Boston Red Sox pitcher Andrew Miller stopped by the NESN Live set on Friday night to talk with Tom Caron and Peter Gammons about a myriad of subjects.
Video: Jose Iglesias Is More Comfortable In Red Sox Clubhouse This Year
In his first ever interview in English, the heir apparent at shortstop for the Boston Red Sox, Jose Iglesias, sat down with NESN’s Peter Gammons to talk about a few different things.
Video: Kevin Youkilis Wins NESN’s Second Base Cup
NESN Red Sox host Tom Caron presented Boston Red Sox third baseman Kevin Youkilis with the inaugural NESN Second Base Cup after Youk won it and held off many challengers. Here’s Youk’s winning shot.
Video: Darnell McDonald Mic’d Up
Boston Red Sox outfielder Darnell McDonald wore a microphone for NESN during Friday’s practice session and was pretty entertaining.
Take a watch and listen for yourself:
Statement From Jim Calhoun on NCAA Violations
UConn Huskies men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun issued a statement through his Kansas based attorney about the violations the UConn men’s basketball program committed.
“First of all I’d like to thank everyone who has offered support over this past week both for our program and for my family during what has been a difficult time. Regarding the NCAA’s findings and penalties, I’d like to state the following:
As the leader of the Connecticut basketball program and an ambassador of the University, the buck stops with me. No qualifications. No exceptions. Without going into the details of the case or addressing each of the findings and subsequent penalties, I fully acknowledge that we, as a staff, made mistakes and would like to apologize to the University and all associated with UConn on behalf of myself and the men’s basketball program.
Throughout my 39-year career, my intentions have been, and will continue to be, on doing things the right way, in full compliance with the rules of my profession, and more importantly, with a moral and ethical standard that has been at the center of who I strive to be as a person. I remain committed to doing my job with integrity. Clearly, through our actions, there are lessons to be learned for the University, for our basketball family, and for me personally.
Unfortunately, our mistakes have caused unrelated attention to be placed on the young men in our program today who continue to write their own story this basketball season. I will not allow those distractions to continue.
My love for my players, the game of basketball, and this University will remain my number one professional priority. As the leader of this program, I am moving forward. I owe this to our players and our staff. I have apologized to them privately for the distractions. My personal feelings about this situation and the NCAA’s findings will remain private and I will not have any further public comment on this matter.
I am energized and excited about the remainder of the regular season and what the post-season may hold, and our program remains committed to making UConn and all associated with it proud of what we do both on and off the floor.”
2011 UConn Football Schedule Announced
STORRS, Conn. (Feb. 25, 2011) — The University of Connecticut football team will play an exciting seven-game home schedule, highlighted by four BIG EAST Conference games at Rentschler Field, as the 2011 Husky schedule was announced on Friday.
UConn will play host to one Thursday night and one Friday night game in 2011 with the other five games on Saturdays. The seven home games include BIG EAST Conference contests against USF, Syracuse, Louisville and Rutgers. Three of these BIG EAST opponents won bowl games last season – USF (Meineke Car Care Bowl Champions), Louisville (Beef `O’ Brady’s Bowl Champions) and Syracuse (New Era Pinstripe Bowl Champions).
In addition, the schedule features two other teams that played in bowl games – Pittsburgh (BBVA Compass Bowl Champions) and West Virginia (Champs Sports Bowl).
The 2011 UConn football schedule currently features three national television appearances with broadcast plans for the other nine games to be announced at a later date.
“We are looking forward to the upcoming 2011 season and the debut of our new head coach Paul Pasqualoni,” says Director of Athletics Jeffrey Hathaway. “Our home schedule at Rentschler Field features a great mix of exciting matchups featuring four great BIG EAST Conference games. The growth of our football program to the point where we played in a BCS game last season has resulted in more enthusiasm for our program than ever before. We encourage our loyal fans to order their season tickets now. Last year, we were undefeated at Rentschler Field and, and as we get ready for 2011, we look forward to maintaining the great home field advantage which our fans provide.”
UConn’s BIG EAST schedule will begin after it plays all five of its non-conference games. The Huskies will visit West Virginia on Saturday, Oct. 8 and open the home portion of the league schedule the following Saturday (Oct. 15) playing host to USF for the annual Homecoming game. UConn will then return to action when it travels to Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Oct. 26 for an ESPN nationally-televised game at 8:00 p.m.
Following the Pittsburgh game, UConn then plays three-straight home conference games. Syracuse visits Rentschler Field on Saturday, Nov. 5 followed by Louisville on Saturday, Nov. 19 and Rutgers on Saturday, Nov. 26.
The regular season concludes at Cincinnati on “Championship Saturday”, Dec. 3. That game will be televised nationally by either ABC, ESPN or ESPN2.
