My apologies for the post showing up a little later than normal today but a tear in my radiator hose and then a dead (bad) battery in my Jeep kept me out of the house all afternoon.

Today was reporting day for the rest of the Boston Red Sox team and by all accounts everyone is at camp now. Tomorrow will bring a workout for the pitchers and catchers while the rest of the team undergo physicals. Then in the afternoon, the non-pitchers and catchers will be doing conditioning drills.

It seemed like everyone was talking today at camp. David Ortiz, Julio Lugo, Jason Bay and Mike Lowell all spoke with the assembled media masses along with skipper Terry Francona giving his daily briefing.

Big Papi spoke about a variety of topics including ARoid and the health of his wrist for about 25 minutes. Here’s 10 minutes of it from NECN.

Francona spoke about many different things including a positive report on the back of one J.D. Drew.

If anyone was thinking that Jason Varitek will stop switch-hitting and just bat righty exclusively, you put those notions to rest.

“Oh my goodness. Hell, no,” Varitek said this morning at the Red Sox’ spring training complex. “Have you ever all of a sudden tried to hit right-on-right when you haven’t done it in 15 years? . . . I’ve heard that offered a few different times whether [it was suggested] in the media or whatever, but it’s ludicrous.”

Today’s photo gallery [Boston Globe]

For Varitek, it’s as simple as left-right-left [Tony Mazz]

Bay’s back [ProJo Sox Blog]

Lowell talks about health, offseason [Extra Bases]

Lugo “Nobody’s going to be happy on the bench” [Full Count]

Deep thoughts from Ortiz [Extra Bases]

Wilkerson signing official [Full Count]

Bob Ryan and Amale Benjamin of the Boston Globe recap the day [Extra Bases]

From Papelbon, great stuff [Boston Globe]

For the second time this season, UConn Huskies women’s basketball freshman guard Tiffany Hayes has been selected as the Big East Freshman of the Week.

In UConn’s two wins last week, Hayes averaged 13.5 points and a team-best 4.5 assists.

In the win over St. John’s, Hayes had 12 points, 5 assists, a steal and a block. In the destruction of Pittsburgh yesterday afternoon, Hayes had 15 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists.

Senior Renee Montgomery and sophomore Maya Moore were also named the Big East Honor Roll for the week.

Montgomery averaged 20.5 points, 4.0 assists 2.0 steals per game while Moore averaged 19.0 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.0 assist, 2.5 blocks and 2.5 steals per game.

The No. 1 UConn women return to action on Wednesday night when they make the hour bus ride to Providence to take on the Friars.

For the second straight week, UConn Huskies center Hasheem Thabeet has been chosen as the Big East Player of the Week.

And what a week for Thabeet it was as he helped the Huskies to a 2-0 record. In the two games, he averaged 16.5 points, 18.0 rebounds and 8.0 blocks.

In the win over Syracuse, he had 8 points, 16 rebounds and 7 blocked shots as he helped the Huskies hold the Orange to 49 points, 29 points below their average. In the win over Seton Hall on Saturday, he posted career-highs with 25 points and 20 rebounds to go along with 9 blocked shots.

Thabeet and the Huskies are back in action tonight against the Pittsburgh Panthers in a Big East showdown of the ages.

It’s game day for the No. 1/1 UConn Huskies men’s basketball team as the No. 4/4 Pittsburgh Panthers come to the XL Center for a Big Monday showdown on ESPN at 7 PM. Sean McDonough (play-by-play), Jay Bilas (analyst), Bill Raftery (analyst) will have the call.

UConn men’s basketball links

Pitt will provide UConn biggest test so far [New Haven Register]

Panthers chase first victory against a No. 1 [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

High stakes for Huskies with Panthers in town [Connecticut Post]

Clash with Pitt could decide Big East [Norwich Bulletin]

Blair to test improved Thabeet [Hartford Courant]

Here’s a preview of tonight’s game [Hartford Courant]

UConn face powerful Pitt team [Waterbury Republican-American]

Big East grinding up talented teams [Waterbury Republican-American]

Big East heavyweights battle in Hartford tonight [New London Day]

Here’s another preview of tonight’s game [New London Day]

Jay Bilas previews tonight’s battle between UConn and Pitt [ESPN.com]

UConn women’s basketball links

Jim Fuller of the New Haven Register and Rich Elliott of the Connecticut Post have some notes on the UConn women’s team.

