The New England Patriots announced another minor free agent signing as they have signed offensive lineman Damane Duckett to a 1-year contract.
Duckett was signed as a defensive lineman out of East Carolina in 2004 and played in 2 games before being waived in 2004. He then signed with the Panthers on their practice squad but a month later was signed by the New York Giants where he played the final four games of the season. He played 8 games in 2005 and was waived by the Giants in 2006 and then was signed to the San Francisco 49ers playing 6 games. He switched to the offensive line in 2007 and didn’t see any action in the 2 games he wasn’t on the practice squad. He missed all of 2008 with a knee injury.
In other Patriots news, they were awarded 3 compensatory picks in this year’s draft. They received a 3rd rounder (97th overall), 5th rounder (170th overall) and a 6th rounder (207th overall) raising their total draft choices this year to 11. They cannot trade the compensatory picks.
The Patriots were awarded those picks for losing free agents Asante Samuel, Randall Gay and Donte’ Stallworth all of whom left for greener pastures after the 2007 season.
Boston Celtics:The Boston Celtics used a 14-0 run in the third quarter to put away the Los Angeles Clippers 90-77 at the TD BankNorth Garden. Former UConn Husky Ray Allen led the Celtics with 20 points and Rajon Rondo added 14 points and 7 assists. Kevin Garnett had 12 points as did Kendrick Perkins who also pulled down 13 rebounds. Zach Randolph led the Clippers with 17 points and 14 rebounds while Baron Davis had 13 points. The Celtics now head out on a 2-game road trip that takes them to Orlando and Atlanta on Wednesday night and Friday night respectively.[ESPN.com]
On April 20, 2007, the Boston Red Sox connected for four consecutive home runs off of New York Yankees pitcher Chase Wright. Today during a spring training game, they hit four consecutive home runs off of Detroit Tigers pitcher Brandon Lyon in a 7-6 win at City of Palms Park.
Mike Lowell got the party started, followed by Jason Bay and Chris Carter. Ivan Ochoa, who had entered the game for Jed Lowrie, provided the final part of the back-to-back-to back-to-back home runs.
Carter led the way for the Sox today with 3 hits. David Ortiz went 2-for-3 with a stolen base and Dusty Brown knocked in a pair runs. Dustin Pedroia walked twice in his 3 plate appearances and also stole a base before being lifted for a pinch-runner.
The four straight home runs overshadowed the Red Sox spring debut of Brady Penny who showed no ill effects of a sore shoulder that sidelined him this spring. Penny threw 33 pitches in 3 innings of work, allowing just a walk with 3 strikeouts. Penny was very happy with his performance.
“It has been a long while since I’ve gone out there and felt good. The last year, I went out and I was pitching, but I never really felt like I had a lot behind it,” said Penny. “Last year was a frustrating year for me. Mentally, I was shot, just because going out there everyday and being hurt. It’s hard enough to get these guys out when you’re feeling great. To go out there and have that pain it makes the game even harder. So it’s nice to go out there with some confidence and some life on my fastball.”
Jonathan Papelbon followed him with an inning of work allowing a hit and striking out 2. Takashi Saito worked an inning, giving up 2 hits and a walk while striking out 1. Javier Lopez also worked an inning allowing a hit with a strikeout. Two Red Sox minor leaguers were hit hard for the six runs by the Tigers.
After the game, the Red Sox announced that they had reassigned Ochoa to the minor league complex.
Information on tomorrow’s games, the Red Sox statement on Curt Schilling’s retirement and Red Sox related links after the jump.
I just wanted to pass along some links that I either missed this morning or have come across today concerning the UConn Huskies and their various athletic programs.
According to Ron Borges of the Boston Herald, the New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills will open up the 2009 season on Monday Night Football on ESPN.
This season marks the 50th anniversary of the American Football League and the 40th anniversary of Monday Night Football. In an effort to meld the two, ESPN and the NFL agreed to a marquee game between not only two of the original eight AFL teams but also one of the league’s most popular (and in some corners most hated) teams – the Patriots – pitted against one that arguably made the loudest off-season noise – the Bills and their signing of wide receiver Terrell Owens.
Very interesting to see that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and his new $1 billion dollar stadium didn’t get the nod.
Sources: Patriots-Bills slated for Monday Night Football opener [Boston Herald]
UPDATE:Fang’s Bites has the press release confirming the details.
The baseball writers and the rest of the world will have five months to discuss this but now that former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling has officially announced his retirement, are his numbers Hall of Fame worthy?
His twenty year MLB career took place with five organizations, the Baltimore Orioles, Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies, Arizona Diamondbacks and the Red Sox. During those 20 seasons, he compiled a record of 216-146, with a 3.46 ERA, and 3,116 strikeouts. He also won 3 World Series rings, two with the Red Sox and one with the Diamondbacks.
So folks are those numbers Hall of Fame worthy? Let me know what you think and be sure to take a moment and vote in the poll below.
For the second straight season, UConn Huskies women’s basketball coach Geno Aureimma has been named the 2009 RUSSELL ATHLETIC/WBCA National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Coach of the Year.
This is the third time Auriemma has won the award and he becomes the first coach in the 27 year history of the award to win it back-to-back seasons.
Auriemma led the Huskies to a 33-0 mark during the regular season which saw them win the Big East Regular Season and Tournament titles. It was the 17th regular season title and 15th tournament title and 13th time that they have won both titles in the same season.
Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma wins Coach of the Year [The Seattle Times]
Rather than call a press conference or anything like that, former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling has used his blog, 38 Pitches, to announce his retirement from baseball.
“Turn out the lights the parties over” …
I used to wait with baited breath for Don Meredith to start singing that on Monday night football. Normally it was sweet music if the Steelers were playing.
If I could get him to sing it again I would. This party has officially ended. After being blessed to experience 23 years of playing professional baseball in front of the world’s best fans in so many different places, it is with zero regrets that I am making my retirement official.
Best of luck in retirement Curt. Thank you for everything you did in helping bring two World Series Championships to the fans of the Red Sox.
Good statement win for the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team yesterday against the Vermont Catamounts. The Big Three were huge but it was the play of Tina Charles that really got the Huskies going. Charles had been non-factor in the last two NCAA Tournaments but she put any notions of that this year to rest with an outstanding performance yesterday missing just 1 shot and playing aggressively on both ends of the floor.
The UConn women will now take on the Florida Gators tomorrow night at 7 PM on ESPN in the second round. The UConn men will play Thursday night at 7:07 PM against the Purdue Boilermakers on CBS.
World Baseball Classic:Daisuke Matsuzaka reverted back to the Dice-K of the Boston Red Sox last night for Japan but ended up being effective enough to help them to a 9-4 win over Team USA in the semifinals of the World Baseball Classic. Japan will now take on South Korea in the finals of the WBC tonight at 9 PM on ESPN. Dice-K went 4 2/3 innings, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks while striking out 4 on 97 pitches to raise his record to 3-0 with a 1.69 ERA in the WBC. Hiroyuki Nakajima had 2 RBIs as did Kenji Johjima from the Seattle Mariners. Jimmy Rollins of the Philadelphia Phillies had 4 hits for Team USA and Brian Roberts from the Baltimore Orioles led off the game with a home run off of Dice-K. [MLB.com]
The New England Patriots announced another minor free agent signing as they have signed offensive lineman Damane Duckett to a 1-year contract.
