UConn Football links

One of the newest Patriots, Darius Butler, has a ‘Prime Time’ mentor [Providence Journal]

Another UConn Football Player Gets Drafted [SOX & Dawgs]

UConn Women’s Basketball links

UConn’s Montgomery a big hit with local fans [Danbury News-Times]

White House Extra [UConnHuskies.com]

Other UConn related links

Baseball: Springer Records 14th Homerun of the Year as UConn Downs Notre Dame 8-3 [UConnHuskies.com]

Softball: Crossin No-Hitter Highlights Senior Day [UConnHuskies.com]

Field Hockey’s Melissa Gonzalez to Compete For U.S. U-21 National Team [UConnHuskies.com]

Men’s Track: Smith Takes Home First Decathlon Title In Day Two Of BIG EAST Championship [UConnHuskies.com]

It may not have been the prettiest of outings from Tim Wakefield tonight, but his effort was good enough as the Boston Red Sox offense backed him up in a 10-6 win over the Tampa Bay Rays in front of 34,910 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL.

The win for the Red Sox ends a 4-game slide against the Rays as they improve to 15-9 and stay one game behind the Toronto Blue Jays for first place in the AL East. The Rays fall to 10-15.

Wakefield had been dominant in his last three starts for the Red Sox but tonight was a different story. He went 5 innings, allowing 5 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5.

The Red Sox bullpen once again backed the team up though as Hideki Okajima, Ramon Ramirez and Takashi Saito combined to give up 4 hits, a walk (Okajima) and a run (Saito) with 5 strikeouts.  Ramirez has now pitched 14 1/3 scoreless innings in a Sox uniform.

Rays starter Jeff Niemann got rocked by the Red Sox tonight. He gave up 6 runs (5 earned) on 7 hits and 3 walks with 3 strikeouts. Grant Balfour and Brian Shouse gave up the other runs for the 2008 American League champs.

Nick Green may have played himself into some more time at shortstop as he led the Red Sox with 3 hits and 3 RBIs. Kevin Youkilis added a hit and 3 RBIs while Jacoby Ellsbury added 2 hits and 3 stolen bases as did Mike Lowell who had 2 hits, including a home run and a RBI. Dustin Pedroia went 2-for-3 with 3 walks (one intentional) and a RBI.  J.D. Drew’s one hit of the night was good for a double and 2 RBIs.

The Red Sox did lose Jason Bay to an ankle injury in the 6th inning but the report after the game is that he’s fine and could be in the lineup tomorrow.

Niemann started out by getting Ellsbury to ground out and then walked Pedroia. The struggles for David Ortiz continued as he popped out for the second out. Niemann hit Youk with a pitch and Drew followed with a double to deep right to clear the bases and give the Red Sox a 2-0 lead.

The Rays got a run back in the bottom half of the 1st on a 2-out double from Evan Longoria and a single from Carlos Peña.

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Tropicana Field and the Tampa Bay Rays continue to be a thorn in the side of the Boston Red Sox as they were able to win last night 6-2 behind the strength of an Evan Longoria grand slam. The Red Sox will try again to become winners at the Trop again tonight.

The game will start at 7:08 PM tonight and the game will be televised on NESN. In the Tampa area, you can catch the game on FOX Sports Florida. 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.

When the Red Sox have needed a win this season, they’ve really counted on Tim Wakefield to keep them in the game. Wakefield has been solid in his last 3 outings and is 2-1 with a 1.86 ERA in 4 starts on the season. In 41 games (31 starts) against the Rays, Wakefield is 19-5 with a 3.32 ERA. In 23 games (17 starts) at Tropicana Field, Wakefield is 9-3 with a 2.86 ERA. Over his last 8 starts against the Rays beginning July 27, 2007, he is 3-3 with a 4.47 ERA.

Joe Maddon will send out a rookie in Jeff Niemann for the Rays. He is making just his 10 career appearance (7th start) and is 2-2 with a 4.43 ERA this season.

Smoltz is here [Extra Bases]

Kotsay drives in a run in first rehab outing, reports no problems [Projo Sox Blog]

Reddick likely to go to Florida for extended rehab [Projo Sox Blog]

Seibu Lions’ Porcelain and Plastic Memorial to Matsuzaka: Plush Bathrooms [New York Times]

Under Pressure, Red Sox’ Bay Delivers [New York Times]

Here are tonight’s starting lineups:

And here is how the hitters have fared against tonight’s starting pitchers. No one on the Red Sox has faced Niemann.

After seeing four of his UConn Huskies teammates get drafted last Saturday and then having four of his teammates sign free agent contracts with NFL teams, Martin Bedard will get his chance to play professional football in his home country of Canada.

Bedard, a native of Laval, Quebec, was taken in the 2nd round (14th overall) by his hometown Montreal Alouettes today in the 2009 Canadian Football League (CFL Draft)

In 5 games for the Huskies in 2008, Bedard had 13 catches for 156 yards and had 16 catches for 198 yards in his career.

He’ll join former Huskies defensive end Shawn Mayne (Winnipeg Blue Bombers), linebacker Maurice Lloyd (Edmonton Eskimos), cornerback Jordan Younger (Toronto Argonauts), wide receiver O’Neill Wilson (British Columbia Lions), running back Terry Caulley (Hamilton Tiger-Cats) and wide receiver Larry Taylor (Montreal Alouettes) who also play in the CFL.

After cruising through the first four innings with relative ease, Justin Masterson ran into some trouble in the 5th inning last night with the Tampa Bay Rays. He entered the inning with a 2-0 lead but at the end of it, the Boston Red Sox found themselves trailing 6-2.

Masterson had owned Evan Longoria up until that fateful 5th. He got ahead of him 0-2 before Longoria battled back to 2-2. Then all it took was one swing of the bat from Longoria who guessed right and crushed the decisive grand slam. Carlos Peña rubbed a little salt in the wound when he followed the grand slam with a solo shot of his own.

The Red Sox were then shut down by the Rays bullpen the rest of the way to continue their woes at Tropicana Field.

The loss last night for the local nine was their 11th in their last 12 games at Tropicana Field. Something has to give there at some point. In order for the Red Sox to win the AL East this year, they are going to win at the Trop and also beat the Rays at home. The Rays have already taken 2-of-3 from the Red Sox at Fenway Park this season.

Maybe the Red Sox should just wave the white flag and save themselves the trouble of going to Tampa. Either that or find an explosives expert to implode the Tropicana Dome. At this point, either one works for me.

Longoria was the grand marshal of this one [Boston Globe]

Justin Masterson can’t stop bleeding [Boston Herald]

Six-run fifth inning does in Masterson, Boston [Providence Journal]

Red Sox thrown for loss [Boston Globe]

Tito not down on Papi [Boston Herald]

Month without a home run is a first for David Ortiz [Providence Journal]

Another flop at Trop [Boston Globe]

Josh Beckett a mystery [Boston Herald]

Matsuzaka is Pawtucket-bound; Baldelli may be, too [Providence Journal]

Ortiz can’t find power switch [Boston Globe]

Evan Longoria tearing Red Sox staff apart [Boston Herald]

Kotsay to Pawtucket tomorrow to begin rehab assignment [Projo Sox Blog]

Beckett’s bumps no cause for concern [redsox.com]

Big problems for Big Papi [Tony Massarotti Blog]

Papi pressing for power [redsox.com]

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

And if you must see what the enemy papers are saying you can check out the Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times websites.