It's Official...Masterson Bullpen Bound...UCONN Men On To Final Four

Boston Red Sox manager Terry "Tito" Francona made the correct decision, putting Justin Masterson back where he belongs...in the bullpen. He is a devastatingly effective pitcher against righthanded batters with his sweeping pitches. Tito talked about him yesterday...

“We love the idea of what we did with him,” Francona said. “We thought it was good for him. You can’t do it with everybody. Obviously there are reasons we did it. I think we got to a point in the spring where it’s in his best interests not to go the other way, so we can make a decision without having him hanging in the balance, not knowing what he’s going to do.”

What they did was stretch him out to enable him to throw multiple innings, just in case he was needed in the rotation. The official rotation is this... Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield and either Brad Penny, who pitched well Saturday in Florida, or Clay Buchholz, who had the best spring of anyone on the team, with John Smoltz waiting in the wings for HIS starring 2009 role. Solid, solid as a rock all the way.

My congratulations go out to the University of Connecticut men's basketball team. They defeated a determined number three Missouri team by a score of 82-75. They go on to Detroit to play in the Final Four. It's been a great job by Jim Calhoun and his entire team, top to bottom, the sweet and the sour. The UCONN women's team plays this early afternoon against California in their bid to win it all. They are the prohibitive favorites to take the championship, but as always, when a team is in a "one and done" type of tournament, anything can happen. They're SUCH a great team, though...I can't see that happening. The game starts at noon and will be televised by the sports leader, ESPN and ESPN HD. GO HUSKIES.

Thank you for stopping in, have a wonderful Sunday and enjoy the hoops today. I can't wait! Click on this post's title for more of a little of everything. As always, BE WELL. See ya. GO HUSKIES.