“I think that we have a very competitive and exciting schedule for our football team in 2011,” says Pasqualoni. “Our non-conference schedule features teams from the SEC and the Big XII. In addition, we are excited to have seven home games this season. We appreciate the tremendous support from our UConn fans, who will continue to make Rentschler Field one of the best home environments in the country.”
Pasqualoni and his Huskies will begin the season on Thursday, Sept. 1 against Fordham. UConn hits the road for the first time on Saturday, Sept. 10 against Vanderbilt of the Southeastern Conference. Iowa State of the Big XII comes to Rentschler Field on Friday, Sept. 16 for an 8:00 p.m. game on ESPN or ESPN2.
The non-conference games conclude with a pair of contests against teams from the Mid-American Conference – at Buffalo on Saturday, Sept. 24 and home against Western Michigan on Saturday, Oct. 1.
Season tickets for the 2011 home season are now on sale. For more information, visit UConnHuskies.com or call 1-877-AT-UCONN .
Paw Prints – The Daily UConn Roundup – 2/25
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.
My apologies for this post not showing up until tonight. I had an appointment to fix something on my Jeep that was done two weeks ago and it turned out to be more than a simple fix. Since the place didn’t have wifi, I was unable to be productive while waiting seven hours for my Jeep to be done. Anyways, we’re here now and as they say, better late than never.
To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click
UConn Women’s Basketball links
Maya’s reaction to being named Academic All-American of the year [Jim Fuller – New Haven Register]
Maya Moore At The Very Start [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]
UConn-College of Charleston Dec. 21 To Follow Game At Baylor [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]
Moore Comments On Academic Honor [Rich Elliott – CT Post]
Maya Moore’s Conversation With Pat Summitt [Hartford Courant]
Five questions with Maya Moore [The Day]
Husky fans can relive an ‘instant classic’ in Madison with ‘Bird at the Buzzer’ author [Shoreline Times]
Talented young guards make immediate impact [SI.com]
Two-time defending champ UConn women to play at Charleston next season [The Post and Courier]
UConn Men’s Basketball links
Too Much, Too Little, Too Late [David Borges – New Haven Register]
Marquette 74, UConn 67, OT: the ugly wrap [Ed Daigneault – The Republican-American]
Post-Marquette game report [Gavin Keefe – The Day]
Niels Giffey And The UConn Rotation In Loss To Marquette [Mike Anthony – Hartford Courant]
Marquette steals one/UConn gives one away [Neill Ostrout – CT Post]
Video View: Postgame Following The Loss To Marquette [Shawn Courchesne – Hartfford Courant]
Hasheem Thabeet traded to Houston Rockets [The UConn Blog]
House of Cards [UConn Huskies Basketball]
UConn Falls Short Against Marquette In Overtime, 74-67 [UConnHuskies.com]
UConn falls in overtime to Marquette [CT Post]
UConn Men’s Basketball Team Falls To Marquette Overtime [Hartford Courant]
UConn Notebook: Walker Climbing The Charts [Hartford Courant]
Calhoun Is Missed In OT Loss To Marquette [Hartford Courant]
Despite Walker’s 27 Huskies lose to Marquette in overtime [New Haven Register]
Too much Walker condemns Huskies [Norwich Bulletin]
Huskies let one get away [The Day]
UConn Football links
Big East lacked explosive plays in 2010 [Brian Bennett – ESPN.com]
A different way to judge quarterbacks [Brian Bennett – ESPN.com]
QB Casey Cochran: Showing UConn Much Respect Already [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]
National Football Post On Zach Hurd And Others At Combine [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]
Other UConn related links
W. Lacrosse. Huskies Host Binghamton In Home Opener [UConnHuskies.com]
Annual “3.0 Night” To Be Held At Monday’s WBB Game [UConnHuskies.com]
M. Ice Hockey. Men’s Hockey Celebrates Senior Night Friday vs. AIC [UConnHuskies.com]
Gigantic SOX & Dawgs 2011 MLB Preview – Day 6 – American League East
Welcome to the Gigantic SOX & Dawgs 2011 MLB preview. Over the next week you will get a team by team look at its key players, new faces, their potential MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year candidates, their possible starting lineup and rotation as well as a quick summary.
This preview was sculpted over a nearly seven week period in the offseason with some mild tweaking as we went along prior to publication. It comes from a culmination of reading so many baseball magazines, periodicals, articles and websites that in some cases I may know a team better that its own management.
Yesterday we looked at the NL East, Sunday was the NL West, Monday was the AL West, Tuesday we previewed the NL Central, Wednesday we took a trip around the AL Central and today it’s the AL East.
To continue reading, click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.
