UCONN WOMEN ROAR INTO FINAL FOUR...BUCHHOLZ TO AAA PAWTUCKET?

The University of Connecticut women's basketball team, number one in the nation the entire season, defeated Arizona State University by a score of 83-64 on Sunday. They will play Stanford next Sunday. I'm sure all the UCONN players remember very well that it was Stanford who knocked them out of last year's Final Four. Revenge will be on their minds and in their hearts. GO HUSKIES.

In Boston Red Sox news, Clay Buchholz was rocked by the Tampa Bay Rays for nine hits and six runs in 5 1/3 innings of work. It comes down to this...if Penny can pitch himself into shape, he will be our fifth starter come April 12th. If not, Buchholz will make the rotation and the start. Here's yesterday's awful (Buchholz was the only Sox pitcher who was awful) Red Sox pitching summary...

Boston
IP H R ER BB SO ERA
Clay Buchholz 5.1 9 6 6 1 4 2.57
Justin Masterson 2.2 1 1 1 0 3 2.45
Ramon Ramirez 1.0 1 0 0 1 0 3.18

By the way, Boston won the game by a score of 8-7. Clay Buchholz had this to say, followed by the words of Boston manager Tito Francona...

“I’m the next guy in line,” he said, “so I’m just going to keep coming out every day and doing my work and then hopefully something good will come out of it. If Brad’s healthy, he’s definitely going to help the club, so I hope he has good health and goes out and does what he does. If not, I’ll be there to back him up. If I get sent down,” he said, “I’m just going to take it as it was out of my power and they had their mind made up, because I don’t think I could have pitched any better than I pitched. I feel like I did a pretty good job with it, coming into this year. It’s been something to see.

“I think, all spring, he set out to make decisions hard for us and he’s done a terrific job,” said manager Terry Francona. “He’s picked up his tempo, he’s attacking with his fastball, his changeup is starting to have that old life to it, and he’s thrown some good breaking balls. We’re really pleased with him.”

So where do we stand right now? The numbers one through four guys in the rotation will be Beckett, Lester, Matsuzaka and Wakefield. Sound familiar? The number five guy will be either Brad Penny or Buchholz until, that is, John Smoltz is ready to toe the rubber, probably within a month and a half. Clay's fate won't be known for a few more days, maybe as long as April 10th or so. But we're OK.

Have a great Monday as we start a new week, the last week before baseball begins anew. Click on the title for more on the Sox and as always, BE WELL. GO UCONN HUSKIES! I love 'em. See ya. P.S. Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit good luck to every one of you. Thanks for stopping in to my little corner of the "blue nowhere."