Bad news for Rangers

Maybe baseball teams should be wary of the art of self-promotion. The Atlanta Braves, last season, released a radio spot that featured the phrase, "Is there a word for 15-peat?"

The answer was no. Atlanta's incredible streak of 14 straight division titles ended, rendering the point moot.

Less than two seasons ago, the Texas Rangers featured a trio of minor league pitchers whose last names lent themselves to the packaged nickname of the DVD trio. For the unitiated, the pitchers were John Danks, Edinson Volquez and Thomas Diamond.

Well the curse of being a Rangers pitcher struck again. Volquez has had up-and-down parts of two seasons with the big league club. Danks was traded to the Chicago White Sox for Brandon McCarthy. Finally, on Monday, it was announced Diamond, the team's No. 1 draft pick in 2004 out of the University of New Orleans, would miss the 2007 season because of Tommy John surgery.

It used to be winning the Nolan Ryan Award, Texas' award for its minor league pitcher of the year, was the only curse in the organization. Now, apparently, there is no pre-requisite for enduring bad luck as a Rangers minor league pitcher.