With the UConn Huskies football team on a bye week this week, today brings us a very light day for linkage.
Tyler Lorenzen has a new role until he returns.
Zach Frazer became a quarterback by accident in high school.
Desmond Conner of the Hartford Courant says we shouldn’t forget about D.J. Hernandez.
John Silver of the Journal Inquirer thinks that UConn should start recruiting this kid now.
Courtesy of David Gillett comes the latest UConn Huskies television commercial.
Finally, the wait is over. In just 11 hours or so, the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays will begin what should be an exciting American League Championship Series. For the Red Sox, it’s their 4th trip in 6 years while for the Rays, they are breaking their cherry.
The Red Sox 2008 ALCS roster is all set as Terry Francona and the brain trust decided to they wanted to carry 11 pitchers and added Mike Timlin to the roster. This time Gil Velazquez was the odd man out after being added to the ALDS roster.
“I don’t know how [Timlin] will fit in,” Francona said. “But I know there will be a comfort level putting him on the roster. We felt like in a potential seven-game series, you need to have the other pitcher. You get yourself into a little bit of a bind if you don’t.”
We held a poll over the last three days here at SOX & Dawgs about who you wanted to win the ALCS. 78% of the readers have chosen the Red Sox to win the ALCS.
[poll id=”8″]
Terry Francona sets the standard for managers.
The Rays almost had Jason Bay at the trade deadline.
Daisuke Matsuzaka cherishes the role of being the opening Red Sox pitcher in the ALCS.
Did the pitch that James Shields hit Coco Crisp with change the Rays season?
Which Dice-K is going to show up for the Red Sox tonight?
How do the Red Sox and Rays stack up in all aspects of the game?
Harold Reynolds was on the Dale and Holley Show yesterday and said Jon Lester is the best pitcher in baseball right now (It’s at about the 6 minute mark or so).
Gary Marbry of WEEI.com has his second ALCS Nuggetpalooza.
An old college friend of mine has some tickets available for Games 1 & 2 in Tampa. You can also look for tickets by visiting our sponsors located in the left sidebar.
For more playoff slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant and Providence Journal websites.
And if you must see what the enemy papers are saying you can check out the Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times websites.
This Week
The New England Patriots visit the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego CA on Sunday at 8:15 p .m.
The Patriots are 2-0 at the road and 2-1 against the AFC. The Chargers are 1-1 at home and 2-2 against the AFC.
Here are the rosters for the Patriots and the Chargers.
Here are the projected starting lineups for the game.
The Line/Prediction
As of Thursday the line on the game from Yahoo! Sports is Patriots +5. The over/under is 44.5.
My prediction is Chargers 24, Patriots, 20. Take the points and take the under. I am 1-3 against the spread and 2 for 4 on calling the over/under in 2008.
Tickets
Tickets to the game, if available, may be purchased several ways. You can check the availability here.
Getting To The Game
If you’re lucky enough to be going to the game at Qualcomm make sure you check out the links.
Here is the up to date weather forecast for the game from The Weather Channel.
Click for stadium directions and parking information, public transportation information, stadium policies and code of conduct, fan guide and a Qualcomm Stadium seating chart.
Tailgating
Here’s a bunch of different tailgating recipes from Tailgaiting America. There’s something there for everyone and every type of meal or snack. I’ve tried some of the recipes and they’re very good and for good measure here is one of my own.
And with tailgating many people enjoy some adult beverages. With that in mind check out Drink Nation for how to make all sorts of great drinks. You can look things up by name, ingredient(s) or by theme.
Whether it’s at the game, a bar or someone’s house moderation is always the key to a great time. Please don’t drink and drive and designate a sober driver. Remember You Drink, You Drive, You Lose.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Television
NBC is televising the game to the entire country as the Sunday Night Football Game and Al Michaels will do the play-by-play while John Madden will handle the game analysis. You can look for your local NBC Station.
Being a nationally broadcast OTA game, there is no Direct TV Feed.
For those of you overseas here is some general information on NFL Broadcasts for the 2008 season.
Patriots All-Access airs tonight at 7 p.m. on WCVB TV 5 in Boston. It will also be simulcast on the team website at the same time. Make sure you check out the Patriots Football Network for information on when you can see Patriots All-Access in your market.
Radio
The Patriots Rock Radio Network broadcasts the game from flagship station WBCN-FM 104.1 in Boston. Gil Santos handles the play-by-play and former Patriot Gino Cappelletti does the color.
It all starts with Gary Tanguay, Scott Zolak and Andy Gresh and the pregame show at 5 p.m. along the network.
The post game starts after the final gun and continues for three hours.
If you are outside of the broadcast area of the stations on the Patriots Rock Radio Network you can purchase NFL Field Pass which allows you to listen to any NFL game live. You can also pick which teams broadcasters you want to listen to.
All NFL games are also available on Sirius Satellite Radio. The Patriots Rock Radio Network call is available on Channel 126, the Chargers Radio Network has Josh Lewin calling the game while Hank Bauer provides the game analysis and Jim Laslavic patrols the sideline. Their call is available on Channel 127.
