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UConn Football links

Dan Ryan On Colonials Tryouts Today: Can't Hurt, Only Help [Desmond Conner - Hartford Courant]

Kirk Ferentz says he’s ‘pulling’ for UConn, his alma mater, to join the Big Ten [Des Moines Register]

Other UConn related links

A day at the ballpark [Neill Ostrout - CT Post]

Baseball: LePage, Nemeth Homer Twice to Lift Huskies [UConnHuskies.com]

Baseball: State of the Huskies continues to improve [The Day]

Destination Red Sox Nation is our look at how the minor league teams of the Boston Red Sox fare each night. Game story and box score links as well as links to team rosters, team stats and league standings are after the jump.

Boston Red Sox @ Philadelphia Phillies 7:05 p.m Citizens Bank Park SP: John Lackey vs Cole Hamels TV: NESN, MLB Network,  MLB.tv Radio: Red Sox Radio Network

Afternoon Red Sox Delight - 5/21 [SOX & Dawgs]

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After a two-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins, the Boston Red Sox head to the mid-Atlantic to kickoff interleague play with the Philadelphia Phillies in a three-game set at Citizens Bank Park.

Tonight's game will start at 7:05 p.m. and will be shown on NESN in the Red Sox television market. The game can be seen in the Phillies television market on CSN Philly. For those who don't live in either market, the game will also be broadcast on the MLB Network.To find out if you get the MLB Network, click here (enter zip code at bottom). If you can't catch the television broadcast, you can always listen to the game on the 2010 Red Sox radio network.

John Lackey makes his ninth start of 2010 for Terry Francona and the Red Sox. In his eight starts, he is 4-2 with a 4.86 ERA. He's only faced the Phillies once and that came back in 2003 as a member of the Angels at home. In that start, he picked up the win after allowing one run in 6 1/3 innings.

Like Lackey, Cole Hamels will be making his ninth start of the season. In his eight starts, he is also 4-2 and has an ERA of 4.29. His one career start against the Red Sox came at home in June of 2008 and he picked up the win after allowing two runs over seven innings.

Lineups, batter/pitcher matchups, and links after the jump.

With the 2010 Major League Baseball season having passed the quarter pole (40 games) for teams this week, I figured it was time to look at the Red Sox season thus far. Over the off season we were told time and time again that the team was going to be built on pitching and defense and General Manager Theo Epstein and his baseball operations people set out to embrace this philosophy.

They did so by signing pitcher John Lackey away from the Los Angeles Angels, three-time Gold Glove winning outfielder Mike Cameron away from Milwaukee, two-time Gold Glove winning third baseman Adrian Beltre from Seattle and shortstop Marco Scuturo away from the Toronto Blue Jays. They also moved Jacoby Ellsbury to left field and made Victor Martinez the everyday catcher. On paper it all looks good but in reality it’s the pitching and the defense that has let this team down while the supposed questionable offense has kept this teams head above water for much of the season.

Offensively, in the American League, the team is tied for 5th in batting average at .270 with Minnesota; 4th in OBP; 2nd in slugging pct and 2nd in OPS. They are second in home runs to Toronto; 4th in RBI; 2nd in hits and 3rd in runs scored. Where they’re lacking is in stolen bases. Generally we don’t associate the Red Sox with swiped bags but since the arrival of Ellsbury in late 2007 it has become a weapon in manager Terry Francona’s arsenal. With Ellsbury on the DL since early April, the Sox as a team have only 12 steals in 18 chances. If Ellsbury and Cameron, who has also been on the DL since early April, were both in the lineup that number would be significantly higher thus making the Sox offense even more potent.

The pitching though is another story, at times it shines like last night with Jon Lester throwing the teams first complete game of 2010 or the night before with Clay Buchholz earning glowing praise from Twins broadcaster and should be Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven. Then it’s been shaky like Monday night’s start from Daisuke Matsuzaka in the Bronx; or Josh Beckett’s season or the up and down performances of Lackey.