Huskies start fast crush Panthers [New Haven Register]

Is UConn’s dominance good for the women’s game [New Haven Register]

A surprise award for Montgomery [New Haven Register]

Take a letter: UConn is in a different league [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

No. 19 Panthers offer little resistance in loss [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

UConn women’s report card [Connecticut Post]

UConn women roll over Pitt [Connecticut Post]

Montgomery wowed by Ring of Honor induction [Connecticut Post]

Montgomery earns place in history [Norwich Bulletin]

Huskies humiliate Panthers by 53 [Norwich Bulletin]

Pitt the lastest swallowed by the Huskies [Hartford Courant]

Montgomery taken by surprise [Hartford Courant]

UConn women’s extras [Hartford Courant]

UConn women win by 53; Montgomery honored [Waterbury Republican-American]

Shea Ralph coaches against ex-team [Waterbury Republican-American]

Montgomery joins Huskies of Honor, leads rout of Pitt [New London Day]

Maybe it was the pink uniforms for the No. 19/23 Pittsburgh Panthers or maybe it was the emotion of Renee Montgomery having her number put up in Huskies of Honor before the game. I’m going with the emotion.

It was ugly all afternoon for Pittsburgh as Montgomery led the No. 1 UConn Huskies to a 95-42 destruction of the Pink Panthers in front of 9,987 on the WBCA Pink Zone Day at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, CT.

The Huskies improved to 25-0 (11-0 Big East) while the Panthers fall to 18-5 (8-3) on a day that promoted breast cancer awareness and the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.

Montgomery was one of 5 Huskies in double figures, who also had 3 players put up double-doubles. She had 20 points on a very memorable day for her and her family. Maya Moore had one of the double-doubles with 18 points and 12 rebounds and Tina Charles had one as well with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Tiffany Hayes had 12 points in the second half to finish with 15 while Kalana Greene rounded out the double-doubles with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Another solid game for Meghan Gardler as well off the bench as she finished with 7 points and 3 rebounds.

Shavonte Zellous led the Panthers with 16 points and had 5 rebounds.  Xenia Stewart added 8 points and Shayla Scott chipped in with 8 points and a team-high 6 rebounds.

UConn started the game with a 7-0 run before a Scott three-pointer got the Panthers on the board. After that it was all Huskies as they went on a 15-0 run to open up a 22-3 lead. A Zellous jumper ended the bleeding temporarily for the Panthers but this game was over. The Panthers would get only as close as 16 points at 28-12. UConn would close out the half from that point on a 19-9 run to take a 47-21 lead into the locker room.

Pittsburgh would get as close as 23 points in the second half but UConn went for the kill as they went on a 13-0 run to open up a 36 point lead on their way to the 53 point win.

Obviously the honor was huge for Montgomery and I’m sure it inspired her play and her teammates. Maya continues to be Maya and Charles responded again with another great game as did Greene. If both of them continue this and Gardler continues her great play, the gap between the Huskies and the rest of women’s college basketball will not get any closer.

The Huskies head out on the road on Wednesday night as they head to Providence to take on the Friars. Tip is schedule for 7 PM and the game will be broadcast on CPTV.

Continue reading →

I know how y’all like you some Josh Beckett press conferences so let’s start off with that today in the Boston Red Sox afternoon delight. I will warn you there was only one mention of executing pitches and that was when asked a question about Jon Lester. Other than that most of the questions were geared towards his injuries last season.

The position players are coming into camp slowly as their reporting date is set for tomorrow. Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz, Jacoby Ellsbury, Julio Lugo, J.D. Drew were among the many who showed up in Ft. Myers today. And since some of us aren’t fortunate to be there at the minor league complex, the Boston Globe shares with us what we are missing.

Terry Francona held court again as he does every day during spring training and so far he likes what he sees.

Some injury news as J.D. Drew is still battling some back issues stemming from the herniated disc suffered last season.

“It’s still pretty stiff. I’ve fought it all offseason,” Drew said at the Red Sox minor league complex. “It’s one of those injuries that has kind of lingered. I’ve been able to hit and run and all that stuff. Some days I wake up stiff, some days it doesn’t seem too bad.”

“I’m hopeful. You can only do so much,” he said when asked if he thought it might not linger too long. “You go in the weight room and continue to keep it strong and as long as you don’t get that major flare-up you’ll be fine. Anytime you have a back like that anything can happen, but I’m very hopeful the program we have is going to work.”

With Mark Kotsay on the mend right now and Drew’s back issues, we could see how the Rocco Baldelli acquisition works out.

A special Jed Lowrie video and the links after the jump.

Continue reading →