While it was a bad for six players (4 sent down before the game, 2 after) at big league camp for the Boston Red Sox, it was a good day as they won their sixth straight spring training game today as they shutout the Philadelphia Phillies 3-0.

Josh Beckett was on the bump this afternoon and had a pretty good outing. He found himself in trouble once or twice but was able to work out of it especially in the 4th inning when he loaded the bases with no outs. After getting an out, he got John Mayberry, Jr to bounce into a 5-4-3 inning-ending double play. Beckett went 5 scoreless innings, allowing 4 hits and a walk while striking out 2.

[flv]http://ianbethune.com/joshbeckett1.flv[/flv]video courtesy of NESN

Hideki Okajima followed Beckett with a perfect inning of work and then Manny Delcarmen worked 1 2/3 innings, giving up 2 hits with a strikeout. Daniel Bard worked in his final big league camp appearance and went 1 1/3 innings, walking one and striking out 1 to keep his spring ERA at 0.00. He was among the 6 players sent down today. He and Paul McAnulty were sent down after the game.

Dustin Pedroia made another appearance in the lineup today and went 2-for-3 double. Mike Lowell had only one hit but his hit was a big one as he had a 2-run homer. Chris Carter also added a solo home run while McAnulty had 2 hits.

The Red Sox will host the Detroit Tigers tomorrow at City of Palms Park at 1:05 PM. There is no television or radio coverage. Brad Penny will make his first Grapefruit League start and Kevin Youkilis is expected to be in the starting lineup.

Rocco’s Getting the Band Back Together [Surviving Grady]

A respite from war [Extra Bases]

Red Sox minor leaguers beat military team 4-0 [AP]

Dan Duquette alumni [Full Count]

A trip into the way-back machine [Full Count]

Sox face a different group of men in uniform [Projo Sox Blog]

Penny up tomorrow, Smoltz milestone Wednesday [Projo Sox Blog]

Tazawa sent down, but Sox high on him [redsox.com]

Youkilis back in Sox’s lineup Monday [redsox.com]

Bard sent to Minors, but he will return [redsox.com]

Fiery Beckett dials up intensity in spring [redsox.com]

The Atlanta Tipoff Club was busy on Sunday afternoon as they have decided on their final four finalists for the 2009 Naismith Men’s College Player of the Year.

They have selected UConn Huskies center Hasheem Thabeet, Blake Griffin from the Oklahoma Sooners, Tyler Hansbrough from the North Carolina Tar Heels and DaJuan Blair from the Pittsburgh Panthers.

“The finalists have enjoyed outstanding individual successes while leading their respective schools to tremendous seasons,” said Gary Stokan, Atlanta Tipoff Club president. “That underscores the meaning of a true leader, something that is inherent in the Naismith Trophy.”

The winner will be named at the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Guardians of the Game awards program on Sunday, April 5 in Detroit.

UConn Huskies men’s basketball: CBS Sports has announced the game times for the Sweet 16 and the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team will tip-off at 7:07 PM on Thursday night at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ. The game of course will be broadcast on CBS and also on online at NCAA.com.

After making four cuts this morning, the Boston Red Sox announced after the game against the Phillies this afternoon that they had reassigned Daniel Bard and Paul McAnulty to the minor league complex.

It’s assumed that both will be playing for Triple-A Pawtucket this season.

The demotion of McAnulty means that Chris Carter, Brad Wilkerson and Jeff Bailey will be competing for the final spot on the Red Sox roster until Mark Kotsay returns from his back surgery.

Bard definitely impressed during his first big league camp.

During 8 games of Grapefruit League action, Bard gave up 5 hits in 9 1/3 innings, walking 3 and striking out 12. He didn’t give up a run in those 8 games and picked up 1 win.

“Hopefully, I opened some eyes,” said Bard, who assumes he’ll be sent to Triple A Pawtucket. “The big thing for me is experience. It just takes time. We’ll see. It’s not for me to decide. A lot of things happen. I don’t think the same 12 pitchers you start the season with are the same 12 you finish with.

Bard, McAnulty sent down [Extra Bases]

Seriously, can we just award the title to the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team now? Is there even anyone who can keep up with the Huskies after the shooting display they put on this afternoon against the Vermont Catamounts?

Tina Charles led four players in double figures with 32 points and added 11 rebounds and 3 blocks to help the No. 1 overall seed Huskies to an easy 104-65 win over the No. 16 seed Catamounts in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Tournament at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, CT.

The Huskies (34-0) advance to the second round where they await the winner of the Florida/Temple game that is currently being played. Vermont, the America East champions, finish their season up at 21-12.

