There’s not a whole heck of a lot going on with the Boston area newspapers this morning but there is still some news. This one is from Steve in a comment last night.

Add the Dodgers to the list of teams pursuing Mike Lowell, whose market is not moving as rapidly as Castillo’s. The Dodgers’ reluctance to trade top prospects for the Marlins’ Miguel Cabrera increases their preference for a free agent such as Lowell. However, Lowell might not hit as well in Dodger Stadium as he did at Fenway Park, and he also might not want to leave the East Coast. …

This one comes from Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.

An interesting pitcher on Boston’s radar is Cubs free agent righthander Kerry Wood, who made the transition from oft-injured starter to reliever. Wood is trying to work out something with the Cubs, but if it doesn’t happen, he could be precisely the type of power arm the Sox like to have late in the game – the role they envisioned for Eric Gagné.

I guess that would mean the Red Sox are trying to lighten the workload of Hideki Okajima and aren’t ready to trust Manny Delcarmen in that role just yet. My assumption would have been Delcarmen in the 7th, Okajima in the 8th and Jonathan Papelbon in the 9th.

Hopefully something happens with Lowell in the coming days so the Red Sox can move forward in putting the pieces together for defending their World Series championship in 2008

Welcome to the big time Jacoby Ellsbury. Ellsbury returned home to Madras, Oregon today to a welcome fit for a king or in this case, a World Champion.

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I now interrupt your Saturday night debauchery or college football watching to bring you this update from Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe regarding the contract negotiations with Mike Lowell.

The clock seems to be ticking on the Mike Lowell negotiations with a possible resolution getting closer. Theo Epstein and the Levinson Brothers, Lowell’s agents, continued their negotiations Saturday, but as of early evening there had been no conclusion.

One side characterized the talks as “status quo.” It appears that the ball is squarely in Lowell’s court. The third baseman must decide whether to take the Sox’ offer – which is still believed to be three years – or continue to test the waters. The Red Sox likely need an answer soon so they can proceed with their Plan B if they haven’t already done so.

There were still no obvious escape hatches for Lowell. The Yankees’ first-base option has dried up according to ESPN, which still leaves both the Angels and Dodgers and the possibility that the Phillies could reserve the right to change their mind and go after Lowell, who is perfectly suited for their ballpark and lineup.

I am glad the Red Sox want their answer soon and the reasoning is correct. If he chooses to pursue other options, which don’t seem to be there right now, the Red Sox need to find a suitable replacement for him or decide whether or not to move their Gold Glove first baseman, Kevin Youkilis, to third.

Capped by senior linebacker Danny Lansanah’s 49-yard interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter the 24^th ranked UConn Huskies routed the Syracuse Orange 30-7 to improve to 5-1 in the Big East and 9-2 overall.

UConn controls their own destiny and will have a winner take all match for the Big East title next weekend in Morgantown between the underdog, upstart Huskies and the Big Bad Mountaineers.

The Huskies were lead by the throwing of junior quarterback Tyler Lorenzen who was 16 of 24 for 213 yards and a TD and the rushing of Donald Brown II who chewed up the Rentschler Field turf for 99 yards on 22 carries.

UConn was very good defensively as well sacking the Syracuse quarterback Andrew Robinson 4 times before he was replaced by Cameron Dantley, son of former NBA player Adrian Dantley. They also registered a pair of interceptions one by each QB and recovered one fumble.

The Huskies got touchdown runs from Andre Dixon of 2 yards and Brown of 21 yards and Terrence Jeffers hauled in a 63-yard pass for a TD in the first quarter. Tony Ciaravino had a 33-yard field goal.

Syracuse spoiled the UConn shut out with 8 minutes left in the game when Mike Williams caught a two-yard pass from Dantley.

The biggest game in the history of the UConn football program now looms on the horizon. Next Saturday at 3:30 PM on ABC, the Huskies will play for the Big East championship. The Huskies have never beaten the Mountaineers in three tries losing at The Rent in 2004 (31-19) and 2006 (37-11) and in Morgantown in 2005 (45-13).

UConn finished the season unbeaten at home going 7-0.

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Castro to Stick Around NYC [Babes Love Baseball]

2007 Cy Young Award = CASH MONEY [Home Run Derby]

George Carlin Compares Baseball and Football [Oriole Post]

Bonds computer game: Mind-numbing fun! [Red Sox Monster]

Top Ten Tuesdays: Bernie Is Getting Jealous [Yankees Chick]

The Twenty Or So Things On Dickie V’s Mind That Have Nothing To Do With College Basketball Or The Game He’s Calling [Awful Announcing]

KSK Presents: The Green Zone! Your Guide To The Environmental Pussification Of The NFL! [Kissing Suzy Kolber]

Could Riley Have a Mysterious “Surgery” Soon? [SporTech Matter]

We’re Already Tired of the Barry Bonds Indictment [The Big Lead]

Blink And You Missed It: The Relevant Portion Of The Knicks Season Is Over [The Feed]

Phil Jackson is the king of half-hearted apologies [We Are The Postmen]

THE BENGALS GO VIRAL WHILE FANS VOMIT [You Been Blinded]

Hello Heyman!… Arrivederci Verducci! [My Baseball Bias]

It’s another light link day for Boston Red Sox news as the main focus of Red Sox Nation is the status of the Mike Lowell negotiations. It seems as though the only real credible offer is the one from the Red Sox of 3-years $36 million. As I saw on the Barry Bonds special on ESPN, Peter Gammons reported that the Yankees are no longer interested in Lowell to play first for them as it looks as though they will go with Shelley Duncan and the Giambino. So as Lowell sits back and mulls over his future, let’s take a look at the headlines from the Boston area media on this cold November morning.

