The Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins played to a 4-4 tie in 10 innings on Wednesday night at City of Palms Park in Ft. Myers. The reason the game ended in a tie was due to the fact that the Red Sox ran out of pitchers.

The Twins had a chance to win the game in the top of the 9th but Sox outfielder Alex Ochoa threw out Luis Rodriguez with a laser throw to home plate. Surprising to see someone throw someone out at the plate this early in spring training, but when your MLB life hangs in the balance with each play, you do what you gotta do.

Curt Schilling was in mid-season form in the game. He threw 15 of his 19 pitches for strikes. 18 of his pitches were fastballs and 1 was a slider. He did give up 2 hits. Schilling spoke with the media during the game and had this to say:

“I was nervous and short of breath and all the things I normally am whether I’m facing [Northeastern] or the Yankees tonight,” Schilling said. “That first time out, that anxiety is the thing that … you just can’t replicate that when you’re competing. It’s amazing that it’s already back and starting again.

I expect to be the ace of the staff. I know there’s a lot of people that are assuming I’m going to get the ball Opening Day because it’s the respectful thing to do. I don’t want that to be the case. I expect to be the ace of the staff. I expect to have some of these guys have phenomenal years and I’ll barely outpitch them and we’ll win a World Series. That’s what I’ll expect.”

Schilling will be back on the mound on Sunday when the Red Sox face the Twins again in the Mayor’s Cup.

Joel Piñero gave up the first run in the game in the 3rd inning but it wasn’t his fault. The main concern that the Red Sox had was Julio Lugo’s defense. Well he didn’t disappoint when he made an error on a routine throw to first base. That’s what led to the first run.

The Red Sox got the lead up to 4-1 with two runs in each of the 3rd and 4th innings. Lugo atoned for his error by driving in a run and Big Papi beat the shift to drive in another. Jacoby Ellsbury added a double to knock in two runs in the 4th.

The Twins tied it up in the 5th on a Joe Mauer opposite field 3 run homer off of Julian Tavarez to finish off the scoring in the game.

Other news from Red Sox camp on Wednesday.

Jon Lester will return to the hill on Monday when he faces the Twins minor leaguers in a “B” game. He will only throw one inning. This is great news as he works towards returning to his pre-cancer form. Lester will then throw in the bullpen a few days later, then throw a simulated game. He is currently slated to start the minor league opener on March 26th.

Terry Francona said there’s no timetable as to when Manny Ramirez will make his spring debut. He wants him to get his baseball legs underneath him before letting Manny take the field.

Mike Timlin still hasn’t received clearance to retake the mound but continues to go through his normal spring training routine.

J.D Drew and Coco Crisp will make their debuts against Northeastern on Thursday. Josh Beckett is slated to pitch 2 innings in the game as well.

First spring training game out of the way. It was nice to see Schilling look like his normal self. The one thing that I noticed during the game was there wasn’t a lot of breaking balls thrown. The only pitchers who really threw any breaking stuff were the ones who participated in winter ball. Ellsbury was impressive in stealing 2nd base. He was actually in the process of getting picked off but beat the throw the second base after Twins 1B Ken Harvey dropped the throw from the pitcher. The Mayor’s Cup now stands at 0-0-1 for both the Sox and the Twinkees.

If you would like to see some pictures of the game, continue reading. These are snapshots from the game on NESN.

Technorati: Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins, Curt Schilling, Terry Francona

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Scottie Reynolds scored a career high 40 points leading 3 Villanova players in double figures to a 78-74 victory over the UCONN Huskies at Gampel Pavilion on Tuesday night. 6th year senior Curtis Sumpter added 18 points and 10 rebounds while Mike Nardi chipped in 10 points. UCONN also had 3 players in double figures as well. Jerome Dyson and Jeff Adrien both had 20 points while Craig Austrie had 10 points.

The game started out slowly for UCONN as they were 1 for 12 from the field to start the game but Villanova was only able to build a 4 point lead at 8-4. UCONN actually took the lead at 13-9 but Villanova regained the lead and never looked back. UCONN did kept it close but the Wildcats too a 6 point lead into the locker room at the half.