Renee Montgomery added 19 points (all in the first half) and 7 assists while Maya Moore had 13 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and a block. Kalana Greene also chipped in with 13 points for Geno Auriemma’s Huskies. Every UConn player who played scored at least 2 points with the exception of senior reserve Cassie Kerns.

Courtnay Pilypaitis led the seriously overmatched Catamounts with 24 points and 4 rebounds while adding 4 assists. Andrea Cihal was only other Vermont player in double digits with 10 points. May Kotsopoulos led Vermont with 6 assists while adding 8 points.

Vermont really had no chance in this one especially with the Huskies shooting 74.2% (23-of-31) in the first half.

With UConn leading at 5-3, they wasted no time making sure they would be playing in the second round with a 17-4 run to open up a 22-7 lead with 13:34 to go in the half. Over the next minute or so, the Catamounts went on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 9 points but the Huskies responded with a 13-0 run to give themselves a 22 points lead at 35-12 with 8:45 to go.

Over the final 8:45 of the half, the Huskies outscored the Catamounts 21-10 including holding them to just 2 points over the final 3:20 in the half.

It was the Charles show to start the second half as she scored the Huskies’ first 10 points and 14 of their first 19 to make sure the Catamounts couldn’t mount a comeback. The UConn lead got as high as 47 points in the second half.

An absolutely incredible shooting display from the Huskies and Charles, who showed no rust from their 12 day layoff after winning the Big East Title. It was especially heartwarming to see Charles play aggressively down low demanding the ball from her teammates.

With the Huskies being able to put the Catamounts away early, Auriemma was able to give his starters some good rest before Tuesday night’s game.

Continue reading →

The Boston Red Sox made some more cuts today as they announced that they have sent down Michael Bowden, Junichi Tazawa, Billy Traber and Marcus McBeth.

Bowden was optioned to Pawtucket, Tazawa to Portland and reassigned Traber and McBeth to the minor league complex. They will both most likely end up on the Pawtucket Red Sox.

Tazawa was a surprise in spring training as he put up some good numbers for the Red Sox in his 5 Grapefruit League outings. In 9 innings, he gave up 1 run on 5 hits and 1 walk while striking out 10. His spring ERA stood at 1.00. He will spend some time in Portland as he continues to adjust to baseball in America.

Bowden saw action in 5 games (2 starts) and gave up 9 runs in 10 2/3 innings on 14 hits and 5 walks. He did have 9 strikeouts.

More Sox moving down [Extra Bases]

It was a wet and rainy day for the Boston Red Sox in Jupiter against the Florida Marlins yesterday as the start of the game was delayed by rain and then the game was called by rain in the 8th inning. When the game was called, the Red Sox were given the win since they were leading 4-3 at the time.

Michael Bowden got the start for the Red Sox and allowed a run on 3 hits and a walk while striking out 2. Junichi Tazawa also continued his good spring giving up 2 hits in 2 innings of work with 2 strikeouts.

Nick Green led the way offensively for the Red Sox with 2 hits and 3 RBIs. Brad Wilkerson, Chris Carter and Gil Velazquez had the other hits for the Red Sox.

The Red Sox will host the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies today at 1:05 PM at City of Palms Park. Josh Beckett will get the start for the Red Sox and will be opposed by Brett Myers. There is no television coverage and the game will be broadcast on WRKO in the Boston area and WPHT in the Philadelphia area.

Don’t forget to tune in tonight at 8 PM to see Daisuke Matsuzaka pitch for Japan in the semifinals of the WBC against Team USA for the right to face South Korea in the finals tomorrow night.

Good news on injuries comes hand over foot [Boston Globe]

Okajima’s approach translates to success [Boston Globe]

For Daisuke Matsuzaka, it’s Classic [Boston Herald]

Michael Bowden continues to battle elements [Boston Herald]

For Red Sox, age now the rage [Boston Herald]

Bay comfortable in first spring with Sox [redsox.com]

Health updates: Smoltz, Youkilis, Pedroia [Full Count]

Youkilis and Drew both fine [Full Count]

Masterson allows two runs in minor league game [Projo Sox Blog]

Pedroia: ‘I feel fine’ after playing on Friday [Providence Journal]

Florida seems like Rhode Island South to favorite son Rocco Baldelli [Providence Journal]

Jason Varitek to start as Boston Red Sox catcher, but the backup spot is less certain [The Republican]

A good win for the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team yesterday as they now head to Sweet 16 for the first time since 2006 when they made it to the Elite Eight (lost to George Mason). The Huskies will take on the Purdue Boilermakers on Thursday night at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ. The game time hasn’t been announced yet.

