What’s the No. 1 rule of Fight Club? You don’t talk about Fight Club. The same can be said about what the Chicago White Sox did last night to the Boston Red Sox. Sometimes, things are best left unspoken.

And by the way, judging by the look of Kevin Youkilis’ face last night, I think we can expect big things from his this afternoon.

This Byrd start just doesn’t fly [Boston Globe]

Thinking hard about Bard [Boston Globe]

Kotsay shows he’s still a valuable part [Boston Globe]

Dice-K says he’s ready [Brownie Points]

Red Sox look ahead in lopsided loss [RedSox.com]

Red Sox out to rebound behind Wake [RedSox.com]

Bowden recalled in case Wakefield falters [Projo Sox Blog]

Long night for Byrd, Tazawa [Providence Journal]

Dice-K is efficient, though unspectacular, in Pawtucket start [Providence Journal]

Red Sox journal: Guillen sings praises of Youkilis, Pedroia [Providence Journal]

Limited playing time irks Lowell [Providence Journal]

Five Questions About the Sox Pitching Staff After a Blowout Loss [Alex Speier – WEEI.com]

ChiSox rock Paul Byrd in a rout [Boston Herald]

Tim Wakefield ready to give it another go [Boston Herald]

Mark Kotsay seeks no revenge [Boston Herald]

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

And if the enemy papers are more your style you can check out the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune or the Arlington Daily-Herald websites.

As stated in the previous post, NFL teams are busy getting their rosters down to the mandatory 53-man roster deadline of 6 p.m. on Saturday. And that means that some former UConn Huskies football players may see their NFL dreams come to an end.

We’ve already seen two former Huskies cut in Alfred Fincher and Tyler Lorenzen. Now we can add a third in East Hartford, CT native Dahna Deleston.

According to Bob LeGere of the Chicago Daily Herald, Deleston was informed on Friday that he will be cut. Deleston had signed with a free agent contract with the Bears after the 2009 NFL Draft.

Deleston appeared in all four games for the Bears during the preseason and didn’t record a tackle.

UPDATE: Deleston was not released by the Bears. Instead, he was placed on injured reserve with an injured hamstring.

There’s always that chance when you get rid of someone that they may come back to haunt you one day.

Case in point, Mark Kotsay was traded to the Chicago White Sox back on July 28th for Brian Anderson. And with the Boston Red Sox still having eight games with them at the time, it was inevitable that they would have to face him.

Kotsay led the charge for the White Sox with a 3-for-4 night including a home run and three RBIs as they absolutely pounded Paul Byrd and the Red Sox 12-2 in front of 28,839 at U.S. Cellular Field.

It was the 500th win of Ozzie Guillen’s career as his team improves to 67-69. They sit seven games behind the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central. The Red Sox fall to 78-56 and remain 7.5 games behind the New York Yankees, who got shutout 6-0 by the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East.

The Red Sox lead is down to 2.5 games in the wild card as the Texas Rangers won on Friday night. The Tampa Bay Rays are still six games behind as well.

After being pretty much lights out his last start, Byrd was far from that this time around. He really didn’t have much of anything to offer and it showed. He gave up seven runs on ten hits with three strikeouts in just 2 1/3 innings.

Junichi Tazawa wasn’t any better than Byrd was either. He got rocked for five runs on seven hits and a walk with a strikeout in 3 2/3 innings. At least Manny Delcarmen and Takashi Saito had decent nights on the mound as MDC allowed a hit and a walk but struck out the side in his inning. Saito gave up two hits and recorded a strikeout.

Terry Francona pretty much waved the white flag in the bottom of the fifth when he made wholesale changes, seven, to the lineup. The only member of the starting nine not to be replaced was Alex Gonzalez. The only position player not to play for the Red Sox was Mike Lowell.

Kevin Youkilis had a hit and an RBI as did George Kottaras. Dustin Pedroia, Nick Green, Victor Martinez, David Ortiz, Joey Gathright, J.D. Drew and Gonzalez all had the other hits.

After an ugly Friday night, the Red Sox will look to Tim Wakefield to get them back on track. He’ll be opposed by Gavin Floyd on Saturday afternoon at 4:05 p.m.

