Good news: Dice is a daddy, Becks' back's better

In this abbreviated spring filled with more bad news than good, the Sox get a couple of encouraging signs heading into the opener in Tokyo

First Dice-K's wife had the couple's first child on Saturday, 10 days ahead of schedule, enabling the Japanese starter to return to his homeland and pitch in the opening series against the A's in Tokyo. Then word came that Josh Beckett's back has gotten exponentially better, and that even though he will not make the trip overseas, he should be able to start in the team's first series back on the mainland against the A's on April 1-2.

Matsuzaka's wife Tomoyo was scheduled to give birth on March 25, Opening Day, but even though she insisted her husband make the trip back home with his team, Dice, ever the gentleman, decided to stay behind with her for the birth.

Luckily, as all the parents out there know all too well, the baby was not born on time, probably due to the prayers of millions of fans from both nations, so the issue became moot. Matsuzaka will now make the trip and start the opener in what should be a raucous Tokyo Dome, while Jon Lester will most likely get the start in Game 2.

So for at least one day Boston got some encouraging news to help brighten up what had been shaping up to be a depressing start to their title-defense season.

Now as long as they survive the grueling schedule of the first few weeks, maybe they will actually be able to defend that title.

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