Afternoon Red Sox Delight – 4/30

BOSTON - APRIL 25: Josh Beckett #19 of the Boston Red Sox throws against the New York Yankees at Fenway Park, April 25, 2009, in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

The Boston Red Sox head into Tropicana Field for a 4-game set with the Tampa Bay Rays as winners of 12 of their last 13 games having won their last four series. Tonight the will look to exercise their demons at the Trop where they went just 1-8 during the regular season. It’s also the scene of the crime that saw the Rays clinch a berth in the World Series last season.

The game will start at 7:08 PM and will be shown on NESN and Sun Sports in the Tampa area. For those who are out of market, the game will also be shown on the MLB Network. You can also catch the game on the radio on one of the many affiliates of the Red Sox Radio Network.

Josh Beckett looks to rebound from a poor start against the New York Yankees his last time out. Beckett is 2-1 with a 6.00 ERA on the season. In 11 starts against the Rays, Beckett is 6-3 with a 2.93 ERA and is 1-2 with a 1.93 ERA in 4 career starts at Tropicana Field.

Matt Garza will look to continue his dominance over the Red Sox tonight. In 7 career starts, Garza is 4-1 with a 3.40 ERA.

How Van Every ended up with the Red Sox [Full Count]

Numbers tell a troubling story for Rays [Tony Massarotti Blog]

It’s … kind of a big deal [Rays Report]

Globe 10.0: Are the Rays one-year wonders? [Boston Globe]

Sox boast Beckett in St. Petersburg [RedSox.com]

Winning Ways [Ask 14]

pregame notes [Extra Bases]

Here are tonight’s starting lineups:

Boston Red Sox14-7

Tampa Bay Rays8-14
1. Jacoby Ellsbury CF 1. B.J. Upton CF
2. Dustin Pedroia 2B 2. Carl Crawford LF
3. David Ortiz DH 3. Evan Longoria 3B
4. Kevin Youkilis 1B 4. Carlos Peña 1B
5. J.D. Drew RF 5. Pat Burrell DH
6. Jason Bay LF 6. Gabe Gross RF
7. Mike Lowell 3B 7. Akinori Iwamura 2B
8. George Kottaras C 8. Jason Bartlett SS
9. Julio Lugo SS 9. Michel Hernandez C
Josh Beckett SP Matt Garza SP

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

Boston Red Sox @ Tampa Bay Rays batter/hitter matchups

A Hero Returns: NESN Hires Roberts As Red Sox Studio Analyst

Dave Roberts steals second base in the 2004 ALCS Game 4

Here is a press release from NESN about their hiring of former Boston Red Sox hero Dave Roberts as a studio analyst for Red Sox games:

BOSTON, MA – NESN, New England’s most watched sports network, announced today that former Red Sox outfielder and post-season hero, Dave Roberts, has joined NESN to serve as a Red Sox studio analyst. Roberts will join Hall of Famers Dennis Eckersley and Jim Rice for the network’s popular pre and post game shows.

“We are thrilled to have Dave join our team of outstanding studio analysts,” said Joel Feld, NESN’s executive vice president of programming and executive producer. “Dave is an icon in Red Sox Nation. He has a deep knowledge of the game and understands the passion of Red Sox fans.”

Roberts will make his NESN debut this Monday from the new Yankee Stadium when the Red Sox play the Yankees. During the game, he will also join NESN’s Red Sox broadcast team of Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy in the booth for a couple of innings.

Best known to for his stolen base in the 9th inning of Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees, Roberts recently retired after a 10 years in the major leagues. He played for 5 different teams compiling a .266 career batting average with 243 stolen bases while only being caught 58 times for a very impressive 81% success rate. He enjoyed his best year in 2006 with the San Diego Padres when he hit .293 as the team’s leadoff hitter and collected 49 stolen bases.

Please Give Your Support To Surviving Grady

Surviving Grady

Since SOX & Dawgs wasn’t one of the four finalists for best Red Sox blog, I’ve decided to throw my support behind our friends over at Surviving Grady in the New England Sports Blog Awards.

Please take a moment and vote for them as best Red Sox blog and best New England Sports Blog.

Red and Denton do an awesome job over there and it’d be a shame not to see them rewarded for their efforts.

New England Sports Blog Awards [TruFan]

Back in Business

After taking some time to deal with some personal issues, we’re back in business here at SOX & Dawgs. I do apologize for not giving any notice but sometimes life just happens and you can’t control things. I’ll do my best to play catchup on certain things. So if you see a few posts that come up that weren’t there under this, that just means I put timestamped them for their original day.

