Paw Prints is our daily look at the happenings for the UConn Huskies football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball teams as well as some of the other sports. We will do our best to bring you the links from all of the media that covers the Huskies on a daily basis. As always, links can be found by clicking on the read more button below.

Thank you for stopping by and making SOX & Dawgs your home for UConn Huskies news.

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UConn Men’s Basketball links

Kemba’s Draft Situation [David Borges – New Haven Register]

Jim Calhoun Appears In Bridgeport [Mike Anthony – Hartford Courant]

Lamb getting ready for USA Basketball experience [Neill Ostrout – CT Post]

Kemba Walker: Best Buy Outtakes [UConn Huskies Basketball]

UConn’s Calhoun remains coy on future [CT Post]

Jim Calhoun Still Undecided On UConn Future [Hartford Courant]

UConn Football links

Pasqualoni: Going Through Car Wash At ESPN Monday [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]

CBS Sports Recruiting Analyst Tom Lemming Talks UConn [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]

Maryland Transfer Heading To UConn: LB Ryan Donohue [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]

Ex-UConn QB Tyler Lorenzen Among Fringe Players Feeling Effect Of Lockout [Hartford Courant]

Other UConn related links

Baseball. Baseball America Announces All-Americans [UConnHuskies.com]

Baseball. Springer, Barnes & Vance Named NCBWA All-Americans [UConnHuskies.com]

Baseball. Perfect Game USA Announces All-Americans [UConnHuskies.com]

W. Soccer. Women’s Soccer To Face NCAA Champs Notre Dame on ESPNU [UConnHuskies.com]

W. Volleyball. 2011 UConn Volleyball Schedule Released [UConnHuskies.com]

With the Boston Bruins holding their Stanley Cup Championship parade (get your Bruins championship gear here) on Saturday morning in Boston, the Boston Red Sox have moved their game from 1:10 p.m. to 7:10 p.m. to accommodate the fans.

Here’s the release from the Red Sox:

BOSTON, MA-The Boston Red Sox today announced that the start time of Saturday’s game, June 18 vs. the Milwaukee Brewers at Fenway Park, has been moved from 1:10 p.m. to 7:10 p.m.

A time change was made at the request of Mayor Menino and City of Boston officials in an effort to minimize congestion caused by large crowds anticipated for two major events in the City of Boston. The later start will allow fans to enjoy both the Red Sox-Brewers game and the Boston Bruins Stanley Cup Championship Parade, which begins at 11 a.m. that morning, with a route from TD Garden to Copley Square, and is scheduled to conclude at approximately 1:00 – 1:30 p.m. In addition, an evening start time was selected in order to afford fans the opportunity to enjoy the Stanley Cup parade in person or on television, while also providing better access to Fenway Park for the Red Sox game and ensuring fans can watch the Sox’ match-up against the Brewers on NESN. (Due to MLB’s agreement with a national broadcast partner, teams are restricted from televising games during the Saturday afternoon national broadcast exclusive window.)

The Red Sox plan to pay special tribute to the Stanley Cup Champions before Sunday’s game against Milwaukee.

All Fenway Park gates will open at 5:40 p.m. on Saturday with a limited opening on Yawkey Way at Gates A and D at 5:10 p.m., and NESN’s pre-game coverage will begin at 6:00 p.m. Additionally, the Red Sox-Brewers contest will air on WEEI 850 AM with the pre-game show starting at 6:00 p.m. Fans can also hear the game broadcast by Spanish Baseball Productions on WWZN 1510 AM.

After splitting the first two games, the Boston Red Sox look to take the rubber game of a three-game set with the Tampa Bay Rays tonight at Tropicana Field.

Tonight’s first pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. and you can watch the game on NESN in the Red Sox television market. If you live in the Rays television market, you can catch the game on Sun Sports. If you don’t live in either market you’re in luck as well as the MLB Network will be televising the game. And if you can’t catch the television broadcast, you can always listen to the game on the 2011 Red Sox Radio Network.

Clay Buchholz, who ended his four-game no decision streak with a win his last time out, takes toes the slab for the 14th time this season. In his previous 13 starts, Buchholz is 5-3 with a 3.59 ERA. He has not faced the Rays in 2011 and was 1-1 with a 0.98 ERA (2 ER/18.1 IP) in three starts against them last year. He’s made seven career starts against the Rays and is 3-2 with a 1.81 ERA. Four of those starts have come at the Trop where he is 2-1 with a 2.30 ERA.