They are 13 out of 14 teams in the AL in ERA with a 4.78, only Kansas City is worse. They’ve allowed the most earned runs (204) and runs (222); they’re 5th in walks (308), the staff WHIP is a whopping 1.40 good for 10th and they have the sixth highest batting average against in the league. In 19 save opportunities the bullpen has blown 7. The staff has given up the 5th most hits, the 4th most HRs and the 3rd most total bases. You want to talk stolen bases against? You might want to look at this with only one eye open it’s kinda scary. Opponents have stolen 48 bases and have only been thrown out or caught by pitchers 10 times for a caught stealing pct of 17%. Only New York’s pct is worse (15%)

In 42 games the defense has committed 27 errors (7th most in AL), 7 of them alone by Beltre. It’s not just the errors though that are killing them. I can’t recall in the last 7 or 8 years a Boston team who misplays and misreads and misjudges the ball so often. Granted part of the problem is you have pretty much an entire outfield with little or no Fenway Park experience but that only goes so far. And Beltre needs to start fielding his position better. The way he has played defensively needs to change.

This team is still searching for an identity. They’re like the family uncle with multiple personalities. For a few games they’re resilient, they’ll fall way behind only to comeback on you and win. There are days they’re lackadaisical, some days they will put in a good effort from beginning to end and other days they are just totally uninspired. I don’t know what needs to change to bring about a better effort as a team. Maybe there isn’t as good a chemistry amongst teammates as there was in the past. We’ve already seen what appears to be a breakdown in communication between Martinez and Matsuzaka. We’ve seen Mike Lowell, of all people; complain about his situation and how he doesn’t know what his role is.

As someone who has watched Francona manage sheltered, fragile egos at times over the last seven seasons, I find it hard to believe no one has told Lowell what to expect. We’ve seen David Ortiz flip out on the media, flip out when being pulled from a game for a pinch hitter only to rise from the junk pile to look like, well “Big Papi” again. We’ve seen Tim Wakefield and Jason Varitek take more reserved roles, handle them professionally and excel in the them. We’ve seen J.D. Drew start to carry the team like he can when he gets hot. But something’s different, there’s a different vibe there and most of it appears to be negative.

I will say this, if the team doesn’t get righted and soon, it will be an ugly summer in the Hub. Sports radio phone lines will blister with activity, Bloggers will wear out keyboards, heads will be called for and change will be demanded. It’s been a long time since it’s been an ugly summer in Boston but this has the makings of one, especially with the two teams the Sox are chasing for the division and the wild card playing so well through the first quarter of the season. We know those teams won’t be able to keep that pace but it won’t do any good if when they start to fall off the Red Sox are doing the doggy paddle in the Charles River just trying to keep their heads above the water.

The Boston Red Sox will enter this weekend's interleague series with a fresh bullpen thanks to Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester. After Buchholz went 8+ innings on Wednesday night, Lester one upped him by throwing a complete game in the 6-2 win.

It really couldn't have come at a better time for the Red Sox as the bullpen had been getting used a little more than Terry Francona would have liked. But when you get two quality starts like that, I'm sure the guys in the bullpen don't mind at all.

Lester started out this season like he did last year, struggling early on only turn it on when the calendar changed over to May. Lester started a day early this year since his final April start came on the 28th.  In his last five starts since that date, he is 4-0 with a 1.85 ERA and 42 strikeouts in 38 innings of work. He had given up 15 runs his first three starts and only eight in his last six. Overall on the season, Lester is 4-2 with a 3.47 ERA.

When Lester is on, he's virtually untouchable, especially when he has command of his cut fastball. Last night, Lester had great velocity on his fastball and command of all of his pitches. And just like Buchholz on Wednesday night, Lester got most of his outs via the ground ball (13 in all).

The other thing that I noticed about Lester was pace. He didn't dilly dally on the mound at all. He'd take the sign, throw the pitch, get the ball and throw the pitch (repeat, wash, rinse, repeat). When you're playing behind him, you have to love that. Plus mentally when you're in that rythmn, it keeps you focused on the task at hand.

When the season started, everyone was worried about where the runs would come from. The media and experts said the Red Sox had no power. Well folks, the Red Sox are currently second in the American League with 58 home runs behind the Toronto Blue Jays who have 66. They are third in the AL in runs scored with 219 (Yankees have 237, Rays have 225).

On the flip side though, they are 13th in pitching with a 4.78 ERA and have allowed an AL-high 222 runs. They are tied six overall defensively in the AL with 27 errors committed. Of course, Theo Epstein promised Red Sox Nation that the team would be better defensively and that would lead to fewer runs scored against.

Obviously, the pundits got it all around but one thing they all got right was the fact that nobody expected this start from the Red Sox. But they seem to be improving. They bounced back from a crushing defeat on Monday night when you could have said well this could end the season. Instead they came out battling on Tuesday night and pulled off the come-from-behind win and then went out and took two games from the AL Central-leading Twins.

