The Boston Red Sox may have been enjoying the Charm City on Thursday but there were a few things going on that were newsworthy.

When Alan Embree was added to the Red Sox roster, someone had to go from the 40-man roster to make room for him. The victim was Kevin Frandsen, who was playing for the Pawtucket Red Sox at the time. The Red Sox had designated him for assignment on Wednesday hoping he’d clear waivers.

Unfortunately though that didn’t happen though as the Los Angeles Angels claimed him off waivers. He was then optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake.

The benefit of Frandsen leaving is that there was a roster spot open.

After struggling last year in his first full of year of Double-A ball with the Portland Sea Dogs, Lars Anderson began the season back there again. This time around it didn’t take him too long to get going as he was hitting .355 with five home runs and 16 RBIs in 17 games.

That hot start made him the beneficiary of the open spot in Pawtucket as the Red Sox promoted him to Triple-A. He’ll take over as the every day first baseman with Aaron Bates moving to left field.

Did Terry Francona change all the calendars around the Boston Red Sox clubhouse to May and just maybe, Jon Lester noticed they didn’t say April?

Lester’s been horriffic this season and in the months of March and April in his career although in his last start, he didn’t allow a run in 5 1/3 innings. So what would Lester do for an encore on Wednesday night against the Toronto Blue Jays?

Well what Lester did was deliver a vintage performance reminciscent of his past domination of teams.

Lester had all of his pitches working for him as he had great command and location of them. He was able to move the ball around the plate, keeping the Blue Jays hitters at bay as he allowed just one hit over seven innings of work. That hit came in the second inning off the bat of Vernon Wells.

At one point, Lester retired 14 straight hitters before issuing his second walk of the game to Mike McCoy in the 6th. The walk wouldn’t hurt him though just as the one in the first inning didn’t. Lester finished the game with a season-high 11 strikeouts.

So now as we really move into the month of May, the hope is that Lester will build from this start and keep that momentum going in his next start out. Let’s also hope that John Lackey and Josh Beckett can follow what Clay Buchholz and Lester have done the past two nights and get themselves on track as well.

Isn’t it interesting how the game of baseball works?

The Red Sox and Blue Jays combine for 25 runs, 34 hits and 399 pitches on Monday night. On Tuesday, they combine for three runs and last night just two runs. That’s what happens when you get great starting pitching.

But with just four runs in two games, should we be concerned with the Red Sox offense? Or was it a by-product of good starting pitching from the Blue Jays the past two games?

Either way, the Red Sox are playing much better baseball now as they close out the month in Baltimore on Friday.

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

Lester in top form [Boston Globe]

Embree: Minor adjustments [Boston Globe]

Since call-up, he’s tattooing it [Boston Globe]

Red Sox recap: Sox break even [Boston Herald]

Underlying problems dog Red Sox [Boston Herald]

Early Jonathan Papelbon back scare [Boston Herald]

J.D. Drew’s numbers escape Ortiz-ian scrutiny [Boston Herald]

Lester brilliant in shutout of Jays [CSN New England]

Quick hits: Red Sox 2, Jays 0 [ESPN Boston]

At 11-11, Red Sox have started over [Extra Bases]

Closing Time: Red Sox 2, Blue Jays 0 [Full Count]

Getting There….. [Hit and Run with Dan Roche]

Sox need to stop steals, or else [Metro Boston News]

Jason Varitek Thrilled With Jon Lester’s First April Win [NESN.com]

Jon Lester Finds His Groove in Win over Toronto [NESN.com]

Francona not shy about pitch counts [Projo Sox Blog]

Lester baffles Jays on one hit over 7 as Sox sweep [Providence Journal]

So far this season, it’s Buchholz who’s pitching like the ace [Providence Journal]

Red Sox Journal: Embree settles in — for now [Providence Journal]

Buchholz’s strong outing inspires Beckett [RedSox.com]

Pedroia finds comfort level in two-hole [RedSox.com]

Embree glad to be back with Red Sox [RedSox.com]

Red Sox Must Hit Stride in Baltimore to Prepare for Stretch Against Top Teams [Tom Caron – NESN.com]

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

And if you must read the enemy papers, head over to The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and Toronto Sun websites.

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

UConn Football links

DC answered a few questions in his mailbag on Wednesday [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]

Easley: An ESPN Star Thursday [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]

Big East expansion worry-o-meter [ESPN.com – Big East Blog]

Head coach speaks to commerce group [Norwich Bulletin]

Edsall discusses draft picks, Big East’s status [Norwich Bulletin]

UConn Women’s Basketball links

Game on with WNBA Star Renee Montgomery [FitSugar]

UConn Men’s Basketball links

C.J. Leslie picks N.C. State [News & Observer]

Other UConn related links

Baseball: Olt Honored Nationally [UConnHuskies.com]

Baseball: Huskies Fall to Central Connecticut 7-3 [UConnHuskies.com]

Baseball: A Jolt from Olt [New Haven Register]

Earlier on Thursday, I linked to an article from the Wall Street Journal entitled “Last Stand for UConn’s Calhoun“. Now normally, I read just about everything I link to but with my time being short this morning, I was unable too.

