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Houston would be a pretty cool place, I suppose, if you were from Texas and never had seen a big city. If everything is bigger in Texas, then this place certainly fits the mold: Big buildings, big roads right through downtown, a big distance to cover from end to the other and the biggest parking garages known to man.

It has a very interesting Main Street down which a modern light-rail system runs between these pools of water that -- visually, if not really -- provide some relief from the typically searing heat. There are not so many businesses or eateries there, but it does seem to grow a bit with each visit.

Overall, though, the place leaves me a bit cold, if only because you can walk several blocks at a time without seeing anything more than big entrances to big corporations. Street-level retail is limited, vacated buildings are common, the panhandlers are as aggressive as anywhere, and the charm factor is ... extremely limited.

Still, it is nice that Minute Maid -- the best of baseball's indoor facilities -- is right in the heart, unlike where the NFL team plays out by the Astrodome. Give me downtown stadiums any day.

Q: Dejan, I know it's very early in the season but, of all the positive signs in the first two games, the one that has me really excited and glued to the action in late innings is the pace of the delivery of the relievers, especially Salomon Torres.

I can live with failure, so long as they are attacking hitters. This is so refreshing. Do you think this is by design or more in the makeup of most of them?

Rick Pless of Kittanning

KOVACEVIC: There is no Ray Miller-like decree of working fast, if that is what you are asking, Rick. But Jim Tracy does make clear his preference for pitchers who set a pace that keeps the defense sharp, and some of the pitchers in the bullpen do that.

I would isolate more on Matt Capps in this regard than Torres, though. Capps is just ridiculous in terms of how quickly he wants to make the next pitch after getting the ball back from the catcher. Almost as if he wants to pitch in one continuous motion.

And hey, since you raise the subject of the bullpen, let me say here that nothing in this opening series could be more uplifting for the Pirates than the way these guys have performed.

I can tell you with a high level of certainty that management was feeling somewhat queasy about entering the season with this group, to the point of considering help from the outside. That was doubly true when Dan Kolb disappointed them in spring training. But they have gotten strikes from just about everyone, and they certainly have gotten slam-the-door stuff from Capps and Torres to finish it off.

Q: If the Pirates just HAVE to draft another pitcher in the first round this year, do you think they'd consider drafting somebody who's already had Tommy John surgery?

Wilbur Miller of Silver Spring, Md.

KOVACEVIC: Thought I would hear from you on this one.

Lots of other readers wrote, too, about Brad Lincoln and his surgery, the near-universal sentiment being that the Pirates need to get out of the business of drafting pitchers in the first round.

That is a case I have been making for a while and restated yesterday, so I will not go into it again. But I will say this: People talk about the risks that low-spending teams can and cannot afford to make, but they almost always do so in the sense of signing players to long-term contracts and the like. There is a cost factor in this, too. Put together all the signing bonuses for all these first-round picks, then add in their full-season salaries while on the disabled list, and you might approach $15 million lost.

The first round must be used on sure things. Draft pitchers in bulk later on.

Q: I have nothing baseball-related to say, but I just drove down Rialto Street for the first time in my life today -- that hill is treacherous! One of the branches for my bank is near the top in Troy Hill, and I had to do some work on the server there this morning.

Anyway, the first time I met that hill was quite a scary one. It was during the first ice storm we had this winter and my Mapquest directions told me to turn down Rialto. I did not realize how steep that road was and my little Scion xB almost slid all the way to the bottom. Thankfully, I was able to back off.

Scott Auth of Downtown, Pittsburgh

KOVACEVIC: Only Troy Hill residents should be allowed on that road. They are the only ones who seem to have a clue how to navigate it.

Thing No. 26 that makes Pittsburgh great: The Thai tea.

And fittingly, we have a tie.

(Waits for groan to subside.)

My slight preference goes to the Thai tea at the Lemon Grass Cafe on Sixth Street, Downtown, but it holds only a slim lead over that of Thai Me Up on Carson Street, South Side.

Whichever way you go, the stuff -- non-alcoholic -- is bound to keep you awake for about three days, so powerful is its content. Cannot recommend it highly enough, unless, of course, you are either a) sensitive to sweets or b) about to drive Rialto Street.

Until tomorrow ...