David Price makes his 15th start of 2011 for skipper Joe Maddon. In his previous 14 starts, Price is 7-5 with a 3.51 ERA. He picked up a win in his only start against the Red Sox back on April 12th when he allowed two runs in 7.2 innings. He’s made six career starts against the Red Sox and is 4-2 with a 3.18 ERA.

Click on the read more button below to see tonight’s lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the overnight and morning if you’re on the home page.

Here are tonight’s lineups:

40-27		36-32
1. Darnell McDonald	CF	1. Johnny Damon	DH
2. Dustin Pedroia	2B	2. Ben Zobrist	2B
3. Adrian Gonzalez	1B	3. Matt Joyce	RF
4. Kevin Youkilis	3B	4. Evan Longoria	3B
5. David Ortiz	DH	5. Casey Kotchman	1B
6. Jed Lowrie	SS	6. B.J. Upton	CF
7. Carl Crawford	LF	7. John Jaso	C
8.Mike Cameron	RF	8. Sam Fuld	LF
9. Jarrod Saltalamacchia	C	9. Reid Brignac	SS
Clay Buchholz	SP	David Price	SP

And here is how the hitters have fared against tonight’s starting pitchers:

Check back and/or refresh often as more links will be added if/when they become available before game time.

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Connecticut Likes The Yankees Better than the Red Sox [SOX & Dawgs]

Saturday’s Red Sox vs Brewers Game Moved To 7:10 p.m. [SOX & Dawgs]

Pregame notes: Ellsbury ‘tremendous,’ resolution coming for Papelbon [Clubhouse Insider]

New and improved Beckett in 2011 [CSNNE.com]

Nation STATion: Josh Beckett’s greatest game ever? [CSNNE.com]

While you were away: Catching up B’s fans [ESPN Boston]

Video: Decade of excellence in Boston [ESPN Boston]

Time for Papelbon to take his punishment? [Extra Bases]

Extra Bases blog: Pregame notes from Tropicana Field [Extra Bases]

Minor Details Ep. 12: Breaking down the Red Sox draft with Jim Callis [Full Count]

Which Bruins Player Should Throw Out the First Pitch at Fenway Park? [NESN.com]

Heidi Watney Takes You With Her As She Goes Skydiving in Florida (Video) [NESN.com]

Jerry Remy Talks About What Bruins’ Stanley Cup Win Means to Him, Boston Sports Fans [NESN.com]

To Francona, Damon a Hall of Famer [Projo Sox Blog]

Durable Ellsbury sits one out [Projo Sox Blog]

Buchholz aiming to give Sox series win [RedSox.com]

Big Papi enjoying a big renaissance [RedSox.com]

Photo credits: AP Photo, AP Photo

The Boston Red Sox may have taken eight of nine games so far this season from the New York Yankees but to the fans of the teams in the state of Connecticut that doesn’t seem to matter.

In the yearly Quinnipiac Poll that measures the favorite teams of the residents of the state of Connecticut, the Yankees hold a 43% to 38% advantage over the Red Sox. The New York Mets are a distant third at 7%. Last year, the Yankees held just a 1% lead over the Red Sox at 39% to 38%.

Oddly enough, the Red Sox are favored higher among women in CT as 42% prefer them to the 39% that like the Yankees. For men though it’s a different story as the Yankees hold a 47% to 35% advantage.

As you might expect, the Yankees hold the highest advantage in Fairfield County which is obviously closer to New York. The Yankees also hold a 46% to 33% advantage in the lower middle of the state in Middlesex and New Haven counties.

The Red Sox dominate the north central, east, northeast and southeast parts of the state. In Hartford County, the Red Sox hold a 48% to 36% advantage. These numbers right here are something that MLB on FOX and FOX 61 need to take a look at when determining what game to take for Saturday Night Baseball when the Red Sox and Yankees are both playing and not against each other.

In Tolland, Windham and New London counties, the Red Sox hold an overwhelming 67% to 27% advantage. There are no poll numbers from Litchfield County but being purely speculative here, I’d have to say the Yankees would hold the advantage there as well.

Fans of both the Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins were presented with a dilemma on Wednesday night. After all, the Bruins were playing for the Stanley Cup while the Red Sox had Josh Beckett on the hill.

Well about an hour and half before the Bruins won the Stanley Cup, Beckett pitched perhaps his finest game of the 2011 season in a one-hit 3-0 shutout of the Tampa Bay Rays. The shutout win for Beckett and the Red Sox avenged Tuesday night’s shutout by the Rays.

Offense was at a premium in this game as Rays starter Jeremy Hellickson matched Beckett for 6 1/3 innings. The only hit Hellickson had allowed up until that point was a single by Dustin Pedroia in the 1st inning. Beckett’s only hit allowed came in the 3rd inning when Reid Brignac beat out an infield single.