And after finally reading it, I really wish I had read it earlier.

According to the WSJ, the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team could be facing NCAA sanctions after their investigation presumbly into the Nate Miles and Josh Nochimson situation, has found recruiting violations.

In another setback for the coach, a person familiar with the matter said a representative from the NCAA, which has been investigating Mr. Calhoun’s program for possible recruiting violations, has informed the school that investigators have found violations and will be issuing a report in the near future.

The article also says that Calhoun and the university are very close to getting his signature on the contract he announced he had agreed too.

If you missed it, be sure to check it out. It’s a great read.

For some unknown reason, Boston Red Sox starter Jon Lester has gotten off to bad starts in the months of March and April in his career. He went into his start on Thursday night against the Toronto Blue Jays hoping that his last start in April could be build some momentum towards the month of May.

And Lester did just hat as he allowed one hit to help the Red Sox to a 2-0 win and a three-game sweep of the Blue Jays in front of 15,276 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario.

The win for the Red Sox gets them to .500 on the season at 11-11. The Blue Jays fall to 10-12.

Lester was just plain filthy in his outing. He mixed in all of his pitches and moved them all around the plate. This was the Lester we’ve seen before and we can only hope it continues in his next start. He finished with 11 strikeouts and the lone hit came in the first inning off the bat of Vernon Wells.

The bullpen was once again outstanding as Daniel Bard struck out the side after former Red Sox shortstop Alex Gonzalez led off the 8th with a double. Jonathan Papelbon struck out one in the 9th to pick up his seventh save of 2010.

Marco Scutaro, Adrian Beltre and Darnell McDonald all had two hits for the visiting nine from Boston with McDonald knocking in Beltre with a single in the top of the 7th. The other run for the Red Sox came in off the bat of Dustin Pedroia, whose sacrifice fly plated McDonald in the 6th inning.

It’s the second straight series win for the Red Sox and they now head to Baltimore for another weekend three-game set. They played last weekend with the Red Sox taking two-of-three. A weekend sweep in Baltimore would be nice as the Red Sox will return home next week to host the Angels, Yankees and Blue Jays.

After a day off on Thursday, John Lackey will make his second straight start against the Orioles on Friday night. He’ll be opposed by David Hernandez in the 7:05 p.m. start at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

Boston Red Sox @ Toronto Blue Jays 4.28.10 box score

After watching Brandon Knight, Josh Selby, Corey Joseph and Doron Lamb sign elsewhere, the UConn Huskies men’s basketball program was hoping that they could secure C.J. Leslie out of Holly Springs, North Carolina.

Leslie, was in Storrs this weekend for an official visit, has spurned UConn though as he has chosen to attend North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC.

The Huskies do have commitments from small forward Roscoe Smith, power forward Tyler Olander and point guard Shabbazz Napier. But the Huskies were hoping to get at least one more top flight recruit.

And since that happen, you have to wonder if Jim Calhoun’s illness this season that caused him to miss time hurt the recruiting process. You know it’s a cut-throat business and we had heard rumblings that recruits were being told Calhoun wasn’t coming back.

He still hasn’t signed his extension yet but we do know that it’s been agreed upon. He had hoped when he announced it that it might help recruiting but obviously that didn’t happen.

So the questions remains, has Jim Calhoun lost his touch in recruiting or is Storrs just not the place to be anymore?

The Red Sox have won six out of their last eight games. Even if the way some of these games have been won doesn’t instill the fans with a lot of confidence, it’s never a bad thing to add another “W.”

Each one of the last six victories has been by only one run. Twice that one run was caused by a bases-loaded walk. So far this year, all but one series victory has been over a team in last place in their division. The Red Sox starters have an average 5.23 ERA. Despite defensive up-grades in the off season, the team has committed a shocking 14 errors.

That’s a lot of negatives. But it is April. If there ever was a time to make mistakes and work out line-up kinks and tweak the rotation, it is now!

Besides, it hasn’t been all bad so far. Winning a 13-12 slug-fest like the April 26 game in Toronto shows that the offense (not predicted to be the team’s strong point) can step up when needed. Winning two games because of walks seems to point to good decision making at the plate.

Even if the present seems slightly cloudy, the future does look bright. How much will the team improve with Matsuzaka out to redeem himself, Wakefield’s knuckle ball dancing out of the pen, and Lester’s typical post-April success? Not to mention the return of Mike Cameron and Jacoby Ellsbury to the line-up!

Let’s play ball!