart episode was nipped in the bud. ... The Cactus League drives sure are easier than the Grapefruit League drives, with clubs more concentrated in two areas (mostly Phoenix, with three down in Tucson). ... The Italian Grotto in Old Scottsdale, a spring staple. ... The University of San Diego over Gonzaga the other night. USD's energy was impressive. ... Van Halen's Dance the Night Away on the stadium sound system.

Dislikes: Any chain restaurant/shopping outlet/fast food joint you've ever heard of or might want to visit, you can find it on Bell Rd. heading from I-17 in toward the Peoria Sports Complex. ... The wireless Internet access at the Peoria Sports Complex retricting access to any entertainment Web site.

Sunblock day? Yessir. Seventy-some degrees and sunny. A dry heat. A sunscreen with moisturizer badly needed.

Rock-n-Roll lyric of the day:

"Went home last night
"Heard a noise
"I asked my wife what was that
"Went home last night
"Heard a noise
"I asked my wife what was that
"She said, 'Man don't be so suspicious
"That ain't nothin' but a cat

-- Blind Boy Fuller, Cat Man Blues

VIERA, Fla. -- He hadn't seen live pitching in two years before this spring, hasn't seen a breaking ball in what seems like forever and Bret Boone calls his current comeback at 38 "the hardest thing I've ever done."

But here he is, competing with Ronnie Belliard for the second base job in the Washington Nationals camp. He's got no guarantees and no promises. He looks smaller than in his 37-homer, 141-RBI season of 2001, though he's still cut.

He left the game suddenly two springs ago, walking out on the New York Mets with a secret: Alcohol, he says, was tearing him apart. He'd have 12 to 15 beers after a game, looking for the fix off the field that the game once gave to him on it.

He got the "bug" to come back five or six months ago, he says, once he felt his life was back under control. Having had experience with GM Jim Bowden in Cincinnati, he phoned the Nationals because he knew Bowden isn't adverse to giving a guy who needs a bounce a chance.

Come on in, Bowden told him. And so here Bret is, with his brother, third baseman Aaron Boone, and his father, special assistant to the GM Bob Boone, making this Nationals camp a family affair.

"I've got nothing to lose," Bret says. "I've already had my career, ya know?"

The final push that caused him to do this came a few months back when he was messing around with some buddies in a batting cage near his Southern California home. He hit four or five times, the pitching machine cranked up to high, and the bat speed was still evident.

"I'm not looking to hang on and be an average player," says Boone, who turns 39 in early April. "I'm not saying I have to be among the elite of the game, but I've got to be toward the top players of my position.

"If not, I won't hang around."

Likes: Baseball Prospectus 2008 is out now, and if you haven't checked it out, you should head toward your local Barnes & Noble right now. Tremendous dope on all 30 teams and more than 1,600 players. Essential stuff for the season, whether you're an avid Fantasy player or simply a voracious fan. ... Spring phenoms like 19-year-old lefty Clayton Kershaw forcing their way into the Dodgers' plans. ... My wife liked Gone Baby Gone, which we caught up with on DVD over the weekend, better than I did. I didn't dislike it, but I wanted to like it more than I did. It didn't help that Casey Affleck mumbles his way through the entire movie.

Dislikes: Airports, security lines, cattle-call boarding and no liquids through the security lines. The best way to make money in this sluggish economy has to be running a Starbucks, gift shop or food stand on The Other Side of the airport security lines. With no liquids allowed through, and with planes having long ago stopped providing any semblance of food, you're a captive audience to those airport shops. It's a license to print money.

Sunblock day? Just landed in Phoenix a couple of hours ago, and it's hot and sunny in the desert. Right around 80, as it should be for the rest of the spring. Good to be stocked up on sunblock.

Rock-n-Roll lyric of the day:

"Racism lives in the U.S.A
"Get hip to what Martin Luther King had to say
"I don't want my kids being brought up this way
"Hatred to each other is not okay"

-- John Mellencamp, Peaceful World

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Slugger Mark Teixeira's bat fits perfectly into Atlanta's lineup behind that of Chipper Jones, he's well-liked by his teammates, he seems to enjoy being an Atlanta Brave ... and yet, he's a free agent following the 2008 season and it isn't as if many Braves are working overtime recruiting him to sign an extension before his probable departure.

"I don't think there's any amount of convincing that can be done," Jones says. "Unfortunately, he's a true believer in Scott Boras' style, and that doesn't bode well for us."

Oh, right. Teixeira's agent is Boras, who consistently directs his clients toward the biggest payday.

"This is his first big payday, and I think he's going to get a lot of money," Jones says.

You don't have to be wearing Boras' loafers or Jones' cleats to figure that.

Teixeira won't elaborate on his personal feelings toward the Braves or on his early thoughts regarding his future.

"We'll talk at the end of the season, me and 30 teams," he says. "I'm just worried about getting this team to the playoffs."

Acquired from Texas last season after he had a falling out with Rangers manager Ron Washington, Teixeira hit in Atlanta just as he did in Texas. He thumped 17 homers and collected 56 RBIs in only 54 games with the Braves. Though Atlanta missed the playoffs for a second consecutive season, the Braves finished only five games behind Philadelphia as Teixeira bashed and made everyone around him better.

"I know having him hit in the lineup behind me last year was great," says Jones, who had 29 homers and 102 RBI in '07. "I'm looking forward to having him hit behind me against this year."

At the very least, even if Teixeira does follow the trail of another Boras client who once played here -- Andruw Jones, now playing center field for the Los Angeles Dodgers -- the Braves figure to benefit from having his bat in the lineup for six months rather than just two.

"I wish we had him for six years," manager Bobby Cox says.

Likes: If you missed it when I flagged it last summer following Teixeira's arrival in Atlanta, you've got to check out the classic tribute song two Auburn kids perform on YouTube. It is outstanding. ... Several Braves -- John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Chipper Jones, Tim Hudson and Brian McCann among them -- who had stayed behind to practice sitting together in the clubhouse and yukking it up like high schoolers after the bus left for Winter Haven and a Grapefruit League game with the Indians the other morning before they were due on the field. ... Lakeland's Mario's Italian Restaurant. The place has been around so long that former Detroit general manager Jim Campbell and field manager Sparky Anderson regularly dined there back in the day. ... Main Street Creamery and Deli in Lakeland. A quaint old reminder of what things must have looked like in the days of soda fountains. ... Last trip today on the Polk Parkway. Not that I mind the Lakeland area, but the fourth day in a row of driving past this skunk that was smoked who-knows-when and lies there in all of its bloody glory on the side of the road, let's just say it's a daily sight I'm happy to no longer have to view. Doesn't the city or county get rid of those things here?

Dislikes: Pedro Martinez's start in Viera getting rained out Thursday night. It is coming down in buckets. ... Love XM radio, love this year's POTUS channel (acronym for President of the United States, it's all election news all the time, and the '70s channel never fails to crack me up. But I gotta come clean here, when the '70s channel played the Captain and Tennille's Muskrat Love today, I went with the iPod. My God, how did that song ever get written in the first place, let alone recorded?

Sunblock day? Warm --