UConn Football links

Campbell’s Departure Leaves Questions on UConn’s D-Line [Rob Lunn – NESN.com]

ESPNU To Televise UNC-UConn Football Game [Hartford Courant]

UConn Women’s Basketball links

Faris, U.S. win exhibition [Jim Fuller – New Haven Register]

UConn tops the charts [Jim Fuller – New Haven Register]

Taurasi wasn’t worried about being selected to the team [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]

Charde Houston: Happy to be an All-Star [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]

Faris Helps U.S. Beat France In Exhibition [Rich Elliott – Connecticut Post]

Taurasi, Sun’s Jones Among 5 Huskies In WNBA All-Star Game [Hartford Courant]

UConn Men’s Basketball links

Thabeet and Williams down the Spurs [UConn Huskies Basketball]

Giving Back: Hilton Armstrong’s Camp for Kids [UConn Huskies Basketball]

Majok will stay at UConn [Connecticut Post]

Griffin among rising stars at Summer League [FOXSports.com]

Emotional Butler Credits UConn, Calhoun For Success [Hartford Courant]

Calhoun’s Health Getting Better [Hartford Courant]

Majok could be major addition for UConn [New York Daily News]

Other UConn related links

Why You Shouldn’t Go To South Florida [Thoughts From a Fat White Guy]

Women’s Ice Hockey: Hewett Invited to U22 Canada National Team Selection Camp [UConnHuskies.com]

John Smoltz was cruising right along through the first five innings. Then the 6th inning happened.

The Texas Rangers scored 5 runs in the inning and went on to a 6-3 win over the Boston Red Sox in front of 28,916 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

The loss drops the Red Sox (55-37) back into a first place tie with the Yankees, who won on a Hideki Matsui walk-off home run. The Rangers improve to 50-41, which is good for second place in the AL West.

Smoltz had thrown 75 pitches through the first five innings and had only allowed a run. Then the Rangers erupted as they had 3 home runs in the 6th. Smoltz went 5 2/3 innings, allowing the 6 runs on 9 hits while recording 5 strikeouts.

The Red Sox bullpen was solid behind him as Manny Delcarmen, Takashi Saito and Justin Masterson combined to give up a hit, 2 walks and had 4 strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings.

Kevin Millwood was solid in his first outing after the All-Star break. He went 6 innings, allowing 2 runs on 6 hits and a walk and had 3 strikeouts.

“Everyday” Eddie Guardado pitched an inning of relief with a strikeout. Darren O’Day allowed a run on 2 hits in 2/3 of an inning and C.J. Wilson pitched the final 1 1/3 innings with 2 strikeouts to pick up his 8th save of the season for the Rangers.

Kevin Youkilis and Mike Lowell both had 2 hits each with Youkilis adding an RBI. David Ortiz and Jason Varitek each had a hit and a RBI as well for the Red Sox. Jacoby Ellsbury and Jason Bay had the other hits.

The Red Sox are now 1-3 since the All-Star break and have struggled offensively. I’m sure that Boston talk radio will be busy in the morning calling for Clay Buchholz to take a rotation spot of either Brad Penny or John Smoltz after last night. Either that or they will be pushing for the trade of Roy Halladay to the Red Sox.

The Red Sox will look to get back into the win column behind their ace, Josh Beckett, tomorrow night. They will face yet another rookie pitcher in Tommy Hunter.

With the announcement of Comcast adding ESPNU to it’s service today comes this little piece of information from the UConn Athletic Department.

The game between the University of North Carolina Tar Heels and UConn Huskies football teams on September 12th at Rentschler Field will kickoff at Noon. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

2009 UConn Football Schedule [SOX & Dawgs]

After losing two-of-three to the Toronto Blue Jays, the Boston Red Sox head to the southwest to take on the Texas Rangers at steamy Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.  It will be a matchup of teacher versus student tonight as former Braves John Smoltz and Kevin Millwood square off on the bump.

The game tonight will start at 8:05 PM EDT and will be televised in the Red Sox television market on NESN. If you live in the Rangers television market, you can catch the game on FOX Sports Southwest. And if the television isn’t your cup of tea, you can catch the game on one of the many affiliates of the Red Sox Radio Network.

Smoltz has been up-and-down on the mound this season for the Red Sox. He was effective his last time out as he threw 5 innings picking up his first win of 2009. He is now 1-2 with a 5.40 ERA in 4 starts. He’s faced the Rangers four times, all out of the bullpen, and has no record with 3 saves and a 0.00 ERA. One of those saves came in Texas.

Millwood is making his 20th start of the season and is 8-7 with a 3.46 ERA for Ron Washington. He is 1-0 against the Red Sox this season as he gave up an unearned run back on June 5th. Overall in his career, he is 5-4 with 4.07 ERA in 13 starts.

