Sean McAdam - Boston is about to embark on the ultimate road trip
When are the Red Sox leaving Fort Myers?
Immediately after Wednesday’s game with the Toronto Blue Jays. The team will bus from City of Palms Parks to Southwest Florida International Airport, where they will board a 777 charter and begin a 19-hour flight to Tokyo.
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How many players will the Red Sox take to Tokyo? Will they have extras for the exhibition games? How many players will they be allowed to have on the roster for the regular-season games?
Major League Baseball will pay for the Sox (and A’s) to bring 30 players to Japan. The teams will have to cut their rosters down to 28 — as they would if they remained in Florida, with two players along in case of emergencies.
From the list of 28, the Sox will have to include players such as Josh Beckett and Coco Crisp, even if they remain in Florida. Only 25 will be active for a game. Think of the three extra players as a taxi squad, in much the same way NFL teams have inactive players every Sunday.
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How long will take them to return to the United States?
The flight to Los Angeles will take about 12 hours, meaning — since they cross the International Dateline along the way — the Sox will return to U.S. soil in the early evening of the same night on which they left.
Will players who remain in Florida for the Japan trip rejoin the Red Sox in Los Angeles to play the exhibition games?
Quite likely. Look for Josh Beckett, for one, to join up with his teammates in Los Angeles.
Full Version: Info on the Japan trip
Debra Samuels, Globe - What's a Sox game without dried squid and beer?
TOKYO - Peanuts! Popcorn! Squid jerky, anyone?
The Boston Red Sox play their season opener nine days from now at the Tokyo Dome, once home field to their relief pitcher Hideki Okajima, a former member of the Yomiuri Giants. And instead of those sausage and onion subs on Yawkey Way, fans will be munching dried squid, soy beans, fried noodles, and sushi along with their burgers and corn dogs.
If anyone wants a beer, young women come around with backpack kegs and fill a cup for about 800 yen ($7.50). And there's the organized cheering, replete with complicated clapping rhythms, chanting, and hand motions. Sox fans can start their own: "Gambare Reddo Sokkusu!" (Let's Go, Red Sox!)
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The popular "takoyaki" - big round pancake balls stuffed with octopus and topped with seaweed shavings smothered in a savory sauce - are available at the shop Tsukiji Gin-daco. Visitors can snack while watching the Water Symphony, a shallow pool with a chorus line of water jets shooting high into the air synchronized to arias and Broadway tunes. On the sixth floor is one of Japan's greatest natural resources, the "onsen" (natural hot spring), at Spa LaQua. Natural hot springs bubble up through the earth's core right into the pipes of the indoor and outdoor shallow pools. Aches and pains can be kneaded out at one of the many massage venues.
TOKYO - Peanuts! Popcorn! Squid jerky, anyone?
The Boston Red Sox play their season opener nine days from now at the Tokyo Dome, once home field to their relief pitcher Hideki Okajima, a former member of the Yomiuri Giants. And instead of those sausage and onion subs on Yawkey Way, fans will be munching dried squid, soy beans, fried noodles, and sushi along with their burgers and corn dogs.
If anyone wants a beer, young women come around with backpack kegs and fill a cup for about 800 yen ($7.50). And there's the organized cheering, replete with complicated clapping rhythms, chanting, and hand motions. Sox fans can start their own: "Gambare Reddo Sokkusu!" (Let's Go, Red Sox!)
...
The popular "takoyaki" - big round pancake balls stuffed with octopus and topped with seaweed shavings smothered in a savory sauce - are available at the shop Tsukiji Gin-daco. Visitors can snack while watching the Water Symphony, a shallow pool with a chorus line of water jets shooting high into the air synchronized to arias and Broadway tunes. On the sixth floor is one of Japan's greatest natural resources, the "onsen" (natural hot spring), at Spa LaQua. Natural hot springs bubble up through the earth's core right into the pipes of the indoor and outdoor shallow pools. Aches and pains can be kneaded out at one of the many massage venues.
Tiny squid cooked as calamari are delicious...
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Jackie McMullan noted towards the end of her Boston.com blog of the players' short "strike" yesterday,
Somebody's not going to be able to change their undies for nearly 2 weeks, unless that someone's wife/girlfriend/s.o. meets him in Oakland/LA/Toronto with a change of clothes.
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Jackie McMullan noted towards the end of her Boston.com blog of the players' short "strike" yesterday,
QUOTE
"4:47 p.m. - A caravan of buses and vans transport the Red Sox to the airport for their flight to Tokyo.
5:22 p.m. - A lone black suitcase, seemingly forgotten in the rush, sits outside the Red Sox clubhouse."
5:22 p.m. - A lone black suitcase, seemingly forgotten in the rush, sits outside the Red Sox clubhouse."
Somebody's not going to be able to change their undies for nearly 2 weeks, unless that someone's wife/girlfriend/s.o. meets him in Oakland/LA/Toronto with a change of clothes.
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