American League East
1. Boston – Manager: Terry Francona (8th year/11th overall)
Boston may have been the clear cut winner in the off season race to re-load. While Philadelphia grabbed SP Cliff Lee in a late hour backdoor free agent signing, Boston was up front and throwing cash around. First shot heard out of Boston was that they exercised DH David Ortiz option. Then on Dec 6 came the big bomb, they traded three highly regarded prospects to San Diego for 1B Adrian Gonzalez. But before Red Sox fans were done gushing over their new first baseman, five days later, Uncle Theo delivered another gift. Free Agent LF Carl Crawford. For once we will not have to watch this guy kill them 18 times a year. Then the Sox set out to re-work the bullpen signing RP’s Matt Albers, Lenny DiNardo, Rich Hill, Andrew Miller, Dan Wheeler, Hideki Okajima and former ChiSox closer Bobby Jenks. This was one productive off season in Boston and Red Sox fans everywhere are hoping it brings them their third World Series title since 2004.
Key Players: LF Carl Crawford; 2B Dustin Pedroia; 1B Adrian Gonzalez; SP Josh Beckett; SP John Lackey; RP Jonathan Papelbon; 3B Kevin Youkilis
MVP Candidate: 1B Adrian Gonzalez and LF Carl Crawford
Cy Young Candidate: SP Jon Lester
ROY Candidate: None.
Key Additions: LF Carl Crawford (FA-TB); 1B Adrian Gonzalez (Trade-SD); RP Bobby Jenks (FA-CWS); RP Dan Wheeler (FA-TB); RP Matt Albers (FA-Bal); RP Dennys Reyes (FA-StL); SP/RP Alfredo Aceves (FA-NYY)
Possible lineup: Ellsbury CF; Pedroia 2B; Crawford LF; Gonzalez 1B; Youkilis3B; Ortiz DH; Drew RF; Saltalamacchia C; Scutaro SS
Possible rotation: Beckett; Lester; Lackey; Buchholz; Matsuzaka
2. New York – Manager: Joe Girardi (4thd year/5th overall)
The New York Yankees came up short last year losing in the ALCS to the Texas Rangers in six games. In the off season they were losers again as they put all their eggs into the Cliff Lee basket only to find out they had expired and stunk like sulfur. By the time they thought to look at Carl Crawford, he was gone as well, to the Boston Red Sox. By they time they really did anything they came away with P Mark Prior who hasn’t pitched in the majors in 4 years; severely overpaid RP Rafael Soriano to be Mariano Rivera‘s set up guy, when in the past he closed games and last year led the AL with 45 saves for Tampa Bay. This was because Hal or Hank, who cares really, over stepped the GM Brian Cashman and signed the check. Then in need of a RH outfield bat they shun Manny Ramirez in order to sign a washed up Andruw Jones and C Russell Martin has questions about his hip. And hey let’s not forget that SP Andy Pettitte retired and he was replaced by…Freddy Garcia. Then in an unprecedented act they pissed off FA SS Derek Jeter so much he actually bitched at his press conference and Boston drove up the years on Rivera’s contract by making an offer. It could be a fun year in the Bronx, especially when they miss the playoffs. I know the Brothers Steinbrenner have dad’s crazy gene it’s just a matter of time before we see it.
Key Players: 2B Robinson Cano; 1B Mark Teixeira; SP CC Sabathia; RP Mariano Rivera; 3B Alex Rodriguez
MVP Candidate: 1B Mark Teixeira and 3B Alex Rodriguez.
Cy Young Candidate: SP CC Sabathia.
ROY Candidate: None
Key Additions: C Russell Martin (FA-LAD); RP Rafael Soriano (FA-TB); OF Andruw Jones (FA-CWS); SP Freddy Garcia (FA-CWS); 3B Eric Chavez (FA-Oak); SP Bartolo Colon (FA-CWS 2009); RP Pedro Feliciano (FA-NYM)
Possible lineup: Jeter SS, Swisher RF; Rodriguez 3B; Teixeira1B; Cano 2B; Granderson CF; Posada DH; Martin C; Gardiner LF
Possible rotation: Sabathia; Hughes; Burnett; Nova; Garcia
3. Tampa Bay – Manager: Joe Maddon (6th year/8th overall)
The days of the Rays competing with Boston and New York might just be on hiatus for a bit. This past off season Tampa Bay lost a lot. They lost their 1B Carlos Pena; SS Jason Bartlett; LF Carl Crawford; Closer Rafael Soriano; RP Dan Wheeler and SP Matt Garza. They’re hoping the late signings of a pair of DH/OF’s in Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon will help bridge the gap and that their young starting staff will mature quickly behind David Price. It may be too much to ask for the next year or two but they will be back as they have a loaded minor league system. Still they’ll be good enough for third in the AL East.
