Author Archives: ianbethune

Destination Red Sox Nation – 4/5

Destination Red Sox Nation

Destination Red Sox Nation is our look at how the minor league teams of the Boston Red Sox fare each night. Game story and box score links as well as links to team rosters, team stats and league standings can be found by clicking on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

If you would like to listen to any of the Red Sox minor league affiliates’ games, MiLB.com offers them for free.

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

pawtucket red sox Pawtucket Red Sox

The PawSox will open up their 2012 season tonight at 7:05 p.m. at home against the Buffalo Bisons.

Aaron Cook Continues to Work Down In Pawtucket, Feels Good About Shoulder, Opprotunity to Return to Big Leagues [NESN.com]

Lars Anderson Starts to Take Reps as Outfielder, Hopes to Use New Tools to Join Red Sox [NESN.com]

Ryan Lavarnway Anticipates Next Shot at the Majors, Reflects on His Time With Red Sox Last Season [NESN.com]

Jose Iglesias Excited to Return to Pawtucket, Gets Ready to Work to Make His Way to Red Sox [NESN.com]

Confident Jose Iglesias ready for season [Pawtucket Times]

PawSox kick off 2012 season tonight vs. Buffalo [Pawtucket Times]

System’s top prospects to take the field at McCoy [Providence Journal]

Pawtucket Red Sox 2012 Roster

Pawtucket Red Sox stats

International League 2012 Standings

Pawtucket Red Sox website

Portland Sea Dogs Portland Sea Dogs:

The SeaDogs will open up the 2012 season today at 4:05 p.m. on the road against the Reading Phillies with a doubleheader.

Sea Dogs looking ahead, not back [Portland Press Herald]

Portland Sea Dogs 2012 Roster

Portland Sea Dogs 2012 stats

Eastern League 2012 Standings

Portland Sea Dogs website

salem red sox Salem Red Sox:

Salem will open up the 2012 season on Friday at 7 p.m. on the road against the Frederick Keys.

Salem Red Sox 2012 Roster

Salem Red Sox 2012 stats

Carolina League 2012 standings

Salem Red Sox official blog

Salem Red Sox website

greenville drive Greenville Drive:

The Drive will open up the 2012 season tonight at 7:05 p.m. at home against the Lakewood BlueClaws.

Carlos Febles, Greenville Drive excited to start season Thursday [GoUpstate.com]

Greenville Drive 2012 Roster

Greenvillle Drive 2012 stats

South Atlantic League 2012 Standings

Greenville Drive website

lowell spinners Lowell Spinners:

The Spinners season will begin on June 18th against the Connecticut Tigers.

Baseball Beanpot Returns to LeLacheur Tuesday, April 10 [OurSports Central]

Lowell Spinners 2011 Roster

Lowell Spinners 2011 final stats

NY-Penn League 2011 Final Standings

Lowell Spinners Blog

Spinners website

gulf coast red sox Gulf Coast League Red Sox

The GCL Red Sox season will begin on June 18th against the GCL Rays.

GCL Red Sox 2011 Roster

GCL Red Sox 2011 final stats

Gulf Coast League 2011 Final Standings

Gulf Coast Red Sox website

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Paw Prints – The Daily UConn Roundup – 4/5

Paw Prints The Daily Roundup

Paw Prints is our daily look at the happenings for the UConn Huskies football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball teams as well as some of the other sports. We will do our best to bring you the links from all of the media that covers the Huskies on a daily basis. As always, links can be found by clicking on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

Thank you for stopping by and making SOX & Dawgs your home for UConn Huskies news.

