Former New Haven Raven Joel Piñeiro is set to sign a 1 year deal with the Boston Red Sox. The deal is for 1 year with a guaranteed $4 million dollars plus incentives.

The signing of Piñeiro gives the Red Sox 7 potential starters for next season (Schilling, Matsuzaka, Beckett, Wakefield, Papelbon and Lester). If I had to venture a guess, Piñeiro will probably pitch out of the bullpen. Still though, $4 million dollars for a season is awfully high for a guy who will pitch in middle relief. I am sure Piñeiro isn’t happy because his buddy, Gil Meche, signed a 5 yr, $55 million dollar deal. Difference being, Meche had a better season last year as Piñeiro was 8-13 with a 6.36 ERA.

Maybe, just maybe Piñeiro will emerge during spring training as a pitcher who’d be better off starting and the Sox could move Papelbon back to the bullpen.

Technorati: Joel Piñeiro, Boston Red Sox

In a game they may have been overlooking, the UCONN Lady Huskies struggled to victory over the West Virgina Mountaineers by a final score of 63-44. UCONN had 3 people in double figures led by Charde Houston’s 16 points and 9 rebounds. Kalana Greene added 15 points and 9 rebounds while Tina Charles came off the bench to score 13 points and added 12 rebounds.

The Lady Huskies may have been looking to Saturday’s annual matchup with the Tennessee Volunteers and came out slugglishly in the first half. This has been the norm the past three games. West Virginia came out strong early but struggled later on as the Huskies took control and they never got close again.

Notes and Observations:

• The starting five was Montgomery, Thomas, Greene, McClaren and Houston.
• Tina Charles play off the bench has been superb the past two games. It seems to me that even though this is probably the first time in her life she hasn’t started a game, she is better suited for this at the time. It gives her a chance to read the defense and see the flow of the game.
• Brittany Hunter was dressed but was not available for the game. Her knee is still bothering her. Hopefully she is ready for Saturday’s rumble with Tennessee as she will be needed.
• Mel Thomas had another shadow today and finished with only 5 points while taking only 3 shots. UCONN really needs to get her the ball more and let her shoot because if she’s on, she can single handedly bring down a team.
• UCONN shot 48.3% percent for the game and was held 20 points under their average. This will probably happen again in the Big East as teams look to slow down the play.
• They also were 16 of 21 (76.2%) from the foul line. This is much improved and hopefully this will be the trend down the season.

UCONN moves to 12-0 (2-0 Big East). Next up for the Lady Huskies is a date on Saturday afternoon against Candace Parker and the Tennessee Volunteers. Game time is at 4 pm and the game will be televised nationally on CBS.
Technorati: UCONN Huskies, Geno Auriemma, West Virginia Mountaineers, Tennessee Volunteers

In front of a sell-out crowd an announced crowd of 15,174 at the Hartford Civic Center, the UCONN Huskies bounced back from their loss on Saturday to defeat the South Florida Bulls 69-50. Jeff Adrien led the way for the Huskies with yet another double-double, 16 points and 15 rebounds. Jerome Dyson also chipped in 16 points. AJ Price rounded out the Huskies in double figures with 10 points.

Before I get into my notes and observations I would like to say this. I watched the game on television and noticed a lot of empty seats at the game. At one point they panned into the 300 level of the Hartford Civic Center and most of it was empty. So for UCONN to announce a crowd of 15,174 when there was easily at least 2 to 3 thousand empty seats in the place. It brings me back to my minor league baseball days when I would attend the New Britain Rockcats games that had the 2,000 fans and the GM would announce a sell-out.

Notes and observations:

• The starters were the usual five: Price, Dyson, Johnson, Thabeet, and Adrien.
• Jonathan Mandeldove was the first off the bench tonight because Thabeet picked up a quick foul early on.
• Hasheem Thabeet blocked 5 more shots tonight. Ironically enough, the second leading person with blocked shots, McHugh Mattis, played for South Florida. He also blocked 5 shots as well.
• Doug Wiggins had another solid effort of the bench scoring 9 points.
• 9 players played in double figure minutes tonight. This should be the trend as the Big East season wears on.
• Besides scoring 10 points, AJ Price added a career high 8 rebounds.
• UCONN’s free throw shooting was a little improved over the last game. They were 10 of 16 (62.5%) from the line. I am sure Coach Jim Calhoun is not happy about this still.
• Hasheem Thabeet was absolutely leveled by South Florida’s Kentrell Gransberry going up for a dunk late in the second half. Gransberry was called for an intentional foul and Thabeet had to be helped from the floor. He did return to the game later on.
• Jim Calhoun is now 3 wins away from 500 in his UCONN coaching career. Overall, he has 745 wins in his career.

With the win, the Huskies move to 12-1 (1-1 Big East) on the season. Next up for the Huskies is a nationally televised game on Saturday night at 9 P.M. The game will be broadcast on ESPN and ESPN College Game Day will be there.

Technorati: UCONN Huskies, South Florida Bulls, Jim Calhoun, ESPN, Hartford Civic Center, LSU