<a href=www.travs.com>read Wednesday Mar 26, 2003 March 26, 2003

Ray Winder Field, Little Rock – While Travs fans are weathering the change between cold and warm, rainy and dry, the Anaheim Angels are honing their skills in the sunshine and 70 degree comfort of Arizona. The 2003 season marks the third year of the affiliation between the Travs and Angels. Baseball fans in Central Arkansas were able to watch Anaheim’s 2002 post-season heroes come through Little Rock before they hit the bigtime. That Travs fans were able to watch the 2002 World Series and say that they saw Francisco Rodriguez, John Lackey, Brendan Donnelly and Chone Figgins playing at Ray Winder Field in a Travs uniform proves that the Angels’ affiliation is beneficial.

Here, we’ll take a look at the ex-Travs that made an impact with the 2002 Anaheim Angels and see how they shape up for the 2003 season.

Ex-Travs Make Impact In Post-Season

Francisco Rodriguez made it from the Ray Winder Field pitcher’s mound to a starring role in the World Series in just four months. The 20-year old native of Venezuela joined the 2002 Travs pitching staff and became a Texas League All-Star by striking out 61 batters in 42 innings and picking up 9 saves. He went on to pitch well in Class AAA with Salt Lake and was called up to the Angels for a 5-game audition in late September. Frankie wowed the big club by racking up 13 strikeouts in 5.2 scoreless innings and was placed on the post-season roster. In 11 post-season games, Rodriguez set a Major League record with 5 wins. As a relief specialist, he allowed only 10 hits in 18.2 innings, struck out 28 batters against just 5 walks. With an electrifying fastball and slider, he earned the moniker “K-Rod” and became a hero in his home country. Francisco’s offseason was interrupted by the civil unrest in Venezuela; his winter league season was cancelled and his family was harassed. However, he has pitched very well in spring training compiling a 2.25 ERA over 8 appearances. In 12 innings, Frankie has allowed just 6 hits and 3 walks while striking out 16 batters.

A model of determination and perseverance, Brendan Donnelly pitched for 14 different minor league teams in 11 seasons before reaching the Majors in 2002. After the Angels signed him in 2001 as a minor league free agent, he began the season in the Arkansas bullpen. With the Travs, his 13th team, Donnelly shined with a 4-1 record, 2.41 ERA and 12 saves and was named to the Texas League All-Star Game. Donnelly was promoted to Class AAA after the all-star game and pitched effectively for Salt Lake in the second half of the 2001 season. He appeared in 46 games out of the Angels’ bullpen in 2002 and impressed with a 2.17 ERA and 54 strikeouts in 49.2 innings. Donnelly was virtually unhittable in the World Series as he held the Giants to one hit in 7.2 scoreless innings. Brendan suffered from a mild shoulder strain in early March, but he has recovered and is pitching well in 6 appearances. Brendan has allowed just 3 hits and 1 run in 6.1 innings with 1 walk and 6 strikeouts.

John Lackey came to Little Rock in April 2001 as the ace of the Travs’ pitching staff. Just 18 months later he was the Angels’ winning pitcher in the 7th game of the World Series. A former college quarterback and the Angels’ 1999 second-round pick, Lackey led the Travs to a 2001 first-half division title with a 9-7 record and 3.46 ERA in 18 starts. Lackey started the 2002 season with Class AAA Salt Lake and won his last 7 decisions before getting the call to Anaheim. He solidified a spot in the Angels’ starting rotation with a 9-4 record and 3.66 ERA in 18 starts. In 5 postseason games, Lackey won twice including a 4-hit, 1-run performance in the 7th game of the World Series becoming just the second rookie, and first in 93 years, to start and win the World Series’ 7th game. John is 1-1, 4.85 ERA in 4 spring games. He has pitched 13 innings and allowed 15 hits with 4 walks and 9 strikeouts. Lackey will be the opening day starting pitcher for the Angels on Sunday, March 31 against the Texas Rangers.