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

UConn Women’s Basketball links

Faris Led By Her Actions And Her Words This Season For Huskies [Rich Elliott – CT Post]

Another performance worth checking out by Maya Moore [Jim Fuller – New Haven Register]

Could Baylor make a run at UConn’s record winning streak? [Los Angeles Times]

UConn Men’s Basketball links

Latest on Alex Oriakhi [Dom Amore – Hartford Courant]

Dom also answered a question in his mailbag [Dom Amore – Hartford Courant]

Alex Oriakhi Reportedly Visiting John Calipari Today [David Borges – New Haven Register]

Drummond taking time with decision [Kevin Duffy – CT Post]

UConn Basketball Year in Review: The two kinds of disappointment in college basketball [The UConn Blog]

UConn Men’s Basketball: One Year Later [Hartford Courant]

NBA Draft Projections For Drummond And Lamb [Hartford Courant]

UConn Football links

WCG Pre Draft Interview with UConn WR Kashif Moore [Windy City Gridiron]

Other UConn related links

M. Tennis. Men’s Tennis Edged By Bryant, 5-2 [UConnHuskies.com]

W. Tennis. Huskies Fall At Rutgers, 7-0 [UConnHuskies.com]

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.

SOX & Dawgs Wins Best Sports Blog in CT

I just want to thank everyone who voted for us in the Hartford Courant’s contest, The Websters, for the top blogs of 2012 in Connecticut.

While we got in late due to a technical error and missed the first three days of voting, we were able to pull off the miracle and we won Best Sports Blog!!!

SOX & Dawgs wins best sports blog in Connecticut from the Hartford Courant

I really can’t thank everyone enough for their votes. Steve and I really appreciate them.

You can see the full list of winners for The Websters at the Hartford Courant website.

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.

Red Sox Set 2012 Opening Day Roster

Here is the press release from the Boston Red Sox announcing their 2012 Opening Day roster:

BOSTON, MA —The Boston Red Sox set their 2012 Opening Day 25-man roster by making the following roster moves:

Boston Red Sox– Placed pitchers Rich Hill (recovery from left elbow surgery), Daisuke Matsuzaka (recovery from right elbow surgery) and Andrew Miller (left hamstring strain), and outfielder Carl Crawford (recovery from left wrist surgery) on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to March 26.

– Placed pitchers Andrew Bailey (recovery from right thumb surgery) and Chris Carpenter (recovery from right elbow surgery), and outfielder Ryan Kalish (recovery from left shoulder surgery) on the 60-day disabled list.

– Selected pitchers Scott Atchison, Vicente Padilla and Justin Thomas to the active Major League roster.

– Assigned infielders Pedro Ciriaco and Nate Spears and outfielder Jason Repko to Triple-A Pawtucket, and assigned catcher Daniel Butler to Double-A Portland.

Executive Vice President/General Manager Ben Cherington made the announcements.

The 2012 Opening Day roster includes 13 pitchers, two catchers, six infielders and four outfielders.

The Red Sox open their 112th season tomorrow on the road against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Ballpark beginning at 1:05 p.m.  Boston will start left-handed pitcher Jon Lester with right-hander Justin Verlander taking the mound for Detroit.

The Red Sox 2012 Opening Day Roster:

PITCHERS (13): Alfredo Aceves, Matt Albers, Scott Atchison, Daniel Bard, Josh Beckett, Michael Bowden, Clay Buchholz, Felix Doubront, Jon Lester, Mark Melancon, Franklin Morales, Vicente Padilla, Justin Thomas

CATCHERS (2): Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Kelly Shoppach

INFIELDERS (6): Mike Aviles, Adrian Gonzalez, David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Nick Punto, Kevin Youkilis

OUTFIELDERS (4): Jacoby Ellsbury, Darnell McDonald, Cody Ross, Ryan Sweeney

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2012 NCAA Women’s Basketball Rankings – Postseason (Apr. 3)

ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll

After making history last night by going 40-0 on their way to the 2012 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship, the Baylor Lady Bears have been voted No. 1 in the final ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll that was released on Wednesday. There is no AP Poll as the last one was released at the end of the regular season after conference tournaments.

The UConn Huskies, who finished third in that final AP Poll, finish the season as the No. 4 team in the country. The top five of the poll is Baylor, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Stanford Cardinal, UConn and the Maryland Terrapins.

Joining the Irish and Huskies in the top 25 from the Big East are the No. 15 St. John’s Red Storm, No. 16 Louisville Cardinals, No. 17 Georgetown Hoyas and No. 24 DePaul Blue Demons.

