Jonathan Papelbon graces one of five regional covers of USA Today Sports Weekly’s Baseball Insider Special Edition that hits newstands today.
Boston Red Sox News & Notes – 11/10
Things were quiet over the weekend as far as the news from the Boston Red Sox but you can expect things to heat up as the exclusive deadline to sign Jason Varitek and any other free agents ends on Thursday.
It’s not too often you can go to the Inside Track Gals for a little information but according to their spies, Jason Varitek does want to return to the Red Sox next year.
That despite what Scott Boras says, Jason Varitek badly wants to stay in Boston. Mound men Jonathan Papelbon, Justin Masterson and Jon Lester told fans at a recent meet-and-greet that they don’t think the free-agent captain is going anywhere. The hurlers added that, if they had their way, Jason would stay right behind the Fenway homeplate.
Speaking of the Inside Track Gals, according to Texy of Center Field, it appears they got scooped by the Boston Globe about Kevin Youkilis’ nuptials this weekend in Cabo San Lucas.
We can expect Theo Epstein and the Boston Red Sox to be “selective shoppers” during free agency.
We will do our best to keep you abreast of the Varitek situation as it warrants throughout the week and of course any other news that comes out of the Red Sox offices at Fenway Park.
Adalius Thomas Done For The Season??
If you believe what a source of ESPN.com’s Michael Smith says, then yes New England Patriots linebacker Adalius Thomas is done for the season after breaking his left forearm during the 1st half of yesterday’s win over the Buffalo Bills.
Linebacker Adalius Thomas, who has started all nine games for the Patriots and is tied for the team lead with five sacks, suffered a broken left forearm in the first half of the Patriots 20-10 win, according to sources. The sources believe the injury is likely season ending.
“It’s not good. He’s probably done [for the season],” said one source
Paw Prints – The Daily Roundup – 11/10
Ater Majok was at the UConn Huskies men’s basketball exhibition game yesterday and still hopes to join them in December.
The UConn men are ready for the real thing now after finishing up their 2 exhibition games.
The 2008-09 season is up next for the UConn men.
Maya Moore is always looking for ways to improve her game.
This UConn women’s basketball team is similar to the 2001-02 championship team.
Who will be the 5th starter for the UConn women this season?
The UConn women’s soccer team lost a heartbreaker to Notre Dame 1-0 in overtime in the Big East Women’s Soccer Tournament Finals.
The UConn field hockey team fell 1-0 to Syracuse in the finals of the Big East Field Hockey Tournament.
The UConn women’s volleyball team beat the South Florida Bulls 3-0 on Senior Day.
Belichick’s Coors Light Moment
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick usually recites the same shtick during his postgame press conferences but yesterday he took exception to a question from one of the media members.
Here is the question that was asked:
Was it a concern that the score was so close you could not rest your starters for the short week coming up against the Jets?
Belichick’s response:
Put the Coor’s Light signage behind him and you’ve got yourself an instant television commercial.
Celtics Spoil Iverson’s Home Pistons Debut
Tony Allen had a huge second quarter for the Boston Celtics as they went on to an 88-76 win and spoiled Allen Iverson’s home debut for the Detroit Pistons.
(Tony) Allen was the man in the second quarter as he scored 12 of the points by the Celtics who were playing with the 4 members of the 2nd team in the quarter. Their defense was solid as well as they held the Pistons to just 10 points.
Allen had 23 points for the Green while Ray Allen had 17 points. Rajon Rondo added 13 points and a game-high 5 assists. Kevin Garnett scored only 8 points but pulled down 12 rebounds. Kendrick Perkins was held scoreless but added 10 rebounds as the Celtics moved to 6-1.
Tayshaun Prince led the Pistons with 23 points. Will Bynum came off the bench for Detroit to score 11 points and Rasheed Wallace had 10 points and 11 rebounds. Iverson’s home debut was a rough one as he was just 4-of-11 from the floor scoring 10 points and adding 4 assists and 4 rebounds. Former UConn Husky standout Richard Hamilton had an awful shooting night as he was 0-for-8 and ended up with just 3 points.
This was by far the best defensive effort the Celtics have had this season and they’ll need another one as they are back in action tomorrow night against the Toronto Raptors at the T.D. Banknorth Garden. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 PM.
The Celtics also have games this week on Wednesday night against the surging Atlanta Hawks and on Friday night against Iverson’s former team the Denver Nuggets at home. They then head to Milwaukee for a matchup against the Bucks on Saturday night.
Patriots Knock Bills Into Second Place, 20-10
The Result
The New Engand Patriots today took charge of the game and beat the Buffalo Bills 20-10 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro and in the process remained tied for first in the AFC East with the New York Jets and knocked Buffalo into a second place tie with Miami.