UCONN started the second half slowly as well as they did get the lead to within 2 points but a 7-0 run by the Wildcats ended up getting the lead back up to 12. Villanova kept the lead at around 6 to 8 points for most of the second half before an 11-2 run got the Huskies back to within a point. Sumpter pulled down a huge offensive rebound after a missed foul shot by Reynolds that put the Wildcats up 3. UCONN then began to foul and ‘Nova made most of their free throws down the stretch as UCONN could not get close enough to pull out the victory.

• The starters were Price, Dyson, Johnson, Thabeet, and Adrien.
• Adrien had his Big East leading 15th double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
• Even though Dyson had 20 points, he was absolutely horrible from the field, shooting 4 of 14, including 3 of 10 from beyond the arc. He was 9 of 14 from the free throw line.
• Austrie wasn’t much better from the floor either shooting 3 of 10 from the floor, including 2 of 7 from 3 point land.
• UCONN as a team was only 6 of 23 (26%) from 3 point land.
• Doug Wiggins took a hard foul from Reynolds where his legs were taken out. He hit the floor very hard and didn’t return to the game.
• What is the one thing that I have said was killing the Huskies all season? Free throws. They were horrendous from the line again. They did get to the line 44 times, making only 24 of them. In a game they lose by 4 points, these missed free throws are a big reason as to why they lost.
• At one point in the first half, there 14 made baskets and 19 fouls by the two teams. In the game, there was a total of 53 fouls called with 32 on ‘Nova and 21 on UCONN.
• UCONN did win the battle of the boards 49-42. That was about the only thing that they won.

I honestly thought that after they clinched a spot in the Big East Tournament last week, that UCONN would come out and play a little more relaxed. But that hasn’t been the case. They are definitely showing their youth and inexperience.

With the loss, UCONN falls to 17-12 (6-9 in the Big East). They conclude the regular season on March 3rd with a trip to our nation’s capital to take on the much improved Georgetown Hoyas. Gametime is 12:00 Noon and will be shown on CBS.

Technorati: UCONN Huskies, Jim Calhoun, Villanova Wildcats

Here is a look at the Boston Red Sox from the Fort on Tuesday.

Dan Shaughnessy, who is Curt Schilling’s #1 fan, provided the updates for the Globe’s Extra Bases blog on Monday. One of the main things he had to say was that nothing much was going on at camp. There was no on the field batting practice and that Terry Francona was going to have the players do some defensive drills. He also gives us a look at the lineup for the game on Wednesday.

1. Julio Lugo, SS
2. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Jason Varitek, C
5. Mike Lowell, 3B
6. Wily Mo Pena, RF
7. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
8. David Murphy, LF
9. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF

Interesting lineup to say the least. No Manny, no J.D. Drew, no Coco. I suspect the reason for this is the fact that the Red Sox will play split squad games on March 1st and 2nd. Plus with Manny just getting to camp, I am sure that they want to make sure he has his “baseball legs” under him. Not really sure why Drew isn’t playing other than what I said about the split squad games. Same goes for Coco.

The Red Sox will be moving their camp from the minor league complex to down the street at City of Palms Park. The reason for this is that the Red Sox minor leaguers are going to be reporting soon. Also, the Red Sox play all their home games at City of Palms.

Kevin Youkilis and Mike Andrews from the Jimmy Fund announced the second annual “Rally Around Cancer” on April 10th that coincides with the Red Sox opener.

All businesses and schools throughout New England are being asked to encourage their staff and students to wear their favorite Red Sox apparel to work or school on Opening Day at Fenway Park. Employees and students will be asked to donate $5 to the Jimmy Fund, with the top fund-raising business and school each winning a personal trip from Youkilis.

“We all know how hard a ticket to Fenway Park on Opening Day is,” said Youkilis, who is the voluntary chair of this year’s event. “Everyone can’t be there. So this is a great way for fans to show their support while rallying around my two favorite hometown teams, the Red Sox and the Jimmy Fund.”

Never mind opening day Kevin, just about every Red Sox game is impossible to get a ticket for. However, I will be one of the lucky ones that will be attending Opening Day at Fenway. No you can’t go with me. I was also fortunate enough to get Green Monster seats for the season finale against the Twins. I do plan to be donning the Red Sox gear and will most definitely be donating my $5. I strongly urge you to do the same. If you own a business, put a little fundraiser together. It’s for a good cause.