Smoltz admires former pupil Millwood [RedSox.com]

Globe 10.0: What should the Sox do with Buchholz? [Extra Bases]

Who’s up first? [Extra Bases]

Brad Penny’s Boston days numbered? [Projo Sox Blog]

Papelbon may not be available to pitch [Projo Sox Blog]

Ellsbury back in leadoff spot [Projo Sox Blog]

Jason Bay Talks About His Contract [Wicked Good Sports]

Smoltz’s Start Could Determine Deadline Deals [NESN.com]

Penny for sale? [Boston Sports Blog]

Monday Quickie: Halladay Is A Talented Fellow [Nuggetpalooza]

A Trip from Toronto to Texas [Justin Masterson – Wicked Good Sports]

Here are the lineups for tonight’s game:

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

UCONN AND COLLEGE SPORTS FANS CHEER – ESPNU ON COMCAST IS HERE
Comcast Connecticut Customers Gain Access to Top College Action on ESPNU

BERLIN, CT– (July 20, 2009) – Comcast and ESPN today announced that ESPNU is now available to Comcast customers throughout Connecticut. The addition of ESPNU to Comcast’s digital line-up gives fans access to some of the best college sports programming, including action from the BIG EAST, America East and Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference featuring University of Connecticut, University of Hartford and Fairfield University games.

“ESPNU has been growing in popularity due to the dynamic sports match-ups we’ve been adding, and we are thrilled Comcast has added this network to its lineup,” said David C. Preschlack, Executive Vice President of Disney and ESPN Media Networks. “Fans will now have access to the best in college sports action through this agreement.”

“Comcast recognizes that the people of Connecticut are passionate about their local college sports teams, and we are proud to offer them all the best action from UConn and other local schools,” said Doug Guthrie, Senior Vice President of Comcast’s Western New England Region, which includes Connecticut. “The launch of ESPNU – along with the wealth of other sports networks we offer – delivers on Comcast’s commitment to being the top destination for sports fans for all the professional, college and high school sports action they want.”

ESPNU provides college sports fans with more than 550 live events annually and televises some of the top Division I conferences in the nation, including the ACC, BIG EAST, Big Ten, Big 12, MAC, SEC, Sun Belt and WAC. The network also has a wide-ranging, long-term agreement with the NCAA that includes extensive coverage of 22 NCAA Championships, including sports from each of the three collegiate seasons.

Beginning today, Connecticut fans can find ESPNU on channel 279 on the Comcast Digital Classic lineup, except as noted below:

• In the towns of Andover, Avon, Berlin, Bloomfield, Bolton, Bristol, Burlington, Canton, East Hartford, Ellington, Farmington, Hartford, Hebron, Marlborough, New Britain, Plainville, Simsbury, Tolland, Vernon, West Hartford, and Windsor on Channel 735;
• In the towns of Bozrah, Colchester, East Haddam, Franklin, Haddam Neck, Lisbon, Lyme, Norwich, Old Lyme, Preston, Salem and Sprague, on Channel 178; and
• In the towns of Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Bethany, Derby, Middlebury, Naugatuck, Oxford, Plymouth, Prospect, Seymour, Shelton, Waterbury and Wolcott, on Channel 154.

The weekend started off on a high note for the Boston Red Sox as they got a strong pitching performance from Clay Buchholz and some timely hitting from Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz. The weekend in Toronto ended with Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay completely dominating them as the Red Sox couldn’t get that timely hit.

Jon Lester pitched decently yesterday as he went 7 innings, allowing 3 runs. Unfortunately for him, two walks in the 2nd inning proved to be his undoing. He thought he was getting squeezed by home plate umpire Eric Cooper and even glared in at him while Jason Varitek was talking to Cooper. Whether or not he lost his composure for a moment or not remains to be seen, the next batter, Rod Barajas, followed with a double to put the Jays up front for good.

For whatever reason, the Red Sox don’t play well in domes. Even with the roof open the past two days, the Red Sox never really could get anything going. Maybe it’s the artificial turf, who knows.

As we are now just 11 days from the trade deadline, I’m sure the rumor mill will really start to buzz with Red Sox rumors among others. Obviously the big fish on the market is Halladay and while the Red Sox could be players, I don’t think they’ll end up with him. I see Doc Halladay going over to the National League.

A Sox killer strikes [Boston Globe]

Halladay lives up to his billing as one of MLB’s top pitchers [Providence Journal]

Roy Halladay blues [Boston Herald]

Eye of the storm could focus [Boston Globe]

Red Sox journal: Hitless in Toronto, Drew’s slump deepens [Providence Journal]

Roy Halladay leaves lasting impression [Boston Herald]

Struggles at leadoff hardly are top secret [Boston Globe]

Five Things We Learned: Shortstop Isn’t the Only Red Sox Revolving Door [Alex Speier – WEEI.com]

Top bat in order an issue for Red Sox [Boston Herald]

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

And if the enemy papers are more your flavor, you can head over to the Toronto Star and Toronto Sun websites.

UConn Men’s Basketball links

Jamaal Trice [Mike Anthony – Hartford Courant]

Alex Oriakhi [Mike Anthony – Hartford Courant]

Thabeet’s Game Four Highlights [UConn Huskies Basketball]

Thabeet Summer League Interview [UConn Huskies Basketball]

In Defense of Thabeet [UConn Huskies Basketball]

Majok staying in Storrs [Neill Ostrout – Connecticut Post]

Majok Announces He Will Play For UConn After All [Hartford Courant]

Thabeet Signs With Grizzlies [Hartford Courant]

Other UConn related links

Pair of UConn Field Hockey Players Named to U.S. Junior World Cup Team [UConnHuskies.com]