It was far from the blow outs of 2007 and more like a typical Bills-Pats game until New England took charge in the 4th quarter with a time killing 19 play, 92 yard drive that are up 9:19 of the clock and sealed the Buffalo fate. That drive was capped by a BenJarvus Green-Ellis one yard run and put New England up 20-3. Buffalo was able to strike right back because of a great kick off return by Leodis McKelvin for 85 yards tht set up a 14 yard Trent Edwards TD pass to James Hardy. The ensuing onsides kick was given to New England after it was ruled that the ball had hit a Bills player prior to going ten yards. Matt Cassel then ran out the clock and as “The Pick Up Artist” would say it was “game over”.
This was big win for the Patriots who at 6-3 are tied with New York in the division as those same Jets come to town on a short week for a Thursday night matchup. A win on Thursday could give New England the upper hand in the division as they would have two wins over the Jets and one over Buffalo and a loss to Miami.
Scoring Plays
| BILLS | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 10 |
| PATRIOTS | 7 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 20 |
1st Quarter
- NE – Cassel 13 yard run – Gostkowski PAT
2nd Quarter
- NE – Gostkowski 32 yard FG
- BUF – Lindell 25 yard FG
3rd Quarter
- NE – Gostkowski 37 yard FG
4th Quarter
- NE – Green-Ellis 1 yard run – Gostkowski PAT
- BUF – Edwards 14 yard pass to Hardy – Lindell PAT
Offensive Player of the Game
New England rookie RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis runs the ball 25 times for 105 yards and 1 TD.
Defensive Player of the Game
New England rookie LB Jerod Mayo had 6 tackles and 1 pass defensed.
Turning Point(s) of the Game
The Drive. When the fourth quarter started New England led by 10 points, 13-3. 2 minutes in they went into a 19 play, 92 yard drive that chewed up an unbelievable 9:19 of game clock as was capped by the Green-Ellis TD on 3rd and goal at the BUF 1. The drive effectively put the game out of reach as there was less than 2 minutes to play.
Dyson Leads Way In UConn’s 82-63 Exhibition Win Over UMass-Lowell
Jerome Dyson led 5 UConn Huskies in double figures with 18 points as they went on to beat the UMass-Lowell River Hawks 82-63 at the XL Center in Hartford, CT.
Dyson had 18 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists after scoring just 1 point in the first exhibition game. Jeff Adrien and A.J. Price both had 13 points with Adrien adding 8 rebounds. Hasheem Thabeet and Kemba Walker added 11 points each with Walker tying Dyson with a game-high 5 assists.
Kyle Caiola led the River Hawks with 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting from 3-point land. Victor Colon added 15 points and Ali Kannan had 10 points. Max Herman pulled down a game-high 9 rebounds for UMass-Lowell.
The Huskies started the game hot from the floor as they made their first seven shots to get out to an 18-9 lead. They pushed the lead to 17 points at 29-12 but UMass-Lowell relied on some great 3-point shooting to get it back to 11 points at 33-22. The Huskies took a 46-33 lead into the locker room.
The Huskies put away the game in the second half with a 21-3 run with the score at 50-41.
UConn will now have to wait until Friday night when they will open their 2008-09 regular season with a game against the Western Carolina Catamounts. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 PM and the game will be broadcast online at ESPN360.com.
Bills @ Patriots…The Live Blog
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As one of the networks might say…It’s Bills!…It’s Patriots! and it’s NEXT!
Patriots Tailgating Tidbits – Week 10
Sorry for the shortened Tidbits but Word Press apparently ate most of my post. I’ve reconstructed it as best I can.
The Patriots host the Bills today as they look to rebound from a win turned into a loss last Sunday against Indianapolis when old friend Adam Vinatieri kicked his first field goal over 50 yards since he was a Patriot.
So while you’re checking out today’s game make sure you stop here and check out the Sox & Dawgs Bills-Patriots Week 10 Preview. It has everything you need for the game including rosters, the line, the injury report and more.
Don’t forget to stop by Sox & Dawgs during the game as we will have our live blog going and you can particpate with questions, comments, etc. All you need to do is pick a screen name and enter it in the box you will see near the bottom of the live blog frame and you’re good to go.
The Patriots made some roster changes this week.
The Boston Herald’s Karen Guregian says the AFC East is a four horse race, while her co-worker Steve Buckley says that rookie RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis is stepping it up.
The AP says the Bills offense is starting to revert back to its awful 2007 status.
The Patriot-Ledger’s Eric McHugh has a look back at the last nine Bill-Patriots games, all of them New England wins.
The great Reiss’ Piece’s blog at the Globe has Buffalo missing four starters today.
CBS’s Randy Cross talks about the matchup between the Bills and the Patriots.
If you didn’t watch the NFL Network game on Thursday there has been a severe upgrade in the booth.
Earlier this week the Patriots gave the boot to a cheerleader who turned up in some less than flattering photos on her Facebook page.