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights and West Virginia Mountaineers were among the others receiving votes.

For a full look at the 2012 NCAA Women’s Basketball Rankings – Postseason (Apr. 3), please click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll
RK TEAM REC PTS PVS
1 Baylor (31) 40-0 775 1
2 Notre Dame 35-4 742 4
3 Stanford 35-2 708 2
4 Connecticut 33-5 689 3
5 Maryland 31-5 637 5
6 Duke 27-6 620 6
7 Tennessee 27-9 588 7
8 Kentucky 28-7 555 11
9 Penn State 26-7 453 12
10 Georgia Tech 26-9 442 13
11 Miami (FL) 26-6 434 9
12 Texas A&M 24-11 426 14
13 Green Bay 31-2 409 10
14 Delaware 31-2 393 8
15 St. John’s 24-10 287 21
16 Louisville 23-10 269 19
17 Georgetown 23-9 268 16
18 Purdue 25-9 237 15
19 Gonzaga 28-6 205 24
20 Georgia 22-9 139 17
21 South Carolina 25-10 132 NR
22 Ohio State 25-7 129 18
23 St. Bonaventure 31-4 102 25
24 DePaul 23-11 85 23
25 Kansas 21-13 80 NR
Dropped from rankings:
Rutgers 20, Nebraska 22
Others receiving votes:
Nebraska 70, Rutgers 68, LSU 42, California 27, West Virginia 16, Arkansas 14, Oklahoma 8, Middle Tennessee 7, Kansas State 5, Vanderbilt 4, Florida 3, FGCU 2, Oklahoma State 2, Princeton 1, UTEP 1, Marist 1

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Meet Your 2012 Red Sox Closer, Alfredo Aceves

Boston Red Sox starter Alfredo Aceves pitches against the Toronto Blue Jays during the second inning of a spring training baseball game in Fort Myers, Florida, March 29, 2012.

With Andrew Bailey being out until at least sometime in July, new Boston Red Sox skipper Bobby Valentine had a little bit of a conundrum. He had no closer.

Well now, he does.

After competing for a spot in the starting rotation only to be sent back to the bullpen, Alfredo Aceves will now play a more important role. He’ll be the closer for the Red Sox until Bailey returns. Mark Melancon had been considered as well but according to Valentine, Aceves’ American League experience earned him job.

“(Aceves) loves competition,” Valentine said. “I think he’s one of the better competitors that I’ve seen. I could be wrong. I haven’t seen him up close and personal in battle, but I believe that he’s a very good competitor, to say nothing of a very good pitcher.”

“Everybody has to do something within the team, and he can’t do more than one thing, even though he was thinking about being a starter and now he’s a reliever and a closer,” Valentine said. “You’re probably talking about the 100 innings that you think you can get out of him if he was pitching in the middle of the game, and that’s obviously valuable. It’s been worth 24 wins to his respective teams in the couple years that he’s pitched that way, which is very valuable.”

Aceves was 10-2 last season with a 2.61 ERA and two saves in 55 games for the Red Sox last season. Overall in his career, he has four saves.

It also appears the 25-man roster is coming into shape as Valentine said the Red Sox will carry 13 pitchers early on in the season. Once the roster is released, it will be posted here.

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Two More Ranger Draft Picks Join Whale

HARTFORD, April 4, 2012:  Connecticut Whale general manager Jim Schoenfeld announced today that a pair of forwards, and New York Ranger draftees, Christian Thomas and Shane McColgan, have joined the Whale.

CT WhaleThomas, chosen in the second round (40th overall) by the parent club Rangers in the 2010 NHL Draft, was reassigned by the Rangers to the Whale from the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League.  In 55 games with the Generals this season, his fourth in the OHL, Thomas, a 5-9, 170-pound native of Toronto, registered a team-high 67 points, including 34 goals, which tied for the team lead, along with 12 penalty minutes.  He also notched four points in six playoff games, with two goals and two assists.  Thomas, who is the son of long-time NHL stalwart Steve Thomas, had a 54-goal season with the Generals in 2010-11, finishing second in the OHL in that category, and he also added 45 assists for a total of 99 points that year, sixth-best in the league.

