"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Fenway Park the Tokyo Dome!"

It's 6:09 AM and the euphonic baritone of Orsillo is soothing my tired eyes. This morning's game features the Boston Red Sox playing the Oakland Athletics in the Tokyo Dome. Japanese hero Daisuke Matsuzaka takes the field against the A's Joe Blanton.

Top of the 1st
And it's a leadoff single for Dustin Pedroia!

Youkilis hits a tough one to Hannahan at third; 1 out, man on second.

Big Papi's at the plate and pops up to Hannahan. Ramirez strides to the plate. Long fly out. Here comes Dice-K!

Bottom of the 1st
One pitch, one out, as Buck hits a slow grounder to Pedroia.

Mark Ellis takes Daisuke deep to center. First burst of heartburn for the 2008 season! 1-0 A's. Ellis is one of the most underrated players in the American League, according to the RemDawg.

Dice-K walks Barton. He's having control issues as he misses with a slider to Jack Cust. He just got Cust to whiff on a nasty 2-1 changeup...and then hits Cust with a wild pitch on the back of Cust's leg. Remy says that "it's still spring training" and nerves are affecting Dice-K's performance. Whatever it is, he's looking horrible so far.

A wild pitch puts two men in scoring position. The Immortal Emil Brown is faced with a full count...holds off a pitch that was too far outside to offer at. Matsuzaka's missing by a lot. Bags packed for Bobby "Not Bubba" Crosby. Dice-K misses what should have been a called third strike. If he had been anywhere near the plate so far he probably would've gotten the call.

Dice makes a nice play to first on a hopper out in front of the plate down the third base line. 2 outs, men on 2nd and 3rd. He comes back to strike out Hannahan. Rough, rough outing for Dice. He needs to find something to put together a semblance of a decent outing.

Time for the Sox bats to go to work.

Top of the 2nd
And Mike "Franchise" Lowell with a leadoff single up the middle! Way to be, Mike!

Moss forces Lowell out at 2nd. Man on 1st, 1 out.

Ugh. The Captain GIDPs. Time for the Matsuzaka Variety Show!

Coffee's on. Do I have anything here that's edible for breakfast...?

Bottom of the 2nd
Leadoff single by Suzuki (not Ichiro). Long fly out makes it 1 out, man on 1st.

Dice-K works a full count to Travis Buck and Ks him on the high stinky cheese. Tek tries to get the strike-'em-out, throw-'em-out but his throw was high and way off. 2 outs, man on 2nd. Get out of this without any more damage, Dice, and we'll be in business.

Coffee smells good. Eyes closing...

1-2 count to Ellis after Dice tries to get him to chase a pitch 3 feet off the plate. He ends up walking Ellis with a series of huge misses.

"Quite frankly, he's lucky it's just a 2-nothing ballgame."

Unfortunately true words, Remy.

Two on, two outs. Argh - he walks Barton to pack the bags. Dice-K looks pretty awful this early in the morning.

Yes! Dice-K fans Cust with a huge strikeout. Phew.

Top of the 3rd
Golden Boy Jacoby Ellsbury strikes out, but Lugo strokes a nice one to center. 1 out, 1 on. Pedroia flies out on a deep shot. Youk just beats out a throw to first. Two on, two out, and Blanton faces Big Papi once more.

Groan - Papi hits it right into his nemesis, The Shift. Sox retired.

Bottom of the 3rd
Brown pops up to lead off with an out. Grounder back to Dice-K makes it a quick two down. Would be excellent to get an easy inning here.

Remy compares an 8 year-old's teeball swing to Don's, and then admits that he himself always had trouble with the tee.

(I just lost some of this post due to technical difficulties. Nothing particularly interesting or amusing, thankfully!)

Bottom of the 4th
Dice-K gets out of it almost as quickly as I restart my computer. Crimson Hose time.

Top of the 5th
Blanton fans Tek. He's looking good. Four hits, all singles. No walks, unlike someone I could mention. The Sox fail to excite.

This game is boring me. Let's get something going, ladies! I don't want to have to go back to sleep.

Bottom of the 5th
Men of the world Don and Remy let us know that "there's a lot of sushi" and despite the language barrier, "you can just point to what you want" in Japan.

Dice-K fans Barton and looks like he's settled down quite a bit. He has been pitching well for the last couple innings. He drops Cust with a nasty changeup. Back-to-back Ks for the Dice Man.

The Immortal Emil Brown steps up, looks thoroughly unimposing. Grounds out to Youk.

The Dice are rolling now, boys. We need to get to Blanton. Channel the Inner Bellhorn.

Top of the 6th
They just showed Tito hurrying Dice-K down into the clubhouse. What's going on?

Pedroia reaches 2nd after the ungainly Buck flubs a long fly ball in deep right. Wow - Blanton gives up his first walk in a bad spot to Youk. Two men on with Ortiz strolling to the plate like a modern-day Colossus.

I get more coffee.

Ortiz works a full count, fouling off a couple, holding off on a couple...and pops out on an anticlimactic foul ball. Big out for Blanton on a 3-2 changeup. Nice work.

And Manny drives in two with a first-pitch rip down into the left field corner! TIE BALLGAME! Manny turned beautifully on a fastball down and in from Blanton.

Lowell fans, looking uncharacteristically off-balance in his AB. Moss with a base hit to right! Ramiriez comes home to take the lead. Brandon Moss with the go-ahead RBI! And the Sox have gotten to Blanton in this inning as he gets yanked. 2 outs, man on 2nd, 3-2 BoSox!

And it's ex-BoSox player Alan Embree from that magical Championship season of 2004 who takes the mound for the A's! And Tek strikes out.

And I should probably get dressed for work at some point. Ugh.

Bottom of the 6th
Kyle Snyder gives it back as quickly as he possibly can with a single and a 2-run bomb. Grim.

4-3 going into the seventh inning.

Top of the 7th
Golden Boy leads off for the Sox. Lined into left for a leadoff single! Come right back at 'em, boys.

And...nope. Lugo GIDPs. Pedroia's gone as well, and what looked like a productive inning turns into nothing.

Bottom of the 7th
Foulke's warming up for Oakland? Didn't he retire? Lopez K's Cust to retire the side. We need to generate some more offense, and I need to go to work at some point.

---

Ok last I left Huston Street was in for Oakland about to close out a 4-3 game, and now it's 6-4 Sox?!? What the heck just happened? Damn workday. Wow - Moss hit a solo shot to tie it up and blow Street's save in the 9th, and then Manny knocked in two in the 10th with a two-bagger! Awesome! I was preparing an obituary for the first game of the season. Now the Beantown Boys are lookin' good.

And Pap closes it out, giving up a run in the process. 6-5 Sox.

Kind of a weird game. Out in front to start off the season! One down and 161 to go.

Check in tomorrow for yet another installment of MRhé: Live! from Tokyo.