Extra Bases gives us a look at pitching matchups for the first four days of games.

• Wednesday night’s probable pitchers when the Sox take on the Minnesota Twins at City of Palms Park (7:05 p.m., NESN and WRKO): Red Sox—Curt Schilling, Joel Pineiro, Brendan Donnelly, Julian Tavarez, Manny Delcarmen, J.C. Romero, Bryan Corey, and Renelvys Hernandez. Twins—Matt Garza, Scott Baker, Brad Voyles, Julio DePaula, and Jason Miller.

• Thursday’s probable pitchers: Two games: Red Sox vs. Blue Jays at Dunedin (1:05 p.m.): Red Sox—Kason Gabbard, Devern Hansack, Travis Hughes, Javier Lopez, Edgar Martinez, and David Pauley. Blue Jays—Roy Halladay. Red Sox vs. Northeastern University at City of Palms Park (1:05 p.m.)—Red Sox—Josh Beckett and Craig Breslow.

• Friday’s probable pitchers: Split doubleheader at City of Palms Park: Red Sox vs. Toronto Blue Jays (12:35 p.m.): Red Sox—Kyle Snyder, Renelvys Hernandez, Brendan Donnelly, Hideki Okajima, Bryan Corey, Mike Burns. Blue Jays—Gustavo Chacin. Red Sox vs. Boston College (6:05 p.m., NESN (6:00-7:00 p.m. only) and WRKO): Red Sox—Daisuke Matsuzaka, Kyle Jackson, and Nick Debarr.

• Saturday’s probable pitchers: Red Sox vs. Philadelphia Phillies at City of Palms Park (1:05 p.m., NESN): Red Sox—Tim Wakefield, Jonathan Papelbon, Joel Pineiro, J.C. Romero, Manny Delcarmen, and Travis Hughes. Philies—Adam Eaton, Brian Mazone, Geoff Geary, Eude Brito, and Matt Smith.

Red Sox Nation will get their look at 4 of the 5 candidates during tonight’s game. Mike Timlin is ready to pitch but needs time in the bullpen before he gets into a game. With it being spring training, all the starting pitchers will be throwing 35 pitches or 2 innings. I would have to think about halfway thru the games in the spring, the Red Sox will start to mold their rotation. I know I will be watching the game tonight even though the UCONN Huskies are on. One on the computer, one on the television.

I don’t know about you but I am getting excited about the games starting. Even though to some it’s not baseball season until college basketball is over, it is nice to see the teams starting up. With the UCONN men out of things for the most part and the women still going and the Red Sox starting up, things will be heating up. I am not sure if that makes sense but in my head it did.

Here is a look at the some of the other Red Sox news around the net.

Tim Wakefield and Doug Mirabelli are still in sync with each other.

Here is a look at our newest second baseman, Dustin Pedroia.

Is Manny really happy?

From starter to potential closer, a look at Joel Piñero.

I will be back later with the “Half Marathon Around NL Camps”. Until then, godspeed and may the schwarz be with you.

Technorati: Boston Red Sox, Boston Globe, Curt Schilling, Manny Ramirez, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Terry Francona

The three suspects (Anthony Alvino, Michelle Hall, Kara Satalin) in the Carlee Wines case were in court on Tuesday for arraignment on the charges they are facing in the death of Carlee Wines.

Alvino was formally arraigned on the charges of misconduct with a motor vehicle resulting in death, evading responsibility, tampering with physical evidence, possession of alcohol by a minor, traveling unreasonably fast, and failure to grant right of way to a pedestrian in a crosswalk. Hall was arraigned on charges of aiding and abetting evading responsibility, conspiracy to commit evading responsibility, hindering prosecution, aiding and abetting identity theft, and inducing minors to procure liquor. Their case was continued until March 30th. The venue of the case was also changed from Rockville Superior Court to Tolland. They remain free on bond right now.

Satalin was in front of the same judge as Alvino and Hall to be arraigned on her charges of of purchasing alcohol for a minor, conspiracy to procure liquor for a minor, misrepresentation of age to procure liquor, third-degree identity theft and conspiracy to commit third-degree identity theft. Her case was continued until March 30th as well in Rockville. She remains free on bond as well.

Technorati: Carlee Wines, University of Connecticut