Thanks for understanding. And to let you know, there will be a scheduled break from blogging coming up on Memorial Day Weekend as I’ll be flying to North Carolina for my cousin’s wedding.

Paw Prints – The Daily Roundup – 4/30

Paw Prints The Daily Roundup

UConn Football links

So The “Or’s” Have It [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]

Colts get their man in UConn’s Donnie Brown [Holmdel Independent]

The Storrs Side: NFL Draft will have big impact on UConn football [Daily Campus]

Darius Butler: Draft Party Style [Boston Score]

UConn Women’s Basketball links

Auriemma Cuts Loose At Charity Dinner [Hartford Courant]

Watch the President drain the three – courtesy of the White House [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]

UConn Men’s Basketball links

2009 Season Highlights [UConn Huskies Basketball]

UConn Would Be Lucky to Have Miles, Majok Stay in NBA Draft [Fanhouse]

UConn alums take over series [NESN.com]

Other UConn related links

Bienvenidos a Espana [Thoughts From a Fat White Guy]

Springer returns home to play [New Britain Herald]

Baseball: Huskies Add Game Against Central Connecticut For May 11 [UConnHuskies.com]

Baseball: Huskies Outlast Central Connecticut 9-7 [UConnHuskies.com]

Softball: Softball To Finish Regular Season Saturday [UConnHuskies.com]

Boston Red Sox @ Tampa Bay Rays Pitching Matchups: 4/30-5/3

Boston Red Sox @ Tampa Bay Rays pitching matchups

Thursday, April 30th @ 7:08 PM

Josh Beckett (R) (2-1, 6.00) vs Matt Garza (R) (1-2, 4.97)

TV: NESN, MLB Network, MLB.tv

Radio: Red Sox Radio Network, MLB Game Day Audio

Friday, May 1stth @ 7:38 PM

Justin Masterson (R) (2-0, 2.70) vs Andy Sonnanstine (R) (0-3, 7.78)

TV: NESN, MLB.tv

Radio: Red Sox Radio Network, MLB Game Day Audio

Saturday, May 2nd @ 7:08 PM

Tim Wakefield (R) (2-1, 1.86) vs Jeff Niemann (R) (2-2, 4.43)

TV: NESN, MLB.tv

Radio: Red Sox Radio Network, MLB Game Day Audio

Sunday, May 3rd @ 1:38 PM

Brad Penny (R) (2-0, 8.66) vs James Shields (R) (2-2, 3.74)

TV: NESN, TBS, MLB.tv

Radio: Red Sox Radio Network, MLB Game Day Audio

Paw Prints – The Daily Roundup – 4/29

Paw Prints The Daily Roundup

UConn Football links

Frazer Named UConn’s Starting QB [New London Day]

Frazer top quarterback on Huskies’ depth chart [New Haven Register]

The Big East’s best: Moe Petrus, No. 30 [Big East Blog – ESPN.com]

Frazer listed No. 1 on UConn post-spring two-deep [Big East Blog – ESPN.com]

Frazer is Edsall’s QB for now [Connecticut Post]

Frazer Named The No. 1 QB On UConn’s Depth Chart [Hartford Courant]

New Patriot Butler affirms Huskies’ evolution [NESN.com]

UConn Women’s Basketball links

More on netball [Jim Fuller – New Haven Register]

How much better could it have possibly been anyway? [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]

UConn Men’s Basketball links

Nate Miles Won’t Be Prosecuted [Hartford Courant]

Where in the world are you Rashad Anderson? [UConn Huskies Basketball]

Other UConn related links

Softball: Huskies Lose Close One To Bryant 1-0 [UConnHuskies.com]

Baseball. Huskies Dominate Bryant 17-5 on the Road [UConnHuskies.com]

This Week’s Sign Of The Apocalypse [Thoughts From a Fat White Guy]

I Dropped The Ball On Uconn And The Draft [Thoughts From a Fat White Guy]

UConn Football Releases Depth Chart

UConn Huskies footballHere is a press release from the UConn Huskies football program in regards to the depth chart heading into the 2009 season.

STORRS, Conn. – University of Connecticut head football coach Randy Edsall has released a depth chart for the Husky team coming out of spring practice.

“This is where we are after spring ball and headed into summer workouts and preseason camp,” says Edsall. “Some positions need to be solidified and there can be changes made to this before we have a gameday depth chart for our opener against Ohio University on September 5.

“Zach Frazer is our number one quarterback coming out of spring practice and he has earned that spot. However, as we continue over the summer and into fall camp, there is still competition at that position, like there is at each spot on the team.”

A full look at the depth chart after the jump.

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