One of the newer members of the Boston Red Sox bullpen, Bobby Jenks sat down with the media on Sunday at the Red Sox Player Development Complex. In his remarks to media, he said that he was happy to be a member of the Red Sox and “isn’t there to step on anybody’s toes (Jonathan Papelbon‘s).”

On signing with the Sox: “This is a place I’ve wanted to play for for a while. Once the opportunity came up, I had a chance to come here; I jumped right on it. There was no other reason than that. I had a few other opportunities to go close right away and keep doing what I was doing. But when they called, I jumped right on it.”

On working with Jonathan Papelbon: “We’re fine. I didn’t come here to step on anybody’s toes. I know what my role is. Coming here, we’ve been friends, shoot, for many years now. I don’t think that’s going to be any problem throughout the year at all.”

Some free agents will sign places for the money but to me it sounds like Jenks really wants to be here. It’s also nice to see the non-diva attitude that you get with some of the free agents. Theo Epstein’s done a tremendous job of putting together a championship-caliber team and it looks like, although it’s still early, that everybody is on board with whatever role is handed to them.

And that to me, is the start of something very special.

Video credit: WEEI.com

Photo credit: AP Photo

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With the pitchers and catchers for the Boston Red Sox officially reporting on Sunday at the Red Sox Player Development Complex in Ft. Myers, FL, there will be some new faces in camp. And with new faces means new numbers that help us match the face and the number together.

Courtesy of Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe, here’s the list of numbers for the new players:

Alfredo Aceves: 91
Matt Albers: 32
Carl Crawford: 13
Adrian Gonzalez: 28
Bobby Jenks: 52
John Lackey: 41
Andrew Miller: 30
Tony Pena Jr.: 46
Dan Wheeler: 36
Curt Young: 40

By the way, I’m so glad I didn’t buy that John Lackey uniform t-shirt that was in the clearance bin at Bob’s a few weeks ago.

The first full workout for the pitchers and catchers will be on Tuesday morning with the rest of the team due into camp on Thursday although from the looks of it, most of the team is already there.

Spring is in the air, can you feel it?

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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.

It’s game day for the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team as they’ll host the Providence Friars in a rare Sunday night game at Gampel Pavilion. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be televised locally here in Connecticut on SNY. The game will also be available online at ESPN3.com. If you can’t catch the television broadcast, you can always listen to the game on the WTIC/UConn Radio Network.

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

UConn Men’s Basketball links

All Apologies [David Borges – New Haven Register]

News from practice [Gavin Keefe – The Day]

Huskies preparing for Friars [Joe Perez – Norwich Bulletin]

UConn Staying Upbeat In Advance Of Providence Game [Mike Anthony – Hartford Courant]

Providence’s Marshon Brooks, Big East’s Leading Scorer [Mike Anthony – Hartford Courant]

Huskies, Friars on deck [Neill Ostrout – CT Post]

Know Your Enemy: Providence Friars [UConn Huskies Basketball]

Apologetic Calhoun, Huskies prepare for Providence [CT Post]

UConn Men Look To Rebound Vs. Providence [Hartford Courant]

UConn Men: Did Freshmen Live Up To Hype? [Hartford Courant]

Huskies look to get fun feeling back [New Haven Register]

Huskies shuffle lineup [Norwich Bulletin]

Calhoun stays upbeat as Huskies fight funk [The Day]

Huskies searching for answers [The Republican-American]

Huskies, Friars are mirror images in many ways [Providence Journal]

UConn Women’s Basketball links

Dolson comes up big again [Jim Fuller – New Haven Register]

Big Providence Crowd Pays Dividends For Huskies [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]

Chasing Angel Will Continue Monday For Miss Maya [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]

Tidbits From Saturday’s 68-38 Win Over Providence [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]

One Final UConn Timeout For Non-Conference Play [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]

Quick Hits About UConn Vs. Oklahoma [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]

Moore Sets Career In Assists [Rich Elliott – CT Post]

Hayes Not A Big Concern For Auriemma; Dolson A Factor On Break [Rich Elliott – CT Post]

No. 2 Huskies Roll Past Providence, 68-38 [UConnHuskies.com]

Dolson, UConn women rout Providence [CT Post]

UConn notebook: Moore finds a passing fancy [CT Post]

Moore Passes On Record As UConn Steamrolls Providence [Hartford Courant]

UConn Notebook: Moore Set To Pass McCoughtry [Hartford Courant]

UConn Notebook Extras … [Hartford Courant]

Dolson keeps Huskies rolling [New Haven Register]

Fired-up UConn puts PC away early [The Day]

This is no time to relax [The Day]

UConn freshman makes big strides [The Republican-American]

Moore light on the scoring, but picks up passing game [The Republican-American]

Oklahoma Takes On No. 2 UConn [SoonerSports.com]

UConn Football links

UConn Football Staff Near Completion [Hartford Courant]

Wethersfield native Adeyemi makes UConn football roster [Wethersfield Post]

Other UConn related links

W. Ice Hockey. Huskies Fall Short In Overtime At Providence, 2-1 [UConnHuskies.com]

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With their final non-conference matchup of the 2010-11 season looming on Monday night against the Oklahoma Sooners, UConn Huskies women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma was able to rest his key players on Saturday afternoon.

