Fenway Park Weather Update – 9/12

Update 6:50 PM: The game is officially in a rain delay. The Red Sox hope to start the game at 7:45 PM. I’ll keep you posted.

The Boston Red Sox have issued the following press release concerning the weather forecast for tonight’s game.

The current weather forecast (provided by the Red Sox private weather service, Meteorlogix) in the vicinity of Fenway Park calls for the possibility of scattered showers to move through the area during the late afternoon and evening hours.

The Fenway Park gates will open at the regularly scheduled time of 5:05 p.m., and the Red Sox are hopeful that tonight’s game with the Toronto Blue Jays, which is scheduled to start at 7:05 p.m., will be played. However, the Red Sox want to alert our fans to the current forecast and to the possibility of delay.

This forecast is of course subject to change as the day progresses. Additional updates will be provided as necessary.

In The Red Zone – Patriots (1-0) At Jets (1-0) Preview – Week 2

Game Preview Logo

This Week

Patriots at Jets - Week 2

The New England Patriots visit the New York Jets at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford NJ on Sunday at 4:15  p .m.

The Patriots are 0-0 on the road, 0-0 in the division and 1-0 against the AFC.  The Jets are 0-0 at home, 1-0 in the division and 1-0 against the AFC.

Here are the rosters for the Patriots and the Jets.

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 +1.5. The over/under is 37.

My prediction is  Jets 24, Patriots, 20.  Give the points and take the over. I am 0-1 against the spread and 1-0 on calling the over/under in 2008.

Tickets

The Jets are reporting the game as a sell out.

Tickets to the game, if available, may be purchased through Ticketmaster. You can check the availability here. Many times tickets are released in the last 48 hours prior to the game.

Getting To The Game

If you’re lucky enough to be going to the game in the Meadowlands make sure you check out the links.

Here is the up to date weather forecast for the game from weather.com.

Due to construction on a new Meadowlands Stadium, unless you have a PRE-PAID season parking pass there is no parking available at the Meadowlands facilities. You must park in the satellite lots and take the shuttles to the game.

There is NO TAILGATING IN THE SATELLITE LOTS.

Click for stadium directions, parking information, parking map, and a Giants 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.

Continue reading →

Paw Prints – Virginia Cavaliers (1-1) @ UConn Huskies (2-0) Preview

Paw Prints - UConn Football

This week:

Virginia Cavaliers @ UConn Huskies

The UConn Huskies will be looking to go 3-0 for the second straight season when the Virginia Cavaliers come to Rentschler Field Saturday night for a non-conference tilt on the gridiron. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 PM.

Here are the rosters for the Cavaliers and the Huskies.

The Line/Prediction:

According to the USA Today odds,  UConn Huskies are favored by 12.5 points. The over/under is 36.5 points. Take the points and UConn. I am 2-0 against the spread this year.

My prediction is UConn 24 Virginia 10

Tickets:

The game is sold out.

Getting To The Game:

Here is link for the weather report. Here is all the parking info you will need for the game, this link includes directions to Rentschler Field. Here is a Rentschler Field seating chart.

The parking lots will open up 4 hours before kickoff. Here is a list of the tailgating rules at the Rent.

Continue reading →

Paw Prints – The Daily Roundup – 9/12

Paw Prints Daily Roundup

All of the UConn Huskies football news can be found in the Virginia-UConn preview coming up at 9 AM.

John Altavilla of the Hartford Courant was on hand for an informal practice for the women’s basketball team yesterday.

Lorin Dixon and Renee Montgomery have been sharpening their skills for the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team.

David Gillett has a look at Ray Allen in a Nike ad. He also takes a look at the men’s basketball freshman.

The men’s soccer team will be collecting new and used soccer balls on October 3rd against West Virginia.

The men’s baseball team landed 6 players on the top prospects lists of the summer leagues.

The UConn women’s soccer team will host the 16th annual UConn Classic this weekend in Storrs.

Boston Red Sox News & Notes – 9/12

Jed Lowrie, Coco Crisp and Dustin Pedroia in happier times earlier this week

The Boston Red Sox kickoff a 4-game 3 day homestand with the Toronto Blue Jays tonight at Fenway Park. It is a big series for the Red Sox who are coming off 2 straight painful losses to the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Blue Jays come into the series as one of the hottest teams in the American League right now having won 10 of their 11 games and boast the AL’s best pitching staff. It was quite possible that the Red Sox would miss seeing A.J. Burnett and Roy Halladay but Jays skipper Cito Gaston has decided to start the pair plus Jesse Litsch against the Red Sox this weekend. You can see all the pitching matchups here.

It’s ironic too how the schedule looks for the next 10 games. After the 4-game set with the Jays, the Red Sox head to Tampa to take on the Rays followed by 3 more in Toronto next weekend. So basically the Red Sox will be playing 13 straight games against the Rays and Jays. The 6-game 7 day road trip next week is the last one of the season for the Boston Red Sox.

For those of you who missed the Jonathan Papelbon dancing videos this week, you can check them out here and you can also see how it all came about by clicking here.

Josh Beckett is healthy after his latest outing and appears to be on his way to being back to an unrestricted pitch count.

Things won’t get any easier for the Red Sox down the stretch.

The Red Sox are unsure whether or not J.D. Drew will be available tonight after his back tightened up during Wednesday’s game.