The game will also be heard nationally along the Westwood One Radio Network with Dave Simms on play-by-play and Jim Fassel providing analysis.
The 17 time and defending NBA Champion Boston Celtics and Comcast SportsNet New England released their television schedule for the 2008-09 season. For all CSN/New England games it starts half hour prior to tip-off with the pre-game show, followed by the game action and a half hour post-game wrap up.
For the 28th season CSN/New England will once again have Mike Gorman calling the play-by-play and he will be joined for all Celtics home games by the legendary Tommy Heinsohn. For the Celtics road games former UConn standout and NBA player Donny Marshall will be along side Gorman providing the analysis. Greg Dickerson will provide sideline reports for all Celtics games, home and away. In all CSN/New England will carry 78 Celtics games, 38 at the TD BankNorth Garden and 40 on the road. All games will be available in HD.
Gary Tanguay will once again be the studio host for the pre and post game shows and he will be joined by Marshall for home games and Heinsohn for road games.
Heinsohn who is entering his 28th season broadcasting Celtics basketball after a successful career as a Celtics player and coach has decided because of family health issues to not travel for the away games.
Do you have someone in your life that is accident prone? You know that when ever they are around you keep them away from all sharp objects, they only get paper cups and plates to use and plastic silverware. In my family “that guy” was my brother. Growing he earned the nickname “stitch” because everything he did ended in stitches. He fell over the handlebars of the trike and got stitches, he was running around the living room and slipped on the carpet and caught his lip on my moms piano bench and ended up with stitches. My dad and I are petting a dog who turned and attacked my brother biting him in the face. One harrowing ride the wrong way down a one street and one visit to the Yale-New Haven ER later and he had about 300 stitches in his face. I’m pretty sure there are others I just can’t remember them.
Well Clint Malarchuk, the former NHL goalie who 20 years had his jugular vein slashed by a skate blade during a game, accidentally shot himself in the chin with a .22 caliber rifle he was using to hunt rabbits with.
According to the police Malarchuk’s wife said he had placed the butt of the rifle on the ground between his feet when it discharged hitting him in the chin on Tuesday.
Malarchuck was flown to a Reno NV hospital and is expected to recover. He is currently the goaltending coach for the Columbus Blue Jackets in the NHL.
So if Clint comes to your house make sure you lock up anything remotely dangerous.
Boston Red Sox skipper Terry Francona and the brain trust have put together the 25-man roster for the 2008 American League Championship Series against the Tampa Bay Rays that they think will get the job done in the best-of-7 series that starts Friday night in St. Petersburg, FL.
PITCHERS (11): Josh Beckett, Paul Byrd, Manny Delcarmen, Jon Lester, Javier Lopez, Justin Masterson, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Hideki Okajima, Jonathan Papelbon, Mike Timlin, Tim Wakefield.
CATCHERS (3): Kevin Cash, David Ross, Jason Varitek.
INFIELDERS (6): Sean Casey, Alex Cora, Jed Lowrie, David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis.
OUTFIELDERS (5): Jason Bay, Coco Crisp, J.D. Drew, Jacoby Ellsbury, Mark Kotsay.
So what’s different here than their roster in the ALDS?
For starters, Mike Lowell is not on the roster since he’s not eligible because he was removed from the ALDS roster. Gil Velazquez, who was added to the ALDS roster when Lowell was removed, did not make the roster as the Red Sox decided to go with 11 pitchers. This means Mike Timlin is on the roster.
Chris Forsberg of Boston.com put together a simulation of the Boston Red Sox vs the Tampa Bay Rays in a MLB 2K8 simulation on XBox 360. Here are the video highlights of the Game 1 simulation. And if you want to know who wins, head over to Boston.com to find out.
Chip Malafronte of the New Haven Register has some notes from meeting with members of the UConn Huskies football team as does Desmond Conner of the Hartford Courant. John Silver of the Journal Inquirer also has some notes as well.
Zach Frazer has great memories of his former high school coach who passed away from cancer.
Frazer also graded himself harshly after his performance last Saturday night.
The Huskies are in a great position halfway through the season.
Tyler Lorenzen remains upbeat despite the broken foot.
The annual men’s basketball Husky Run will take place next Wednesday, October 15th at 3 PM.
The deadline for Nate Miles to appeal the decision of being expelled is today.
David Gillett has video of former Husky Charlie Villanueva living the Lexani Lifestyle.
If UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma was nominated for US Women’s National Team head coach job, he’d have a hard time turning it down.
Former UConn Husky Maria Conlon is now married to someone from my hometown.
The UConn Daily Campus takes a look at the biggest rivalry for the football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball teams.
The UConn men’s soccer team fell to Providence 1-0.
The UConn men’s baseball team will be holding their annual Blue/White World Series this weekend in Storrs.
