Alan Schwarz, a contributor to ESPN The Magazine, is filing regular Pulsecards from spring training. Today he feels a distinct chill in the air.

It's a cold, clammy morning -- at least by Arizona standards. Fifty-three degrees, light rain. Angels complaining left and right. But in Darin Erstad's world, it's downright balmy.

Fresh off his .355 breakout year, Erstad can handle low temps. Very low temps. When the husky North Dakotan went back to his boyhood home of Jamestown last Christmas, he walked straight into minus-70 wind chill.

And he sniffed the air in like San Diegans at the salty beach. "I loved every minute of it," he says dreamily. "It's in my blood." Most baseballers' blood would freeze into a vampire popsicle in such conditions. Puerto Rican catcher Benjie Molina shivers at the mere thought. "I've never even seen ice," he laughs. "The coldest I've ever been in is like 40 degrees."

Though he has relocated to southern California for his offseasons, Erstad dives into his natural habitat for at least a week every winter. His favorite pastime is getting together with some old high school buddies at sunup, drilling a 10-inch hole two-and-a-half feet in the ground, and ice fishing for walleye and northern pike. "We usually just let 'em go, but we had two fish-fries this year," Erstad says, licking his lips. "Nothing tastes better than fish straight out of the water."

He might have to save a few extra rods next winter. "I'll go up there," Molina says, "if that's what it takes to hit like him."