Sean McAdam writes that a healthy Red Sox team is a lock to make the playoffs.

Dustin Pedroia has a unique swing and a unique approach.

The Red Sox and the city of Sarasota are starting to get a little more cozier with each other.

The Red Sox could be front-runners to land Japanese pitcher Junichi Tazawa.

Gary Mabry from WEEI checks in with some tidbits about Wednesday night’s 14 inning affair.

Michael Berger of WEEI takes a look at Mike Timlin’s numbers in one-run and tie games.

For more slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant and Providence Journal websites.

Destination Red Sox Nation – 9/12

Destination Red Sox Nation

Destination Red Sox Nation is our look at how the minor league teams of the Boston Red Sox fare each night. Game story links and links to team stats and league standings are after the jump.

The Red Sox have 4 of their minor league teams in the playoffs. The Pawtucket Red Sox, Portland Sea Dogs, Lancaster JetHawks and Lowell Spinners all clinched playoff berths. Only the JetHawks remain alive.

Continue reading →

Toronto Blue Jays @ Boston Red Sox Pitching Matchups: 9/12-9/14

Toronto Blue Jays @ Boston Red Sox pitching matchups

Friday, September 12th @ 7:05 PM

David Purcey, LHP (3-5, 5.23) vs Tim Wakefield, RHP (8-10, 4.11)

TV: NESN, MLB.tv

Radio: Red Sox Radio Network, MLB Game Day Audio

Saturday, September 13th @ 12:35 PM

A.J. Burnett, RHP (17-10, 4.31) vs Paul Byrd, RHP (11-11, 4.39)

TV: NESN

Radio: Red Sox Radio Network, MLB Game Day Audio

Saturday, September 13th @ 7:05 PM

Jesse Litsch, RHP (11-8, 3.70) vs Bartolo Colon, RHP (4-2, 4.09)

TV: NESN, MLB.tv

Radio: Red Sox Radio Network, MLB Game Day Audio

Sunday, September 14th @ 1:35 PM

Roy Halladay, RHP (18-10, 2.77) vs Jon Lester, LHP (14-5, 3.23)

TV: NESN, TBS, MLB.tv

Radio: Red Sox Radio Network, MLB Game Day Audio

Negotiating for Dummies

Negotiating for Dummies
The readers at the social media site Sawxheads.com had an opportunity to interview Boston Red Sox assistant general manager Jed Hoyer through email about many different topics.  This was the one that caught my eye though was about the negoitations that took place with Curt Schilling during Thanksgiving 2003.

One thing you don’t know… Curt took the very unusual step of representing himself. He was well prepared and detail oriented throughout the process. Whenever we would exchange offers, Curt would take it and then disappear to his office for an hour or so before responding. After we were done with the deal, I went into his office to find a quiet place to type up the final terms. On Curt’s desk was ‘Negotiating for Dummies’ or ‘My First Negotiation’ or some such book. Theo and I just cracked up. Prior to leaving Curt’s house for the press conference, Theo showed him what we had found. Curt thought it was pretty funny, though I think he was glad we found it after the fact.

This is just classic. I am pretty sure Schilling didn’t want them to find that book. I can only imagine if they had found it before the deal got done what they would have done to him. At least Theo and Jed were nice about it to him.

Boston Red Sox News & Notes – 9/11

The Rays celebrate Carlos Pena 3-run homer in the dugout.

I don’t know about you but that was some exciting baseball the past three nights at Fenway Park. Unfortunately for us Boston Red Sox fans, we came out on the short end of the stick the past two nights.

Some will argue that the umpiring cost the Red Sox the game last night but when you leave 18 runners on base, you’re not going to win ballgames. And that’s exactly what happened to the Red Sox last night. When you have bases loaded in the 14th with no outs and can only score 1 run, something’s not going right at all. The Red Sox didn’t get the clutch hit when they needed it.

One thing they did get last night was some great pitching out of the bullpen with the exception of Mike Timlin who gave up the 3-run bomb on a good sinker that was down and away.  Before Timlin gave up the homer to Carlos Peña, the bullpen (Hideki Okajima, Justin Masterson, Manny Delcarmen and Javier Lopez) had thrown 7 1/3 scoreless innings after taking over for Josh Beckett.

No matter what though, it’s a tough loss to swallow as the Red Sox fell to 2.5 games out after having a chance to take over first place on Tuesday night. The lead in the wild card is 5 games over the Minnesota Twins and 7 games over this weekend’s opponent the Toronto Blue Jays, who will be in Beantown for a 4-game set that starts on Friday with a day-night doubleheader on Saturday. The Red Sox will enjoy the day off today to get some much needed rest, especially after a 5 hour 14 inning affair last night.

Adam Kilgore of the Boston Globe talks about the crowded Red Sox outfield.

The Rays have flipped James Shields and Matt Garza in their rotation.

The Red Sox are not concerned about Jed Lowrie’s falling off at the palte.

Dan Johnson’s character and approach has payed off  big time for him.

Josh Beckett showed he was back in form last night for the Red Sox.

J.D. Drew was deemed available before the game but his back acted up as the game went on.

The Red Sox were frustrated by the 3 bad calls that went against them.

After ripping New York fans, Curt Schilling got one fan to admit he was right.

For more 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.