As I sit here and try to figure out what to say, only one thing comes to mind. Friday night can’t come quick enough. Then at least we will be able to watch our Boston Red Sox take on the Tampa Bay Rays for the right to go to the World Series and for the Red Sox that means a chance to defend their title they won back in 2007.
But hey at least we’ll get some form of baseball tonight as the NLCS between the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Philadelphia Phillies gets underway at 8 PM on FOX.
Yesterday brought us our first look at the Red Sox rotation for the 2008 ALCS. And I’m pretty sure you said the same thing as I did, “Huh? Dice-K? in the first game.” At first I didn’t understand it too much because my thinking was that you throw out Josh Beckett in Game 1 and Jon Lester in Game 2. But after some thinking and looking at some numbers, I’ve come to terms with what the Red Sox are doing. It’s not like the opinion of a blogger would matter anyways.
Daisuke Matsuzaka has made 8 starts on 6+ days of rest this season and is 4-2 with a 3.05 ERA. Even with those numbers, he hasn’t exactly been stellar as he has thrown 44.1 innings in those 8 starts. The one number that stands out is Dice-K’s 9-0 record on the road this season, including 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA in 2 starts at Tropicana Field this season.
Then you look at Lester’s numbers at Fenway Park this season. He was 11-1 with a 2.49 ERA in 17 starts. He was also 3-0 against the Rays with 0.90 ERA at the Fens. Like I said, I don’t know if these numbers factor into the decision but they could have. No matter what though, it’s obvious that we have our 3 best pitchers going in the first 3 games and I’ll take that any day of the week. Plus when you look at it, Dice-K would pitch if there was a Game 5, Beckett in Game 6 and Lester if needed in Game 7. You really couldn’t ask for anything better than the Red Sox winning it in 4 games.
And that’s when I felt comfortable with how the Red Sox rotation looked. After all, Lester’s thrown 14 innings allowing just an unearned run in the postseason so far.
Little Dustin Pedroia has come up big for the Red Sox this season.
Grant Balfour is the Rays version of Jonathan Papelbon.
Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe previews the ALCS.
Troy Percival was left off the Rays ALDS roster but hopes to be a part of their ALCS roster.
Be prepared, the national media will probably not be kind to the Red Sox during the ALCS.
Interested in attending the ALCS in Tampa, be prepared to pay for it.
The Red Sox are no longer the lovable underdogs. That role goes to the Rays.
Paul Byrd doesn’t mind hanging out in the Red Sox bullpen since Tim Wakefield is getting the Game 4 start.
Curt Schilling checks in at 38 Pitches about the comments Dr. Craig Morgan made yesterday.
Gary Marbry of WEEI.com has his first ALCS Nuggetapoolza.
Have you met Pedroippet? The full-size Dustin Pedroia puppet.
The scribes at the Boston Globe will be holding chats during the ALCS over at Boston.com starting Friday at noon with Nick Cafardo.
Please let us know who you want to win in the ALCS by voting in the poll on the left sidebar. Voting closes at midnight tonight.
For more playoff slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant and Providence Journal websites.
And if you must see what the enemy papers are saying you can check out the Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times websites.
With the Boston Red Sox getting ready to take on the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night, it’s time to take a look back at what happened during the 2008 regular season between the two clubs.
There was a couple of blowouts by the Red Sox, a blowout by the Rays, a benches clearing brawl between the two teams and domination by the home club. The Red Sox went 7-2 at home while the Rays went 8-1 at the Trop giving the Rays the season series 10-8.
It should be an ALCS to be remember.
In a game of missed opportunities for both teams, the Tampa Bay Rays finally emerged victorious in the bottom of the 11th with a 5-4 win over the Boston Red Sox at Tropicana Field. The loss for the Red Sox is their third in a row after having won 6 straight.
After utterly confusing and dominating the Rays hitters for 7 2/3 innings, all it took was one mistake pitch by Boston Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz to Akinori Iwamura to give the Red Sox their 4th straight loss 2-1 at a sold-out Tropicana Field on Cowbell Night. The win was the 5th straight for the Rays and their record 13th win in the month of April.
Last night it was one bad pitch. Today it was one bad throw that did in the Boston Red Sox as the Tampa Bay Rays completed the sweep with a 3-0 win at Tropicana Field. It’s the 5th straight loss for the Red Sox and the first time that the Rays have swept them in a 3-game set.
After a 2 hour and 27 minute rain delay, the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays finally played some baseball at the Fens. I’m sure after what happened tonight, the Rays would have probably wanted the game to have been canceled as the Red Sox pounded out 13 hits in a 7-3 win on Friday night into early Saturday morning.
When these two teams met a week ago in Tampa Bay, the Rays starter James Shields pitched a really good game throwing a three hit shutout. He was masterful. Tonight was a totally different story as he had a tough first inning that led to a rough outing as Boston beat Tampa Bay 12-4 at Fenway Park on Saturday night.
Last weekend the Tampa Rays got their first ever 3-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox, so what did they do. The Red Sox went out and got a 7-3 win today to sweep the Rays in their 3-game set this weekend. The win for the local nine is their 5th in the last 6 games.