Chone Figgins began his career as the Rockies’ 1997 4th-round pick and was traded to the Angels in July 2001. He came to Arkansas shortly thereafter and batted .268 with 21 runs scored in 39 games. Figgins was instrumental in the Travs’ 2001 Texas League Championship run batting .350 with 5 runs scored in 5 post-season games. Starting the 2002 season with Salt Lake, Chone broke out for his best pro season with a .305 average, 29 stolen bases and 100 runs scored. His 19 triples led the Pacific Coast League and set an all-time Salt Lake record. Figgins was called up to Anaheim for September and made his presence felt as a pinch runner in the postseason. He was used in 6 postseason games and scored 4 runs, including the game winner in the Angels’ game 5 clincher in the ALCS. The Angels have given him a chance to compete for the final roster spot this spring, and Chone has been tearing up Cactus League pitching with a .318 average, 7 steals and 9 runs scored in 18 games.

The Cards dealt Adam Kennedy, their 1997 first-round pick, to the Angels right before the 2000 season for Jim Edmonds. Before St. Louis traded Kennedy, he played 52 games with the 1998 Travs and batted .278 with 6 HR and 24 RBI. In 2002, Kennedy established himself as one of the premier second basemen in the American League as he made just 11 errors and batted .312, 7 HR and 52 RBI. Kennedy was named the MVP of the 2002 American League Championship Series after hitting .357 in 4 games. Kennedy made baseball history in the Halos’ ALCS game 5 clincher by launching 3 home runs in the Halos’ 13-5 win over the Twins. AK has struggled this spring hitting .184 in 15 games.

Tomorrow we’ll take a look at the ex-Travs that might make up the Class AAA roster at Salt Lake City. In the meantime, remember that Travs opening day is Thursday, April 3 at 7:10 vs. Wichita. It’s time to Think Baseball!!!

Please call 664-1555 or visit www.travs.com for game information.

<a href=icwales.icnetwork.co.uk>Read on> Mar 27 2003 The Western Mail - The National Newspaper Of Wales

PEOPLE arrested in Spain on suspicion of murdering a couple from Wales had been using the couple's hire car under false registration plates, it emerged yesterday.

Two bodies exhumed at a chalet near the Costa Brava this week have been confirmed as Tony and Linda O'Malley, right, from Llangollen.

The chalet's floor was excavated the day after two couples from Venezuela were arrested on Monday.

The Fiat hatchback hired by the O'Malleys last August was never returned.

Police found it this week near the apartments where they arrested the suspects.

The O'Malleys flew to Spain last summer to search for a chalet to buy but disappeared before they were due to fly back to Manchester airport on September 13. Their relatives believe they were the victims of a con-trick by bogus chalet sellers which went wrong when the O'Malleys refused to hand over a large sum of money.

Danny Collins, news editor of the Costa Blanca News, said yesterday, "We understand that Mr and Mrs O'Malley were hoping to buy a property at auction, which is very difficult because the properties are normally snapped up by professionals. They may have become frustrated and started asking around, which is when they will have run into these Venezuelans.

"There are low-lifes here who hang around bars and target people who want to buy property. There is a scam where the idea is to show people around a property that you don't actually own, get a cash deposit and then scarper.

"It may have been that Tony O'Malley, who was a pretty sharp guy by all accounts, refused to fall for this and things turned nasty when he refused to hand over the cash.

Spanish firefighters dug through layers of brick and soil to recover the bodies at the chalet near Benidorm.

Family who owned chalet where the graves found had fled in September

Source Of course, part of this is our own darn fault, since we insist upon driving gas hogs, and continue to depend upon petroleum for making so many of those plastic products we seem to find indispensable, from kitchen containers to furniture, to car panels, to carpeting ...

Each time I pull into a gas station, I get this nagging pain in my wallet, and I think the same thing: why does gas cost so much, and who is behind these price increases?

It would be easy to blame the current "unfriendlies" in the parts of the world where oil is produced, but picking one isn't as easy as it first looks, because we don't buy from just one or two sources.

And we have to buy so much!

Each day, the US imports, with slight variations, about 8,886,000 barrels. This is an annual total of some 3 billion, 260 million barrels of oil. That's a lot of oil!

As a matter of fact, almost all of that foreign oil comes from only 10 different countries, and some might be a little surprising. For example, the major source is Canada, which accounts for about 21 percent of our petroleum imports.

