According to Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com, the Boston Red Sox have signed reliever Joe Nelson to a minor league contract.

Nelson was 3-0 with a 4.02 ERA in 42 games for the rival Tampa Bay Rays last season.

He was designated for assignment by the Rays on August 1, 2009 and spent the final month of the season with the Rays Triple-A affiliate the Durham Bulls. In 13 games for the Bulls, he was 2-2 with a 6.23 ERA.

Nelson is no stranger to the Red Sox organization as he was in the system briefly in 2002 and again in 2004. He made three appearances for the Red Sox in May of 2004 and had no record with 16.88 ERA.

He spent most of the 2004 season with the Portland Sea Dogs and Pawtucket Red Sox where he was a combined 3-2 with a 2.96 ERA in 41 games. His 2002 stint lasted all of four games for the Trenton Thunder, who were the Red  Sox Double-A affiliate then.

As the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team goes through their season, they are continuing to rewrite the history books.

This time around, it’s for being the No. 1 team in the AP Top 25 poll for the record-setting 37th week. Louisiana Tech previously held the record of 36 straight weeks, a feat they accomplished from 1980-1982.

The Huskies have won 60 straight games and that trails only the 2001-2003 UConn teams, who won 70 games in a row.

The ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll doesn’t come out until Tuesday but rest assured you will find the Huskies on top of that one too.

A full look at the AP Top 25 after the jump.

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For the past five weeks, UConn Huskies All-Americans Tina Charles and Maya Moore been named the Big East Player of the Week.

That streak ended on Monday though as Jessica Lawson of the South Florida Bulls was named the Big East Player of the Week. However, Charles was named to the Big East Honor Roll.

Charles, who scored her 2,000th career point on Saturday, averaged 17.5 points and 8.5 rebounds to help the Huskies to their 59th and 60th consecutive victories.

In the win over Rutgers, Charles had 11 points and eight rebounds. In Saturday’s win over Pittsburgh, Charles had 24 points and nine rebounds.

The Huskies return to action on Tuesday night when the West Virginia Mountaineers come to the XL Center in Hartford, CT for a Big East matchup.

Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be televised locally on CPTV. The game is also available on the internet for a fee through Hoop Streams. If you can’t catch the television broadcast, you can listen to the game on the WTIC/UConn Radio Network.

It’s game day for the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team as they are at Freedom Hall to take on the Rick Pitino and the Louisville Cardinals.

The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN as part of Big Monday. You can also catch the game on ESPN360 where available. If you can’t catch the television broadcast, you can listen to the game on the WTIC/UConn Radio Network.

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UConn Men’s Football links

A few UConn Super Bowl tips [Connecticut Post]

UConn Recruits And Their Families Impressed with Edsall [Hartford Courant]

McCummings will help Huskies go mobile at QB [New Haven Register]

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UConn Huskies senior center Tina Charles now finds herself in some select company of 2,000 point scorers at UConn.

Charles scored 24 points and had nine  rebounds to help the No. 1 Huskies to a 98-56 win over the Pittsburgh Panthers in front of 7,121 at the Peterson Events Center in Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon.

Charles needed 17 points to reach 2,000 points in her career at UConn and she got it on a layup with 5:01 remaining in the first half. She joins Nykesha Sales, Kerry Bascom, Rebecca Lobo, Diana Taurasi and Kara Wolters in the select company. Taurasi was the last to hit the 2,000 point milestone back in 2004.

It’s the 60th straight win for the Huskies who improve to 21-0 (8-0 in the Big East) on the season. Pittsburgh, who was ranked for nine straight weeks to start the season, falls to 12-8 (1-6).

Junior All-American Maya Moore added 22 points, seven rebounds and a game-high eight assists. Kalana Greene continued her great play as she chipped in with 16 points while Meghan Gardler came off the bench to add eight points and seven rebounds.

Shayla Scott paced the Panthers with 18 points and seven rebounds.  Jania Sims added 11 points while Taneisha Harrison had seven points.

The Huskies opened up the game on a 19-6 run with the bulk of the scoring coming from the big three of Charles, Greene and Moore. The Panthers battled back though as they went on a 7-2 run to cut UConn’s lead to eight at 21-13.

But any hope of the Panthers coming all the way back fell by the wayside as the Huskies put the game away with a 14-2 run to open up a 20 point lead. The Huskies would enjoy a 57-32 lead at the half and with the reserves playing most of the second half, the Huskies would continue to increase their lead.

When UConn’s big three is on, there’s just no stopping them. As I’ve said all along, it’s going to take a perfect game to beat the Huskies.

They could get a challenge on Tuesday night at the XL Center when the No. 16/11 West Virginia Mountaineers come to town. The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast locally here in Connecticut on CPTV.