It’s now time for the No. 1 seed UConn women’s basketball team to get underway in the NCAA Women’s Tournament today. They will take on the 16th seed Vermont Catamounts  at Gampel Pavilion at 12:21 PM on ESPN2. Please note that if you want to watch the whole game, watch it on regular ESPN2. It will also be shown on ESPN2 HD but if it becomes a blowout, they will switch to another game on the HD channel. So just stick with regular ESPN2 the whole way and you’ll be fine.

And if you’re going to the game, please stick around for the second game and give former UConn Huskies assistant Tonya Cardoza some backing as her Temple Owls take on the Florida Gators in the second game.

UConn women’s basketball links

UConn players say waiting for NCAAs hardest part [SI.com]

UVM Ready To Take On #1 UConn in NCAAs On Sunday [AmericaEast.com]

Day one in the books [Elm City to Eagleville]

A couple more things [Elm City to Eagleville]

The UConn women beware the wearing of the [Vermont] green [UConn | Women’s Basketball]

Tonya Cardoza and Renee Montgomery – much more than coach and player [UConn | Women’s Basketball]

Brittany Coaching … For Now/Renee Booted [Rich Elliot – UConn women’s basketball]

Hunter back in Storrs with new team [Norwich Bulletin]

UConn remembers Final Four setback [Connecticut Post]

UConn women’s notebook [Connecticut Post]

UConn women’s game day [Connecticut Post]

Greenwich’s Massi part of Huskies’ team [Connecticut Post]

Plenty Of Time To Prepare [Hartford Courant]

No. 16 Vermont Vs. No. 1 UConn Women [Hartford Courant]

Vermont Declines Asking For Help From Hartford’s Rizzotti [Hartford Courant]

Former Husky Hunter A Temple Assistant [Hartford Courant]

Lady Huskies’ only worry is depth [Waterbury Republican-American]

Charles expects big things in tournament [New Haven Register]

Geno: Bubba’s comments on Coale ‘horrible’ [New Haven Register]

Invincible? It’s Time To Find Out [New London Day]

It’s A Dream Matchup For Catamounts [New London Day]

No. 1 UConn Vs. No. 16 Vermont [New London Day]

UConn’s Five Keys [New London Day]

UConn men’s basketball links

Watch CBS Videos Online

UConn vs Texas A&M Postgame Quotes [NCAA.com]

U-Conn. Cruises Past Texas A& M [Washington Post]

Calhoun Rejoins UConn as Huskies Rout Aggies [New York Times]

Connecticut Huskies knock Texas A&M out of NCAA Tournament, 92-66, will face Purdue in Sweet 16 [The Star-Ledger]

‘Glossy-eyed’ Aggies no match for top-seeded Huskies [San Antonio Express-News]

Huskies heading West [theday.Com – Gavin Keefe Blog]

Know Your Enemy: Purdue [UConn Huskies Basketball]

Texas Roadkill [In Storrs Now]

By the Time They Get to Phoenix [Emeka, Nadav and Corny]

UConn Beats Texas A&M To Reach Sweet 16 [Hartford Courant]

Rock Solid Performance By Adrien [Hartford Courant]

As Huskies Roll, Thabeet Hardly A Factor [Hartford Courant]

UConn Men’s Extras [Hartford Courant]

UConn’s Best NCAA Starts [Hartford Courant]

Huskies’ Edwards heading home for Sweet 16 [Waterbury Republican-American]

Huskies dominate Texas A&M [Waterbury Republican-American]

Adrien rediscovers his jump shot [Waterbury Republican-American]

Huskies cruise into Sweet 16 [New Haven Register]

Questions on offense have been answered [New Haven Register]

UConn’s lead grew with Thabeet on bench [New Haven Register]

Left open, Adrien burns Texas A&M [Connecticut Post]

UConn men rediscover swagger [Connecticut Post]

UConn men win, headed to Phoenix [Connecticut Post]

UConn men’s notebook [Connecticut Post]

Huskies on to the Sweet 16 [Norwich Bulletin]

Adrien Gets Back On Target [New London Day]

Focused Huskies Advance To Sweet 16 [New London Day]

UConn men: Huskies on their way to Sweet 16 [Journal Inquirer]

UConn flexes muscle, ousts Texas A&M [AggieSports.com]

Day 3: UNC, OU and UConn make statements [ESPN.com]

Texas A&M impressed by Connecticut [The Star-Ledger]

Cohesiveness [UConn Huskies Basketball]

UConn football links

This Ain’t Good Considering… [UConn | Football]

Howard Taking On Leadership Role For Huskies [Hartford Courant]

Other UConn related links

Baseball Drops a 12-2 Decision to West Virginia in BIG EAST Action [UConnHuskies.com]

Traffic Advisory For Sunday Baseball Game vs. West Virginia [UConnHuskies.com]

Lacrosse Loses OT Heartbreaker to Brown, 14-13 [UConnHuskies.com]