In 244 career OHL games with the Generals and London Knights, the 19-year-old Thomas has amassed totals of 137 goals and 120 assists for 257 points, along with 91 PIM.  He agreed to terms on an NHL contract with the Rangers May 19, 2011.

McColgan, a fifth-round selection (134th overall) by the Rangers in 2011, has been signed to an Amateur Tryout (ATO) agreement by the Whale, from the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League.  In 70 games with the Rockets this season, the 5-9, 170-pound Manhattan Beach, CA native scored 18 goals and added 46 assists for 64 points, leading the Kelowna club in points and assists, while serving 85 minutes in penalties.  In four WHL postseason games, the 19-year-old McColgan had two assists.

McColgan has played three full seasons, and part of a fourth, with the Rockets, totaling 65 goals and 137 assists for 202 points, along with 196 PIM, in 212 games.

Amateur records

The Whale’s next action is a home game at the XL Center this Friday night, April 6 vs. the Manchester Monarchs.  Five-thousand fans at that game will take home a free Whale team poster, courtesy of AT&T the Real Yellow Pages.  There is also a special Friday-night food combo deal available, as a hot dog and a 12-ounce soda can be purchased for only $5.  Faceoff is 7:00 PM.

Tickets to all 2011-12 Whale home games are on sale now at the Public Power Ticket Office at the XL Center, as well as on-line at www.ctwhale.com and through TicketMaster Charge-by-phone at 1-800-745-3000.

Save on your tickets, and get the best seats, with a ticket plan for the Whale’s 2011-12 AHL campaign, which are on sale now. For information on season seats and mini plans, visit www.ctwhale.com, or call the CT Whale ticket office at (860) 728-3366 to talk with an account executive today.

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Boston Red Sox @ Detroit Tigers Pitching Matchups: 4/5-4/8

Boston Red Sox @ Detroit Tigers pitching matchups

Thursday, April 5th @ 1:05 PM

Jon Lester, LHP (0-0, -.– ERA) vs Justin Verlander, RHP (0-0, -.– ERA)

TV: NESN, ESPN2, MLB.tv

Radio: Red Sox Radio Network, MLB Gameday Audio

Saturday, April 7th @ 4:05 PM

Josh Beckett, RHP (0-0, -.– ERA) vs Doug Fister, RHP (0-0, -.– ERA)

TV: FOX

Radio: Red Sox Radio Network, MLB Gameday Audio

Sunday, April 8th @ 1:05 PM

Clay Buchholz, RHP (0-0, -.– ERA) vs Max Scherzer, RHP (0-0, -.– ERA)

TV: NESN, MLB.tv

Radio: Red Sox Radio Network, MLB Gameday Audio

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MLB on FOX Breakdown For 4/7

Are you wondering if you’ll be able to see Josh Beckett make his first start of the season on Saturday afternoon for the Boston Red Sox against the Detroit Tigers?

MLB on FOXWell here’s the breakdown courtesy of Fang’s Bites:

Boston Red Sox at Detroit Tigers – 43%
Announcers: Joe Buck, Tim McCarver & Ken Rosenthal
MARKETS INCLUDE:  Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Charlotte, Cleveland, Detroit, Fort Myers, Greensboro, Greenville, Hartford, Houston, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Norfolk, Orlando, Philadelphia, Providence, Raleigh, Richmond, Tampa, Washington, West Palm Beach

St. Louis Cardinals at Milwaukee Brewers – 27%
Announcers: Thom Brennaman & Eric Karros
MARKETS INCLUDE: Birmingham, Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Knoxville, Louisville, Memphis, Milwaukee, Nashville, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Tulsa

Kansas City Royals at Los Angles Angels – 17%
Announcers: Kenny Albert & Mark Gubicza
MARKETS INCLUDE:  Austin, Dallas, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Portland, San Antonio, Seattle

San Francisco Giants at Arizona Diamondbacks – 12%
Announcers: Daron Sutton & Eric Byrnes
MARKETS INCLUDE:  Albuquerque, Denver, Phoenix, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco

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