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One week ago, the No. 19 UConn Huskies men’s basketball team was like Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic after knocking off the No. 1 Texas Longhorns. They were on top of the world. Now after two straight losses, they find themselves wondering if they can salvage the rest of the season.

Jimmy Butler hit a shot with 2.4 seconds left in the game to give the Marquette Golden Eagles a 70-68 Big East win over the Huskies in front of 14,338 at the XL Center in Hartford, CT on Saturday afternoon.

Jerome Dyson had put the Huskies up front by three points with a three-pointer with 54.8 seconds to go in the game. A Dyson foul after a timeout on the ensuing Marquette possession gave Darius Johnson-Odom three foul shots, which he preceded to hit.

Kemba Walker had a chance to give the Huskies but his jumper fell short with 25 seconds left and Marquette gathered the rebounds and called a timeout to set up Butler’s game-winner. Gavin Edwards saw his inbounds pass stolen and that was all she wrote for the Huskies.

UConn falls to 13-8 (3-5 in the Big East) while the Golden Eagles improve to 13-8 (4-5).

Dyson led the way for the Huskies with 18 points to go along with four rebounds and three assists.  Walker had 15 points and six assists while Stanley Robinson had 13 points and eight rebounds. Edwards chipped in with nine points and had a game-high and career-high 14 rebounds.

Ater Majok led the Huskies with four blocked shots to go with his seven points and seven rebounds.

Butler led the Golden Eagles with 21 points and seven rebounds. Lazar Haywood added 20 points while Johnson-Odom had 15 points.

The Huskies started out the gates quickly as Dyson scored the first four points of the game. The Golden Eagles responded with consecutive three-pointers. Alex Oriakhi gave the Huskies their last lead of the first half at 8-7 with 17:08 to go.

As the first half would go on, the Golden Eagles would increase their lead to 13 points with 3:05 remaining but the Huskies would close out the half on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 34-29.

Over the first two minutes of the second half, the Golden Eagles would increase their lead to 10 points. The Huskies responded with an 13-4 run to get the lead down to one point at 47-46 with 12:31 to go in the game.

Walker finally tied the game at 54 for the Huskies with a jumper with 8:08 to go to force Marquette into a timeout.  Oriakhi gave the Huskies their first lead of the second at 56-54 and the two teams stayed close the rest of the way battling back and forth with the lead.

Sure this team misses Jim Calhoun. He’s the undisputed leader on the floor for the Huskies. If he had been there on Saturday, would they have won this one. That’s a tough one to answer.

UConn has been having problems taking care of the ball and once again it showed. They dominated the glass but Marquette offset that by turning 16 UConn turnovers into 19 points.

The Huskies are now halfway through the Big East season now and can’t even worry about the NCAA Tournament. They need to find their identity real quick and take it one game at a time now. They need to put these losses behind them quickly and focus on the final eight Big East games. They will undoubtedly fall out of the top 25 and probably won’t even garner any votes in my opinion.

UConn will have a quick turnaround as they head to Louisville on Monday night to take on the Cardinals at Freedom Hall. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be nationally-televised on ESPN as part of Big Monday.

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It’s game day for the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team as they will host the Marquette Golden Eagles in a Big East matchup at the XL Center.

Tip is scheduled for noon and the game will be televised locally on My-TV9 and SNY. If you can’t catch the television broadcast, you can listen to the game on the WTIC/UConn Radio Network.

It’s also game day for the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team as they are at the Peterson Events Center to take on the Pittsburgh Panthers in a Big East matchup.

Tip is scheduled for 2 p.m. and the game will be televised locally on CPTV. The game is also available on the internet for a fee through Hoop Streams. If you can’t catch the television broadcast, you can listen to the game on the WTIC/UConn Radio Network.

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He’s got the same last name as the famous bloodline of Molina catchers. Unfortunately, he’s not related to any of them.

The Boston Red Sox have signed free agent catcher Gustavo Molina to a minor league deal for the 2010 season. He was also invited to spring training as a non-roster invitee.

Molina spent the 2009 season with the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs, an affiliate of the Washington Nationals. In 72 games, he hit .209 with two home runs and 24 RBIs.

He’s appeared in 17 big league games with three different teams, the Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles and New York Mets. His last big league appearance came in 2008 as a member of the Mets.

UConn Football links

DC is still answering fans questions in his mailbag [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]

The Big East’s best: No. 29, Lindsey Witten [ESPN.com – Big East Blog]

’06 hits and misses from the Big East [ESPN.com – Big East Blog]

Football Season Ticket Renewals Now Available [UConnHuskies.com]

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