The Red Sox did get some good news on Thursday night as they said that Jacoby Ellsbury will return to the team and lineup on Saturday night. Ellsbury had three hits and a stolen base in a rehab start on Thursday with the Portland Sea Dogs. He even tested his sliding ability to make sure the ribs would be okay. Since Jonathan Van Every has an option left, he's the likely candidate to be sent down to make room for Ellsbury.

We'll be back later with the lineups for tonight's interleague game against the Philadelphia Phillies, the batter/pitcher matchups and any news and links from the day.

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

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UConn Football links

DC answered some questions in his mailbag [Desmond Conner - Hartford Courant]

Video: The case for UConn [ESPN.com - Big East Blog]

UConn Women's Basketball links

UConn Men's Basketball links

Birth of the Cool [David Borges - New Haven Register]

Jeff Adrien Camp, Aug. 5, Newtown [Mike Anthony - Hartford Courant]

Other UConn related links

Baseball: Mike Olt Leads UConn Over Seton Hall in Baseball Action on Thursday [UConnHuskies.com]

UConn baseball team may be school's best [CT Post]

Destination Red Sox Nation is our look at how the minor league teams of the Boston Red Sox fare each night. Game story and box score links as well as links to team rosters, team stats and league standings are after the jump.

Friday, May 21^st @ 7:05 p.m.

John Lackey, RHP (4-2, 4.86) vs Cole Hamels, LHP (4-2, 4.29)

TV: NESN, MLB.tv

Radio: Red Sox Radio Network, MLB Game Day Audio

Saturday, May 22^nd @ 7:10 p.m.

Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP (2-1, 7.89) vs Kyle Kendrick, RHP (2-1, 5.24)

TV: FOX, MLB.tv

Radio: Red Sox Radio Network, MLB Game Day Audio

Sunday, May 23^rd @ 1:35 p.m.

Tim Wakefield, RHP (0-2, 5.31) vs Roy Halladay, RHP (6-2, 1.64)

TV: NESN, TBS, MLB.tv

Radio: Red Sox Radio Network, MLB Game Day Audio

Do you remember about a month ago when Jon Lester was struggling? Well he's doing a great job of making us forget about it (sorry for bringing it up).

Lester dominated the Minnesota Twins in a complete game effort to help the Boston Red Sox to a 6-2 win on Thursday night at Fenway Park to help sweep the two-game set.

It's the third straight win for the Red Sox who improve to 22-20. The Al Central-leading Twins fall to 24-17.

Lester was simply magnificent on the mound in his complete game effort. He need just 103 pitches in shutting down of the top hitting teams in the American League. He mixed his pitches well and had great command of them all. He had 28-of-32 first pitch strikes and 13 of his outs came via the ground ball. Lester ended up allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits. He didn't walk anyone and struck out nine Twins batters.

His best inning of the night may have come when he struck out Orlando Hudson, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau in the 7th inning.

Kevin Youkilis knocked in four of the six Red Sox runs, three of them coming via 3-run homer. Victor Martinez had a nice night at the plate as he had three doubles while Adrian Beltre added a solo home run, which was one of his two hits. Darnell McDonald had the other hit and may have set the tone against Francisco Liriano by working a nine pitch walk in the 1st inning.

Beltre's home run came in the 2nd inning with one out. But the big blow to Liriano and the Twins came in the 3rd inning.

Liriano had gotten the first two outs of the inning but then walked Dustin Pedroia. A double down the line by VMart gave the Red Sox runners at second and third. Then Youk made Liriano pay when he left a ball up in the zone that Youk crushed 429 feet to center for the three-run homer.

It was more two-out magic for Youk in the 5th as his double not only knocked in VMart after the second of his three doubles but it also forced Twins skipper Ron Gardenhire to take Liriano out of the game. Beltre would add the final run of the game for the Red Sox when he came around to score on a passed ball by Mauer.

The Twins first run came in the 8th when Delmon Young brought in Michael Cuddyer on a sac fly. They would add an unearned run after a Pedroia error but it was all for naught as Lester was the man.

With Clay Buchholz going 8+ innings on Wednesday night and Lester's complete game effort on Thursday night, the Red Sox bullpen will be fully rested for the upcoming three game series against the Philadelphia Phillies.  First up will be John Lackey who will square off with Cole Hamels at 7:05 p.m. from Citizens Bank Park on Friday night.

Minnesota Twins @ Boston Red Sox 5.20.10 box score