Alex Ochoa earned a nickname in his time in Japan because of his cannon right arm. That nickname is “Laser Beam.” Here is a video to show you his arm.

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For those of you have watched the Red Sox during spring training, you will have seen his “laser beam” arm on occasion. In the first game of the spring, he threw out a speedy Torii Hunter trying to stretch a single into a double. Then in a tie game in the bottom of the eighth inning, he made a catch and then threw out a runner at the plate to end the inning on a double play and keeping the game tied. The Red Sox ended up tieing that game with the Twinkees.

”It’s fun to watch,” Boston manager Terry Francona said. ”Everybody knows Alex can throw. I don’t care if he’s in Triple-A, the major leagues or Japan. He’s got one of the better arms in baseball and it’s accurate.”

Unfortunately for him, the Red Sox have an outfield of J.D. Drew, Coco Crisp, and Manny Ramirez. They also have Wily Mo Peña to come off the bench as well as Eric Hinske who can play the outfield. He hasn’t fared to well at the plate this spring, hitting only 4 for 23. It’s a shame he can’t hit or that the Red Sox don’t have room for him, because he would make for a great defensive replacement late in the game. With his “laser beam” arm in the outfield not too many people would run on him. And if they did, odds are they would be thrown out at the plate.

Over the weekend, the Boston Red Sox made some more roster cuts. They sent down pitchers Craig Breslow, Travis Hughes, Runelvys Hernandez, outfielder Brandon Moss and infielder Eddie Rogers. This brings their total in camp down to 41. Only 16 more cuts to go before the season starts.

Mike Timlin continues to progress in his return from the oblique injury. Pitching coach John Farrell has set up a throwing program for him that they will talk to Timlin about following. As much as I knock the state of the bullpen right now, Timlin is a key member who will be needed once the season starts.

The Red Sox had a day off on Monday but some of the guys competing for bullpen spots were busy pitching in minor league games. “Darkman” Hideki Okajima started in the AAA game and threw 1 inning. He threw 24 pitches, 18 for strikes. He gave up 2 hits while not giving up a run. Lefty Javier Lopez threw 27 pitches in a AA game. In his two innings of work, he didn’t give up any runs. His outing will make the race for the bullpen spots a little more interesting. Craig Hansen also threw in the AA game. He threw 29 pitches, 17 for strikes. He did give up a homerun and gave up 2 hits in 2 innings of work.

It really seems to me that the best thing for Hansen would be to start the season in Triple A to get some more work under his belt. Pitching coach John Farrell has him working on his slider and his other pitches so maybe some time in the minors will help him regain the form he showed when the Red Sox drafted him.

Think back to 2004 when the “self proclaimed idiots” were in the Red Sox clubhouse. You had Kevin Millar and Johnny Damon livening things up, mostly Millar. Well even though Millar is wearing an Orioles uniform, he was still up to some of his old tricks on Sunday as his O’s faced the Red Sox.

“Hey, Tito,” Millar shouted prior to the Sox’ 2-1 win, “Schilling ate your second baseman. That’s unbelievable. When I saw that picture, I couldn’t find Dustin (Pedroia). I said, ‘Let him out.’ ”

One minute, he had Kevin Youkilis in stitches by the batting cage, poking fun at the first baseman’s goatee (or “big old thing of hair,” as he called it);

This “idiot” factor is what made the 2003, 2004 and 2005 editions of the Boston Red Sox unique. If something was going wrong, they could always count on Millar to liven things up. Who could ever forget “Cowboy Up.” Millar is still upset that GM Theo Epstein broke apart the 2004 team that won the World Series.

“I don’t know, but I know whatever they did in ’06 didn’t work,” Millar said. “They watched the playoffs with us. So whatever they tried to do . . . whether it was injuries or whatever, it’s just part of baseball. The group they had for those three years worked. We were in the playoffs three years, we were five outs away from the World Series in ’03, a championship in ’04 . . . but whatever happened, happened. That’s the business side of it and we can’t control it as players. You go with the flow.”

It was always fun to watch the Red Sox play with Millar on the team. He always had that knack to keep the team loose. Playing in a market like Boston, loose is good. With all the pressure from the media and the fans, the more relaxed as a player you are, the odds are you will play better.

In their first round matchup in the NCAA tournament, the UCONN women had no problems getting past UMBC as they defeated them by a final score of 82-33. UCONN had five people score in double figures, led by Renee Montgomery’s 19 points. Charde Houston added 15 points while Kalana Greene and Ketia Swanier chipped in 12 points each. Tina Charles rounded out the Huskies in double figures with 10 points. UMBC was led by Brittnie Hughes who had 9 points.