I guess we don't tend to think of Canada as "foreign" because it's so close, or some other such excuse, but the fact remains: Canada is our biggest single supplier, at almost 2 million barrels per day.

Not far behind, at 16 percent each, are Saudi Arabia and Mexico, with Venezuela coming next at 15.5 percent, sending us just under 1.4 million barrels per day.

Next come a few surprises, some because they don't supply us with as much as we expected, and some because we never considered them as sources at all!

Nigeria, only 6.7 percent, which sounds about right for a smaller country, when you think of it.

Iraq, at 5.9 percent, far less than we had thought, probably because the Near East gets all the publicity (usually bad).

The United Kingdom sells us 461,000 barrels a day (5 percent), and Norway, a little less, adds another 4.5 percent.

Angola and Algeria finish the list, each with about 3 percent, which is probably a lot, considering the size of the countries.

But when you look at the list, you wonder how prices can vary so much and so quickly when there are so many sources.

Surely just one or two suppliers can't affect the pump prices by as much as 25 percent in a couple of months.

Does this mean that all these suppliers are conspiring to jack up the prices? Not likely, as there are too many of them to come to an agreement. The prices fluctuate too rapidly for that.

Then why aren't the pump prices changing in step with crude oil prices?

Well, I guess if you could answer that one, you'd be the Alan Greenspan of the petroleum industry.

There are so many factors to be considered between the oil field and the gas pump that it's just plain confusing, but no matter what the reason, we still believe that gasoline prices are too high.

And there's one more aggravating factor. These aren't the same size as the 55-gallon barrels we are familiar with.

Oil barrels hold only 31.5 gallons, so that doesn't help the price, either.

Of course, part of this is our own darn fault, since we insist upon driving gas hogs, and continue to depend upon petroleum for making so many of those plastic products we seem to find indispensable, from kitchen containers, to trash bags, to paint, to furniture, to car panels, to carpeting, to clothing, and many, many more.

Petroleum plays a part in thousands of everyday products, things we can't seem to get along without.

It's part of the price we pay for choosing our high standard of living.

For the most part, we pay little attention to how many petroleum-derived products we depend upon -- and then we gripe about the high price, because gas is the obviously expensive item.

Can we use less? Sure we can, We just don't want to. Apparently, we'd rather complain, and blame someone else.

And while we're complaining, we're still undeniably part of the problem. We seem to pay too much attention to the immediate concern, and tend to ignore the larger problem -- especially if it's going to inconvenience us.

Maybe we should pay a little more attention to being part of the solution. All we seem to really care about is what's available at the gas pump -- and it always seems to be too expensive. Still, I'm keeping an eye on the future, because as of March 20, the experts are saying that there is now an oil glut; too much oil available, and they also say this should mean lower futures prices on crude oil.

For example, the price of crude has dropped from $37.10 to $29.88 a barrel in just one week. Since pump prices follow crude prices by three to four weeks, we should see cheaper gas in about a month.

I wish I could be more optimistic about this, but past experience has taught me one hard lesson.

When it comes to gasoline prices coming down, I don't hold my breath. And I suggest that you don't hold yours, either.

And, as for the ongoing gasoline price situation, try not to be too optimistic. If you are, you're going to be disappointed, because there are no quick and easy solutions -- not even with hydrogen-powered cars.

So here we are. We learned a little, but we haven't solved a thing. Good thing we've learned to grin and bear it -- and dig a little deeper, when it's our turn at the pump.

Well, there it is, and I respect your right to see it another way. If you don't agree, I only ask that you try not to blame me too much. We're all in the same leaky boat.

But if you still disagree, you may use this column to line the bottom of the bird cage.

And if that's not enough, there will be a ritual burning of my effigy at a date to be announced later. (Which means that it's again your turn not to hold your breath.)

Mike Morton writes each week for the Kansan.

