- The Oakland A's have hired Don Wakamatsu away from the Rangers, giving him a two-year deal to serve as manager Bob Geren’s bench coach.  Wakamatsu served as Buck Showalter’s bench coach in Texas from 2002 through 2006 and was the Rangers’ third base coach in 2007.  Wakamatsu also served as the club’s catching instructor and ran big league spring training. Hat Tip to Jamey Newberg!

- The Orioles today announced that they have selected the contracts of RHP Fredy Deza and RHP Bob McCrory from AA Bowie and added them to the 40-man roster. In addition, the Orioles activated five players who finished the season on the 60-day disabled list – LHP Erik Bedard, RHP Kris Benson, OF Jay Gibbons, LHP Adam Loewen and RHP Chris Ray. The moves leave the Orioles with 40 players on their roster.

- The Kansas City Royals today announced their coaching staff for the 2008 season.  Manager Trey Hillman will be joined by returning coaches Mike Barnett (Hitting Coach), Bob McClure (Pitching Coach) and Luis Silverio (Third Base Coach), while Dave Owen (Bench Coach), Rusty Kuntz (First Base Coach) and John Mizerock (Bullpen Coach) are new for 2008.

- The Atlanta Braves announced today that the club has signed two-year contract extensions with three members of its Baseball Operations administrative staff,  Kurt Kemp, Roy Clark and Johnny Almaraz. Also signed through 2009 is Bruce Manno, who was named yesterday as the club's Assistant General Manager.

- The Chicago White Sox have named Jeff Cox as the club’s new third base coach and Juan Nieves as the bullpen coach.

...and Tim Wakefield isn't on it.

PITCHERS (11): Josh Beckett, Manny Delcarmen, Eric Gagne, Jon Lester, Javier Lopez, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Hideki Okajima, Jonathan Papelbon, Curt Schilling, Kyle Snyder, Mike Timlin.

CATCHERS (2): Doug Mirabelli, Jason Varitek.

INFIELDERS (7): Alex Cora, Eric Hinske, Mike Lowell, Julio Lugo, David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis.

OUTFIELDERS (5): Coco Crisp, J.D. Drew, Jacoby Ellsbury, Bobby Kielty, Manny Ramirez.

Well I tried to buy Rockies World Series tickets...

I didn't think there was much of a chance that I'd actually get through online today, but it didn't cost me any time or money to run the site and its little counter behind my actual work. The process timed out a few times, and I had to restart it, but for the most part, it kept cycling through for the better part of 3 hours until I received this message...

The Colorado Rockies have sold out the remaining seats for all three 2007 World Series’ games scheduled to be played at Coors Field.

All tickets were sold via the Colorado Rockies website in approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes.

“First and foremost, we apologize to our dedicated fans for the online sale problems that occurred yesterday and for the frustration and inconvenience it has caused to so many,” said Rockies’ President, Keli McGregor.  “Although today’s process moved slow in the earliest stages, together with our technical partners we were able to overcome the obstacles in the system and distribute more than 50,000 tickets to our fans through this online process.  We’re looking forward to welcoming our fans to Coors Field beginning this Saturday night for Game 3 of the 2007 World Series.”

Oh well, maybe next year...

I'm killing time waiting for tomorrow and trying to learn about Colorado, another state I have never visited.  A Colorado tourism site lists what to do if you meet a black bear with the first piece of advice being STAY CALM. If you see a bear and it hasn't seen you, calmly leave the area. Sure, I really see that happening.

Here are 10 other things I learned:

1. Colorado means "colored red" which explains why the Rockies have purple as their team color.
2. The world's largest flattop mountain is in Grand Mesa, Colorado. I would think they would be rooting for Jason Varitek who has baseball's most prominent flattop.
3. Denver lays claim to the invention of the cheeseburger. Boston lays claim to the invention of the Fenway Frank.
4. Colorado has the highest mean altitude of all the states. Massachusetts altitude is nice.
5. Colorado is home to the Dwight Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel, the highest auto tunnel in the world. Massachusetts is home to the Ted Williams Tunnel, the best hitting auto tunnel in the world.
6. The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad has been in continuous operation since 1881. The Railroad continues to provide year round train service and has appeared in more than a dozen movies including "How the West was Won." This year it should appear in "How the West was Wild Card."
7. Leadville is the highest incorporated city in the United States at 10,430 ft. above sea level. First off, during the 60's there were many cities higher than Leadville, moreover, doesn't lead sink?
8. Hundreds of thousands of valentines are re-mailed each year from Loveland, CO, yet there are not that many idiots in Marblehead, MA.
9. Dove Creek is the "Pinto Bean" capital of the world and per capita the largest consumers of Gas-X.
10. Rocky Ford has been dubbed the "melon capital of the world". Pamela Anderson finished second.

Tomorrow the World Series starts - I love tomorrow.