The reason why is the fact the Huskies built up a big halftime lead of 29 points and went on to a relatively easy 68-38 win over the Providence Friars in front of a sold-out crowd at Alumni Hall in Providence, RI.

With the win, UConn improves to 24-1 (12-0 Big East) while the Friars fall to 11-12 (4-7).

Stefanie Dolson led the way for the Huskies with a career-high tying 21 points and had six rebounds. Maya Moore finished the afternoon with 11 points and is now 11 points shy of breaking Angel McCoughtry’s Big East scoring record. Moore did add a career-high nine assists and pulled down six rebounds as well. They were the only two Huskies in double-digits.

Kelly Faris led the way for the Huskies with seven rebounds to go along with eight points and three assists. Bria Hartley chipped in with eight points as well.

No member of the Friars hit double figures as Teya Wright led them with nine points and added a game-high 10 rebounds.  Both Lola Wells and Mi-Khida Hankins added six points.

The Huskies got out to an early 8-4 lead before scoring the next eight points to increase their lead to 12. After a basket by Providence’s Alicia Cropper, UConn used a 16-1 run to put this game out of reach. The Friars would get no closer than 23 points the rest of the way.

Dolson is really coming along nicely. After a slow start, she’s continuing to improve more and more each game. And if that continues, the Huskies could be deadly if they can stay out of foul trouble with Moore on the outside and Dolson on the inside.

The Huskies are back in action on Monday night when they’ll host the Sooners at the XL Center in Hartford, CT. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be nationally-televised on ESPN2.

UConn Huskies @ Providence Friars 2.12.11 box score

Photo credit:

SOX & Dawgs has been nominated for “Best Red Sox Blog” at the New England Sports Blog Awards! Please take a few moments from your day to vote for SOX & Dawgs by heading over to Trufan.com. You are allowed to vote once a day. Thank you for your support not only in the voting but also to make the site what it is today.

Unless you are a professional athlete, you aren’t having a retirement from work party at the age of 36. Most people have retirement parties after the age of 50 (if they’ve taken early retirement), in their 60’s and maybe even in their 70’s depending on their circumstances.

So if you’re wondering what some of the Boston Red Sox players are doing on Saturday night, the day before catchers and pitchers report to Ft. Myers, they are currently in Miami Beach, FL celebrating the retirement of former Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell, who turns 37 in 12 days.

Lowell retired after the 2010 season, a season that saw him without a position for a good part of the season. And in case you’re wondering if Mikey LOL has a Roger Clemens or Brett Favre retirement in mind, I’m sorry folks but that’s not going to happen.

Earlier in the week, Lowell told WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford that he is definitely retired and actually has to undergo another surgery on his hip.

“I went to New York last weekend, got an X-ray and they told me it has gotten progressively worse, so I got another cortisone shot and I think I might have to have a resurfacing surgery around September,” explained Lowell, who underwent surgery on his torn hip labrum following the 2008 season.

“Without medication or pain management I don’t think I can run 50 yards right now, I know I can’t. I don’t want to be taking meds to go about my day-to-day life. I feel like my quality of life is going down a little bit. I want to teach my kid how to run the bases in Little League instead of just standing there. It seems trivial but it bothers me that I can’t do it.”

Lowell was a true professional in 2010 and handled the situation with the utmost grace and respect. And from the sounds of it, it appears he’s enjoying retirement as well.

Best of luck Mikey LOL in whatever you decide to do in retirement.

Video: Thank You Mike Lowell

Video: Mike Lowell’s Final MLB Hit

Video: Mike Lowell Talks About Ceremony, Red Sox Career

Video: Mike Lowell Montage

Video: Mike Lowell Talks With Peter Gammons

Video: Mike Lowell Mic’d Up For Thanks Mike Ceremony

Video: Former Teammates Wish Mike Lowell The Best In Retirement

Photo credit: Getty Images

SOX & Dawgs has been nominated for “Best Red Sox Blog” at the New England Sports Blog Awards! Please take a few moments from your day to vote for SOX & Dawgs by heading over to Trufan.com. You are allowed to vote once a day. Thank you for your support not only in the voting but also to make the site what it is today.