It’s hard to get excited about things right now since after all it is spring training. But some good things are happening with the Sox. The starters are having early success. Lester is making his comeback. Dice-K may have thrown the gyroball the other day. Schilling is working on putting the changeup in his arsenal. He is also blogging. Papelbon is looking good right now. Tim Wakefield is working on his curveball. The closer position is still up in the air. Timlin will put his hat in that race on Saturday. So much going on at the Fort, I don’t know where to start.

As I wrote the other day, Jon Lester pitched in his first game since Aug 23, 2006. It is just a great story out of camp right now. It’s a shame that NESN didn’t pick up the broadcast of this game. Most of us here were left to watching the news highlights of him pitch. For everything he has been through since August, it had to have meant the world for him to retake the mound.

The Marlins hitters are saying that they experienced the gyroball when they faced Daisuke Matsuzaka in the game against the Red Sox on Tuesday.

“He threw four different pitches to me – a fastball, slider, gyro and curve,” said Stokes. On the gyro, “He threw it up and in. I could see it was obviously a ball right away. I’m thinking ‘Get out of the way.’ It kind of backs up on you.”

Hermida encountered the pitch three times. He affirmed Stokes’ version that it was a gyroball, saying it was somewhere between a changeup and split-fingered fastball.

“It’s got a good, hard and downward break but comes out with more speed than a changeup,” he said. “It comes out of the hand good and then it just dies on you.”

Hermida hesitated to use the word “gyroball” but he clearly had no idea what it was.

“I think that it is what it is, but it might not (be a gyro),” he said.

So does the gyroball really exist. The Sox pitching coach, John Farrell, says its the way he throws his changeup. Since the game wasn’t broadcast on any television outlet other than back to Japan, it will be hard to find evidence he threw it other than what the Marlins’ hitters are saying.

Curt Schilling said that he threw about 10 changeups in his last start against the Twins. He has thrown it in the past but has never really felt confident with it. Given his arsenal of pitches, a changeup will only make him better. And at his age, he might need any help he can get. Just kidding. He’s a great pitcher and gives it his all every time he is out on the mound. By the way, as I wrote earlier, Schilling has his own blog, 38 Pitches. It’s a great read.

Personally, I think it’s great that he is doing this. It will be really nice to see things from the player’s perspective. You see a lot of blogs by players that are moderated or run by MLB. This is not the case with Schilling’s blog. He has even opened up for comments.

Courtesy of the beautiful girls who run Babes Love Baseball, comes this tidbit of information. Curt Schilling is now a member of the blogosphere. 38 Pitches is Curt’s new way of speaking out.

I’ve been called everything from outspoken to blowhard to much, much worse. I believe those labels spring out of the fact that I care about the things people ask me as much as any other cause. I’ve never been a yes/no kind of guy, which probably hasn’t been received well by some. I don’t know that I’ll be changing my style, but I do know that getting ripped for something I say here will be getting ripped for something I actually said–with the entire contents of my comments included.

The best part about it all is that you can leave comments. He has even responded to a few. I have added the link to his blog in the blogroll so you can always get there from here.

Technorati: Curt Schilling, 38Pitches, Boston Red Sox

The Big East awards were announced on Tuesday night and the All-Conference teams were announced on Monday. UCONN placed 3 players on the teams. Mr. Everything, Jeff Adrien was named to the 2nd team while Jerome Dyson and Hasheem Thabeet were named to the All-Freshman team.

Here is a look at the awards and All-Conference teams:

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A 17-4 run by the Rutgers Scarlet Knights propelled them to a 55-47 victory over the UCONN women to give them their first Big East Tournament crown. This marks the fourth straight time that the regular season champ hasn’t won the postseason tournament title. It also ended UCONN’s 15 game winning streak.

Essence Carson led the way for the Scarlet Knights with 15 points. Matee Ajavon had 11 points and Kia Vaughn had 10 points. For UCONN, they were led by Charde Houston, who had 12 points. Renee Montgomery had 11 points while Tina Charles and Mel Thomas both added 8 points.

Notes and Observations:

• The starting five was Montgomery, Thomas, Greene, Charles, and Houston.
• Charles spent the last 10 minutes of the first half with her ass planted on the bench because she got into foul trouble. Of the Huskies who saw significant time in this game, she shot the best making 3 of her 4 shots.
• After scoring 20 points in the semifinals, Greene didn’t have one of her better games. She was 3 of 10 from the floor and finished with 6 points. She did have 10 rebounds.
• Ajavon of Rutgers was a ballhog during the game. She was 4 of 22 from the floor.
• UCONN as a team shot 20 of 58 (34%) from the floor. Rutgers wasn’t much better as they were 20 of 60 (33%).
• UCONN committed 17 turnovers and Rutgers converted those into 23 points.
• UCONN only got to the line 4 times, making all 4 of them. Coach Geno Auriemma had said for them to beat Rutgers, they had to get to the free throw line and not commit turnovers. As evidenced from the stat sheet, this wasn’t the case.
• Greene, Montgomery, and Houston were named to the All-Tournament Team.

Just a really poor effort by the Huskies tonight. They had no offensive flow at all. They didn’t get to the line, they couldn’t hit a shot to save their lives. To me, it is probably a good thing that they lost now because it will make them more focused as they try to reach their goal of winning the NCAA championship.

I don’t expect this loss to hurt the Huskies chances of being a number 1 seed in the NCAA’s. They should still get a #1 seed and will most likely open up the 1st and 2nd round at the Hartford Civic Center.

Technorati: UCONN Huskies, Geno Auriemma, Rutgers Scarlet Knights, Big East Conference