Pedroia changed things though in the 7th as he tripled with one out. Rather than face Adrian Gonzalez, the Rays decided to intentionally walk him to set up the double play, something the Red Sox had been hitting into with a high frequency so far in this short series. But the move backfired on Joe Maddon and Hellickson as Kevin Youkilis took an 0-1 fastball and planted in the left field seats to provide the only runs of the night for the Red Sox.

Beckett’s stuff was electric last night. He had excellent command and location on all of his pitches. His fastball and changeup set up his cutter and vice versa. He needed just 97 pitches to get through the game.

He faced one batter over the minimum on the night while striking out six. He didn’t walk a batter. Before last night, the fewest hits Beckett had given up in a start was three. The last time Beckett had a complete game was on September 12, 2009 and that came against the Rays as well.

Obviously the big difference in 2011 compared to 2010 is the fact that Beckett is healthy. He spent a good amount of time on the disabled list in 2010 and when he came back he never seemed right. That definitely isn’t the case in 2011.

The nine shutout innings last night lowered his league-leading ERA to 1.86 while raising his record to 6-2. Could a starting nod in the 2011 MLB All-Star Game be in his future? Only time tell will tell that.

The Red Sox will finish up their road trip tonight in the finale at the Trop. A win would be nice as the Red Sox get set to start up interleague play again for the next two weeks.

We’ll be back later with tonight’s lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the day. But for now, enjoy the overnight links by clicking on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

Beckett fires a 1-hitter [Boston Globe]

Gonzalez comments go deep [Boston Globe]

Miller will stay, join rotation next week [Boston Globe]

Josh Beckett cool as ice [Boston Herald]

Miller on tap at Fenway [Boston Herald]

These Stanford guys stick together [Boston Herald]

On Bruins’ night, Beckett dominates; Youk salutes Shawn Thornton [Clubhouse Insider]

Beckett shines in 3-0 win over Rays [CSNNE.com]

Youkilis breaks Tropicana slump at opertune time [CSNNE.com]

Rapid reaction: Red Sox 3, Rays 0 [ESPN Boston]

Video: Verlander or Beckett? [ESPN Boston]

Which title has meant most to you? [ESPN Boston]

Beckett at his best as Red Sox win again [Extra Bases]

Minor Details Ep. 12: Breaking down the Red Sox draft with Jim Callis [Full Count]

Jacoby Ellsbury Excelling in Center Field, Stirs Memories of Johnny Damon [NESN.com]

Red Sox win, 3-0, behind Beckett’s one-hit masterpiece [Providence Journal]

Andrew Miller seems set to make leap to Boston [Providence Journal]

Red Sox Journal: Jenks’ stay on DL may be extended [Providence Journal]

Little Papi basks in Big Papi’s shadow [RedSox.com]

For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSNNE,  ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal, RedSox.com and WEEI websites.

And if you must check out the enemy news, head over the to St. Petersburg Times and Tampa Tribune websites.

Photo credits: Getty Images, AP Photo

Paw Prints is our daily look at the happenings for the UConn Huskies football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball teams as well as some of the other sports. We will do our best to bring you the links from all of the media that covers the Huskies on a daily basis. As always, links can be found by clicking on the read more button below.

Thank you for stopping by and making SOX & Dawgs your home for UConn Huskies news.

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

UConn Men’s Basketball links

Coombs-McDaniel accepted into drug program [Neill Ostrout – CT Post]

Kemba Walker and Jimmer Fredette Compete [UConn Huskies Basketball]

Jamal Coombs-McDaniel transfers to Hofstra [CBSSports.com]

UConn building toward future [Dick Vitale – ESPN.com]

UConn Women’s Basketball links

Reimer helps U.S. Under-16 team into semifinals [Jim Fuller – New Haven Register]

Random Thoughts About The UConn Women And WNBA [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]

UConn Football links

UConn recruiting picks up [Andrea Adelson – ESPN.com]

UConn Vs. Buffalo Football Kickoff Time, TV Coverage [UConnHuskies.com]

UConn Football: Evaluating The Left Tackles [Hartford Courant]

Other UConn related links

Baseball. Matt Barnes and George Springer Named Second Team All-Americans by Baseball America [College Baseball Daily]

Baseball. Matt Barnes and George Springer Named First Team All-Americans by NCBWA [College Baseball Daily]

W. Ice Hockey. Eight Huskies Earn Hockey East All-Academic Team Honors [UConnHuskies.com]