After taking 2-of-3 from their AL East nemesis the Tampa Bay Rays, the Boston Red Sox are in Chicago to take on President Barack Obama’s White Sox at US Cellular Field tonight in the first of four games.

Tonight’s game will start at 8:11 p.m. and will be televised on NESN in the Red Sox television market. In the Chicago area, you can catch the game on WCIU. If the television isn’t your cup of tea, You can also catch the game on the radio on one of the many affiliates of the Red Sox Radio Network.

Paul Byrd makes just his second start of 2009 and is coming of a scoreless six inning performance against the Toronto Blue Jays. He’s had good success against the White Sox as he is 8-3 with a 4.43 ERA in fifteen career starts. His numbers are also stellar in Chicago as he is 4-1 with a 4.31 ERA there in six starts.

Freddy Garcia makes only his fourth start of 2009 and second appearance this season against the Red Sox. On the season, Garcia is 0-2 with a 5.94 ERA. He picked up a no-decision against the Red Sox back on August 25th after allowing three runs in 6 1/3 innings. He’s made fourteen career starts against the Red Sox and is 6-2 with a 4.74 ERA.

Terry Francona announced this afternoon that Tim Wakefield will make the start tomorrow afternoon instead of Junichi Tazawa. It seems as though the cortisone shot has done its job.

Wakefield set to pitch tomorrow [Extra Bases]

Wakefield will start on Saturday [Projo Sox Blog]

Pitching depth could mean rest for Beckett, Lester [Projo Sox Blog]

Bittersweet feelings for Lowell [Projo Sox Blog]

Nuggetpalooza! – Hitting Vs Best and Worst Pitchers [Nuggetpalooza]

Great balls of fire [Tony Massarotti – Boston Globe]

Vote Lowell for Man of the Year [MLB.com]

Youkilis settling into red-hot groove [RedSox.com]

Lowell: Irregular playing time is ‘hard’ [RedSox.com]

Here are tonight’s starting lineups:

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

This week:

The UConn Huskies look to open the 2009 season with a win over the Ohio University Bobcats at Peden Stadium in Athens, OH on Saturday night.

Here are the rosters for the Huskies and the Bobcats.

The Line/Prediction:

According to Rivals.com, the Huskies are favored by 3.5 points and the over/under is 46.5 points. My prediction for the game is UConn 27 Ohio 17.

Tickets:

As of the time of this post, there are still tickets available.

Getting To The Game:

Here is a weather report for the Athens, OH area. Here are directions to Peden Stadium, parking information, a seating chart and the stadium policies.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

Television:

The game will be available on ESPN360.com with Michael Reghi on play-byplay while former California and New England Patriots safety Je’Rod Curry is on color. Mark Balk is the producer while Stephanie Cavaco directs.

ESPN360.com is available at no cost to customers who receive their high speed Internet connection from an affiliated service provider. It is available via dozens of Internet Service Providers nationwide and in early August it was added to more than 15 million Comcast households nationwide, making it available in nearly 41 million households – a majority of US broadband homes. It is also available at no cost to approximately 21 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers connected to on-campus educational networks and on-base military networks.

Radio:

For the 18th consecutive season, WTIC 1080-AM in Hartford serves as the flagship station for the UConn Radio Network. WTIC is the state’s only 50,000 watt signal and can be heard in 23 states and parts of Canada. Veteran UConn announcers Joe D’Ambrosio (play-by-play) and Wayne Norman (color commentary) return to call the action with Kevin Nathan on the side lines and Eric Davis on production.

The UConn pregame show begins 90 minutes prior to kickoff, while home games, the UConn Tailgate Show will air two and a half hours prior to the game with Arnold Dean. UConn football games are also broadcast over the internet at WTIC.com. For a full list of stations on the WTIC/UCONN radio network, click here.

Ohio University Radio: The flagship radio station for the Ohio Sports Network is WXTQ-105.5 FM in Athens. Voice of the Bobcats Russ Eisenstein serves as the play-by-play voice. Broadcasting veteran Rob Cornelius will serve as the color analyst, while Caleb Troop is the broadcast’s sideline reporter. The network has nine affiliates throughout Ohio and West Virginia.