Sox, Lowell keep talking [Boston Herald]

Red Sox Making More Changes To Fenway Park [Hartford Courant]

Strike zone [Boston Globe]

For more headlines and stories, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Providence Journal, and Hartford Courant websites.

From Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe:

Mike Lowell may be closer to making a decision on whether he’ll play for the Red Sox in 2008, but he wasn’t letting on when asked about it at Disney World earlier on Friday.

The World Series MVP and his family seemed to have a nice time at Disney World where he served as grand marshal of the Magic Kingdom Parade. Lowell told one media person at the event, “We’ll see what the offseason brings. My family and I have a decision to make.”

The Sox have a 3-year offer on the table in the $36-$39 million range. It’s not known whether Lowell has another offer to consider. ESPN’s Peter Gammons reported earlier in the day that the Yankees no longer seemed interested in pursuing Lowell as a first baseman and will go with a combination of Shelly Duncan and Jason Giambi.

Another possible destination could be the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are balking at giving up three top prospects for Marlins third baseman Miguel Cabrera, though word out of LA is they are now after free-agent center-fielder Aaron Rowand. Toronto general manager J.P. Ricciardi also said Friday that his team was not involved in Lowell talks and Philadelphia, which would appear the best fit for Lowell if he should depart Boston, have repeatedly denied it is in pursuit of the Sox third baseman.

Sox general manager Theo Epstein said Friday that talks with Lowell remained status quo

So what had started out as a bunch of teams offering him 4-year deals, now appears to be just the Red Sox 3-year deal. Hopefully over the weekend, Lowell will make his decision and give us an early present for the holidays.

Chris Douglas-Roberts scored a career-high 33 points for Memphis as they came back after being ahead early to beat UConn 81-70, to win the championship of the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic.

Douglas-Roberts also had 7 rebounds and ESPN The Mag cover boy Derrick Rose had a career-high 24 points for the Tigers. A.J. Price led the way for the Huskies for the second night in a row with 23 points. Jerome Dyson added 17 points including a nasty dunk over Joey Dorsey. Hasheem Thabeet did most of his damage at the free throw line tonight as he was 7-7, finishing with 11 points and 9 rebounds.

Memphis (4-0) got out of the gates quick as they took a 10-0 lead and with eventually go up 20-5. When Dorsey went out with two fouls for the Tigers, the Huskies worked themselves back into the game finishing the half with a 36-20 run to take a 1-point lead into the break.

The second half was a see-saw affair until Douglas-Roberts tied the game at 60 with two free throws at around the 9 minute mark. His two free throws were the start of the a 16-5 run that put the game out of reach for the Huskies at the 4 to go timeout. UConn tried to make one last run but it was not to be as the Tigers made some free throws down the stretch to stave off the upset-minded Huskies.

If you’re a fan of the Huskies, you saw a much improved team from last year. Price looks like he has his legs back and is ready to lead this team to the next level. I’ll take an NCAA berth.

I always preach making your free throws because it will help you win the game. While UConn was 27-38 (71.1%), some of those misses were at key times, like the front end of one-and-ones. If you look at the 11 missed free throws by the Huskies, thats the final margin of the score.

UConn (3-1) is off until Tuesday when they will face the Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs for a second time in 5 days. Tip-off is at 7:30 PM at the Hartford Civic Center and the game will be covered locally on MyTV9.

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The Boston Celtics frittered away a 15-point 4^th quarter lead to the Miami Heat Friday night in front of a sell out crowd at the TD BankNorth Garden but managed to eke out a 92-91 win.

Trailing 91-90 Celtics captain Paul Pierce, who was in foul trouble all night, rolled off a pick onto the baseline and under the hoop after a pump fake on Udonas Haslem he laid the ball in with 25 seconds to play to give Boston the lead.

The Heat called for a 20-second time out and set up a play for Dwayne Wade to take the final shot, which he did. The shot clanged the back of the rim and James Posey grabbed the loose ball as the horn sounded and Celtics escaped with a win to improve to 8-0 on the year.

In the fourth quarter and really through out the game, the Celtics got careless and abandoned what got them to this point and ended up with too many turnovers and too much individual play and it almost cost them.

Kevin Garnett had a double-double with 26 points and 11 boards to lead Boston, while Miami’s Wade in his first start of the year had 23 points and 6 helpers. The Celtics also had 19 points and 7 assists from UConn product Ray Allen and former Celtic Ricky Davis had 20 points for the Heat.

Ian preaches about how important foul shots are when he writes about UConn. Well maybe Jim Calhoun can get Allen (7/7), Garnett (6/6) and company to help out as the Green went 17 of 18 from the charity stripe for a sizzling 94%. Miami was only 16-28 (57%) as the usually sure shooting Wade went 7 for 12 at the line as the Heat fall to 1-8 on the year.

Boston visits Orlando on Sunday at 6 p.m. to play the Magic.

When the current Red Sox ownership group took over, they made a vow to make Fenway Park cleaner, bigger and better. So far, they have lived up to their word. They’ve helped bring two World Championships to Red Sox Nation, added plenty of seating to Fenway and created some new things for the fans.

Now they plan to add 800 more seats in the pavilion level of Fenway Park plus they have torn out all the bleacher seats and are replacing them for next year. Also, they plan to put a bar in center field where the garage doors were.

Tina Cervasio from NESN caught up with Larry Lucchino and talked to him about the improvements to the ballpark, Barry Bonds and talks briefly about Mike Lowell.