So, I just got back from the awards dinner.  Unfortunately, no Sheets announcement (as someone posited earlier) but some fun nonetheless.

There was a ventriloquist performing before the awards got handed out. Kinda lame at first, but then she got Jim Sundberg up on the stage and dressed him up as a baby and made him "sing" and dance.  He swears payback.

Vernon Wells was there to present FOTF with the Marvin Miller award.  Nice thing to do, even if he did say "and this year he won a Gold Glove - oh yeah, that was at shortstop". 

The other really notable thing (this is for you, Micah!) was that Richard Durrett got up to intro Chris Davis for the Rookie of the Year award.  He said that Chris asked him to be sure and let the ladies know he was the most eligible bachelor in the Texas Rangers organization.  Then Chris got up and said that he "totally did not ask him to say that - even though it's true".  Later, Eric Nadel said that he was glad Richard didn't say that Chris was the most eligible bachelor in the room because of course *that* is Evan Grant (also in attendance).

Also there was a "fashion show" where some kids modeled the new uniforms.  They had some stuff for sale but I didn't really look that much because we'll be at FanFest tomorrow and we'll check out the Grand Slam gift shop then.

I'll have some pics up on my flickr page later tonight, though I think almost all of them came out terrible (haven't looked at them yet).

Gustav has hosed our entire vacation.  Houston is pretty much out (evacuation traffic tomorrow), and Round Rock looks like it has a good possibility of getting rained out, and I'm not sure I want to fight traffic on 35 Sunday/Monday.  We were thinking about just heading to San Marcos tonight instead, but all the hotels in San Marcos are booked tonight and tomorrow night, so we can't even do that.

Looks like we'll be running around DFW as usual instead.   Dammit!

Didn't see this posted anywhere yet - but per Evan Grant, Kinsler will be going on the DL and could possibly be out the rest of the season.  Per the previous blog entry, Arias will replace him.

Just when you think it can't get any worse on the injury front.... it does.  I'm almost glad all the wild card speculation had pretty much died down, because the way the remains of the season are going, the entire lineup will be on the DL except for Michael Young, who will continue to play despite two broken feet, arthiritis, and indigestion.

Saw this on NBC5's website:

Minor League Player Traded for 10 bats

The Calgary Vipers of the Golden Baseball League couldn't get newly signed pitcher John Odom into Canada for immigration reasons. And the Laredo Broncos of the United League were willing to take a cheap gamble on a pitcher.

Oh, and the Vipers really, really wanted some new bats.

And so Odom, about a month after being acquired by a Canadian team, found himself Tuesday on the roster of a team on the Mexican border. All for the price of 10 Prairie Sticks Maple Bats, double-dipped black 34-inch C243 style.