2009 Citizens Bank Ohio ISP SportsNetwork Affiliates: WXTQ (105.5 FM) Athens; WYTS (1230 AM), Columbus; WMPO (1390 AM) Middleport, WJAW (100.9 FM) McConnelsville; WJAW (630 AM) St. Mary’s W.Va.; WMOA (1490 AM) Marietta; WRAC (103.1 FM) West Union; WHNK (1450 AM) Parkersburg, W.Va.

Internet: Every Ohio Sports Network broadcast is available on the internet via Stretch Internet. Visit OhioBobcats.com and click on the appropriate links to access the broadcasts.

Continue reading →

When the UConn Huskies kick off their 2009 football campaign tomorrow night against the Ohio University Bobcats , it will be the 18th straight year that Connecticut football will be broadcast on the WTIC/UConn Radio Network. Anchoring the network will be WTIC AM-1080 in Hartford, the state’s only 50,000 watt AM station.

Joe D’Ambrosio, known as “Joe D” around these parts, will be broadcasting UConn football for his 17th consecutive season. He is an anchor at WVIT-TV (NBC 30) and is a host heard nationwide on ESPN Radio, hosting “Countdown to Kickoff” on Sunday mornings during the NFL while also hosting the Sunday Night Baseball Game of the Week pre and post game shows.

Joining Joe D in the booth is Wayne Norman who handles the color commentary for Huskies. He’s been the Huskies football analyst since 1981. Norman has been in radio for over 40 years having called over 1100 UConn sporting events since 1981. Norman is also the Sports Director/Program Director and morning host for WILI in Willimantic. The pair also partners up for the men’s basketball games as well.

Kevin Nathan will be providing in game updates from the sidelines and during games. This will be the 3rd straight year that Nathan has done the sideline reporting. You can also catch Nathan on WVIT-TV (NBC 30).

WTIC offers 10 hours of Husky football talk on home game Saturdays on WTIC’s powerful signal. Ray Dunaway, the popular co-host of WTIC’s morning drive show “Mornings with Ray” and Scott Gray start things off at 5:30 a.m. live on Saturdays from Rentschler Field with “Ray at the Rent.” That tandem then yields to the duo of Arnold Dean and Kevin Nathan at 9:30 a.m. prior to the contest with “The Tailgate Show,” which runs for one hour followed by UConn Football Magazine with Bob Joyce from 10:30 a.m. until kickoff. Nathan will also serve as a features producer for “UConn Football Magazine,” the halftime show, and also plays host to a post-game call-in show after home games with Joyce filling that role for road contests.

Stations on the WTIC/UConn Football Network are:

WILI-AM 1400 in Willimantic CT

WXLM-FM 102.3 in New London CT

WLIS-AM 1420 in Old Saybrook CT

WMRD-AM 1150 in Middletown CT

WICC-AM 600 in Bridgeport CT

WLAD-AM 800 in Danbury CT

For the eighth consecutive season, WTIC AM-1080 will air the “Randy Edsall Show,” featuring UConn head coach Randy Edsall and broadcaster Joe D’Ambrosio. The show will air on Thursday evenings of standard game weeks.

For a full look at the 2009 UConn football schedule, click here.

Normally a second round draft choice in the NBA doesn’t get a guaranteed contract. But if your A.J. Price and had a great summer league, you become one of the exceptions.

The Indiana Pacers announced yesterday that they had signed the former UConn Huskies point guard, the 52nd pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, to a 3-year, $2 million guaranteed contract.

Price will receive $400K his rookie season, $700K in his second year and $900K in the final year of the contract. The money is close to what a late first round pick would receive.

Price averaged 14.7 points, 4.7 assists and 3.5 rebounds during his senior season at UConn in which he led the Huskies to a Final Four appearance.

And for those who didn’t know, myself included, former Husky power forward Jeff Adrien has signed a contract to play basketball in Spain. He will be playing with Leche Rio Breogan.

Here is the video of his press conference. One note it’s in Spanish.

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