Boston Red Sox Suffer Major League Pummeling...UCONN Men Advance To Elite Eight

I know these spring training games for the Boston Red Sox don't count in the regular season and sometimes I thank goodness for that. Yesterday was a great example. The Florida Marlins trashed and thrashed the Boston Red Sox by a ridiculous score of 15-7. The major Boston culprit? Clay Buchholz, who started the game and gave up 11 runs—six earned—and 11 hits in four innings. He entered with an 0.69 ERA. It's not that low any more, that's for sure. Here he is...

“Just one of those days. You got to let it go.”

Turn the page, Clay, turn that darn page. The bullpen wasn't much better and Red Sox manager Terry Francona simply said this...

“It was a bad day for pitching. In spring training you see it happen. In two weeks it won’t happen.”

Let's hope not. Thursday was one of those days that the Sox players would rather forget--in a hurry! But that's not all. There's more. Two other struggling pitchers had their chance to iron out some of what ails them. Jonathon Papelbon started a Double A game and gave up a tater and two runs in his single inning. Those are awful stats for a closer. He's been terrible (so far). Timmy Wakefield was even worse. Pitching against a Triple-A team, he surrendered five earned runs, six in all. His knuckies were flat, shuffling to the plate sluggishly rather than floating like a butterfly while the batter flails away unsuccessfully in an attempt to connect with it. I'm a little worried because this team with SO much potential has not come together yet. Not even close. C'mon, guys. I know it's still March but there's only ONE WEEK LEFT until these games count!

The University of Connecticut men's basketball team advanced to the elite eight of the NCAA basketball tournament with a Kemba Walker-led 74-67 victory over San Diego State. The women will try to advance to that select level when they play over the weekend. If you haven't seen Kemba Walker and his young teammates yet, please check them out on CBS and CBS HD at 7pm EDT Saturday when they face Arizona. The women's NCAA tournament will be televised by ESPN and ESPN 2 over the weekend. Standard and high definition feeds will be available. For more on last night's men's victory, simply click on this post's title.

As always, BE WELL. Have a terrific Friday and a great weekend. GO UCONN! Don't forget to click and look around the Hartford Courant's informative and entertaining web site.