THE NEWBERG REPORT -- May 9, 2008

Three stars:

1. David Murphy has been named American League Rookie of the Month for April.  He outpolled Boston outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury (who helped make Murphy expendable in the first place), Detroit righthander Armando Galarraga, and Oakland lefthander Greg Smith.

2. Frisco catcher Max Ramirez is number two on Baseball America's Hot Sheet for the week, recognizing the scorchiest minor leaguers in baseball, with stats from the past week getting the most weight in the determination.  Ramirez hit .579/.636/1.158 last week, raising his season line to a healthy .398/.480/.722.

3. You can't make some of this stuff up.  Former Rangers farmhand Chris Bradshaw, a right-handed pitcher out of TCU who was drafted in the 14^th round in 2001 but pitched only one season in the system before a career-ending arm injury, is a contestant on the new season of "The Bachelorette."  I know this only because he told me to check this out.  I have never watched any reality TV and don't have a whole lot of interest in starting now, but I'm rooting for Chris, a really good dude, to win whatever it is that you win on "Dancing with America's Top Survivorette of the Big Brother Swap," or whatever the show is called.

You can read more from Jamey Newberg at www.NewbergReport.com.