Ecuador Reuters, 03.26.03, 4:46 PM ET WASHINGTON, March 26 (Reuters) - The World Bank said on Wednesday it is set to release a delayed $30 million loan for Ecuador, paving the way for the institution to consider a new lending program of up to $1 billion for the country through 2006. The loan tranche had previously been held up partly due to the country's failure to reach agreement on a loan program with the International Monetary Fund, a World Bank source said. Ecuador and the IMF announced last Friday they had struck a deal on a $205 million loan. "The Ecuadorean Government has shown a solid commitment to ensuring fiscal control, which allows the Bank to move forward with disbursement," Marcelo Giugale, Director of the World Bank's program in Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Venezuela said in a statement. "It has also taken significant steps to strengthen the country's banking system, and to protect spending that helps the poor." The $30 million loan tranche, which was supposed to have been paid out last year, is the final disbursement of a $101 million structural adjustment loan to the country. The last disbursement came in June 2001. The World Bank source told Reuters the bank is considering an overall lending program of up to $1 billion over the next three years. Bank officials are expected to further discuss the program with finance officials from Ecuador during the annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF next month. The program is then expected to be put up for discussion by the bank's decision-making executive board before the end of the June. "The Ecuadorean government's approach combines a focused effort to achieve macroeconomic stability, with an equally determined attack on poverty," said the World Bank's Representative in Ecuador, McDonald Benjamin. The World Bank's current portfolio in Ecuador includes 13 projects worth a total of $356 million in commitments.

Read Reuters, 03.26.03, 4:43 PM ET

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Lack of skilled workers held back oil and natural gas drilling in Canada in the first quarter, but service companies expect to make up for work curtailed by the shortage in coming months, resulting in higher demand and rental rates in a traditionally weak period. High oil and natural gas prices kept 86 percent of Canadian drilling rigs working in the first quarter, up from 68 percent a year ago. "As far as the second quarter looks, it looks quite strong right now," Bob Geddes, vice-president of drilling at Ensign Resource Service Group Inc., said during a conference call. "This year we are expecting a very strong May and June in southern Alberta on shallow gas projects." Staff constraints caused Precision Drilling Corp. , Canada's largest drilling contractor, this winter to run 70 of its 225 rigs with only two crews of five workers, instead of the usual three. "We needed another 350 employees," said Dale Tremblay, Precision's chief financial officer. Stiff competition for workers, partly a reflection of oil-rich Alberta's healthy economy, resulted in fleet utilization falling short of the 92 percent benchmark set during the first-quarter drilling boom of 2001. Rig use was also dragged down by mild temperatures in December, which slowed the start of the winter drilling season. Winter is the busiest time for drillers because marshy areas in northern Canada freeze, enabling them to support the weight of heavy rigs. The number of rigs working peaked at 607 in February, up from 300 in November, said Miles Lich, an analyst with brokerage Peters & Co. "In previous years we've ramped up through December but this year's increase was so late that, boom, we added 300 rigs in no time," he said. "That's a lot of rigs." The surge in activity was driven by unexpectedly strong prices for oil and natural gas. Fears about oil supply, the result of a prolonged strike in Venezuela and uncertainty about the impact of the U.S.-led war against Iraq, boosted oil to about $34.25 per barrel this year. In the fourth quarter of 2002, oil sold for $28.33 per barrel. Falling production from aging fields and a cold winter in the East that severely drained storage inventories have pushed up natural gas prices across North America. Spot contracts in Alberta have averaged about C$8.25 ($5.57) per thousand cubic feet this quarter, compared with C$5.38 in the final three months of 2002. Tremblay said high commodity prices and drilling project delays due to the staff shortage mean increased demand in the spring and summer, normally a slow periods for service firms. "We know it's going to stay steady. Producers are going to try to get out of (spring) breakup and be moving as fast as possible," he said. "It's looking very strong through the summer." Prices for Ensign's smaller rigs, used to punch down shallow wells, will likely fall C$1,000 per day this spring from the winter peak, Geddes said. A year ago, weak oil and gas prices caused spring rental rates to plunge C$2,000 per day from first-quarter levels. Depending on rig size, rates can range from C$10,000 to C$20,000 a day. Some forecasts have predicted 17,500 wells will be drilled this year in Canada, ahead of 14,500 last year and lagging only the record of nearly 18,000 set in 2001. "We're ahead of the curve from last year but we're still not through 2001 numbers yet," Lich said. "The second quarter will determine whether we have a banner year or just a good year." ($1=$1.47 Canadian)