Key Players: 3B Evan Longoria; CF B.J. Upton; SP David Price; IF/OF Ben Zobrist; RP Jake McGee; LF Desmond Jennings.
MVP Candidate: 3B Evan Longoria
Cy Young Candidate: SP David Price
ROY Candidate: LF Desmond Jennings and SP Jeremy Hellickson
Key Additions: LF Desmond Jennings (Rookie); OF Johnny Damon (FA-Det); OF/DH Manny Ramirez (FA-CWS); RP Kyle Farnsworth (FA-Atl); 1B Casey Kotchman (FA-Sea); INF Felipe Lopez (FA-Bos); RP Joel Peralta (FA-Was)
Possible lineup: Damon LF; Upton CF; Zobrist 2B; Longoria 3B; Ramirez DH; Jaso C; Jennings RF; Kotchman 1B; Brignac SS
Possible rotation: Price; Sheilds; Davis; Niemann; Hellickson
4. Baltimore – Manager: Buck Showalter (2nd year/13th overall)
Last season after Buck Showalter took over the Orioles blossomed. This year they will look to build on that but, the fact of the matter is, the division they are in they will need to do more besides blossom. In any other division you’d see an improvement but when you compete against the three teams listed above this one you need a lot of help. But Showalter is a believer and he got former Cubs/Braves 1B Derrek Lee to come to Camden Yards as a free agent, they grabbed SS J.J. Hardy in a trade, signed free agent starter Justin Duchscherer plus they have two spectacular young outfielders, a fine young catcher and an up and coming starting rotation. Then as Spring Training approached they signed free agent DH Vladimir Guerrero to a one year deal. Things are looking better in Baltimore, the lineup is really solid, now if they can cultivate the pitching they can start to climb.
Key Players: 2B Brian Roberts; RF Nick Markakis; CF Adam Jones; C Matt Wieters; SP Brian Matusz; SP Jake Arrieta; 1B Derrek Lee; DH Vladimir Guerrero
MVP Candidate: 1B Derrek Lee and RF Nick Markakis
CyYoung Candidate: SP Jeremy Guthrie
ROY Candidate: None
Key Additions: 1B Derrek Lee (FA-Atl); J.J. Hardy (Trade-Min); INF Brendan Harris (Trade-Min); 3B Mark Reynolds (Trade-Ari); SP Justin Duchscherer (FA-Oak); DH Vladimir Guerrero (FA-Tex); RP Jeremy Accardo (FA-Tor); RP Kevin Gregg (FA-Tor); OF Randy Winn (FA-StL)
Possible lineup: Roberts 2B; Jones CF; Markakis RF; Guerrero DH; Lee 1B; Scott LF; Reynolds 3B; Wieters C; Hardy SS
Possible rotation: Guthrie; Matusz; Vanden Hurk; Arrieta; Duchscherer
5. Toronto – Manager: John Farrell (1st year)
Toronto has a new manager this year and he is a 1st time skipper in former Boston pitching coach John Farrell. Long regarded as a fine managerial prospect , Farrell finally thought it was time and became a MLB skipper. Unfortunately he will be in for some hard times, which is usually what happens to 1st timers. Luckily he has a young staff to work with and build around and some new players in the lineup after the January trade of long time Jay Vernon Wells to the Angels. Toronto is clearly 5th this season but you have to feel for them and Baltimore just as they get better so do the big guys.
Key Players: SP Ricky Romero; 2B Aaron Hill; RF Travis Snider; C J. P. Arencibia; DH Adam Lind; 1B Jose Bautista
MVP Candidate: LF Jose Bautista
Cy Young Candidate: SP Ricky Romero
ROY Candidate: SP Kyle Drabek
Key Additions: RP Frank Francisco (Trade-Tex); OF/DH Juan Rivera (Trade-LAA); CF Rajai Davis (Trade-Oak); RP Octavio Dotel (FA-Col); RP Jon Rauch (FA-Min); Mgr John Farrell
Possible lineup: Davis CF; Escobar SS; Bautista 1B; Lind DH; Hill 2B; Snider RF; Rivera LF; Encarnacion 3B; Arencibia C
Possible rotation: Romero; Morrow; Cecil; Drabek; Litsch
Tomorrow, in our final day, we will look at the big winners in 2011.
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Photo credits: AP Photo, AP Photo, Getty Images, AP Photo, Getty Images
Video: Jon Lester Interview With Peter Gammons
Earlier in the day on Thursday, Boston Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester sat down with CSNNE’s Greg Dickerson. Later on in the day, he sat down with NESN analyst Peter Gammons to talk about a few different subjects.
Video: Paps Says Red Sox Bullpen Might Be The Best
Boston Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon stopped by the CSNNE set on Thursday night to talk with Greg Dickerson and Lou Merloni about a few different subjects.