Matsuzaka fills an opening

Lester to start in second game

TAMPA - Daisuke Matsuzaka returned from Boston to Fort Myers yesterday, not long before manager Terry Francona announced that he would be the team's Opening Day starter in Tokyo against the A's next Tuesday.

Matsuzaka, who has been in Boston the past couple of days with his wife Tomoyo, who gave birth to a boy Saturday morning, threw a 58-pitch side session yesterday morning and will pitch in tomorrow's Grapefruit League finale against the Blue Jays. The team then departs for Tokyo, stopping in Chicago before resuming the 17-hour trip.

Francona also said that Jon Lester will pitch the second game vs. Oakland and it was "more than likely" that those two would start again in Oakland April 1 and 2. A team source indicated that Clay Buchholz and Tim Wakefield would start in the Toronto series that follows April 4-6. Both also will pitch in exhibition games in Japan Saturday and Sunday.

"Those four guys have pretty much known that for about a week," Francona said. "Just because of Daisuke's situation, I don't want to say it was in limbo, Daisuke was prepared to pitch. He understood with [Josh ] Beckett not being ready, but there's a proper way to do things. He went home and things kind of broke anyway, but he was set to go.

"We've had this in place for a while."

Francona said the one point that was debated was whether to move Wakefield up to pitch against Oakland in Tokyo. After all, the games will be in a dome, where Wakefield excels.

"The one thing we fought a little bit was the urge to move Wake up," Francona said. "If you just go on deserving and wins and losses, he's the guy that goes in there. I think we fought that urge just because when he's not in our rotation, we're not as good a team. To not try to bump him up and go quicker.

"We want him to make his 30 starts. If we do it in the right order, when he has time to get ready, it gives him the best chance to do that."

The excitement is building in Japan over Matsuzaka, and Francona feels it will be a great moment for his pitcher.

"I think there will be a ton of excitement," said the manager. "I think he's very honored. I know he is. I know he understands the responsibility. He's been unbelievably great through this whole thing.

"Put yourself in his shoes - when you go out there and throw three or four innings and you have a wife somewhere else, there's a lot of things going on sometimes. He's done a great job communicating with us."

Matsuzaka told Japanese reporters quite a tale at City of Palms Park yesterday morning. He said he and his wife had disagreed on whether he should make the trip to Japan before the baby was born. Matsuzaka said he wanted to be with her, but she insisted he attend to his business and pitch in Japan.

The Sox gave him a day off and advised him to go to Boston and discuss the matter in person (John Henry provided his private jet). Matsuzaka said he was going to tell his wife that he would go along with her wishes, but then the baby was born - 10 days before the due date of March 25, according to Matsuzaka.

Because he is so private, though, he will not publicly reveal the name of the child.

The Beckett plan

Beckett had another good day, throwing from up to 120 feet. He will throw a bullpen session Thursday and get into a minor league game Saturday or Sunday. His first outing will be two innings at 35 pitches, then he'll gradually increase, going up to 50-55 pitches five days later.

"He hasn't been down long enough where he's lost any arm strength," said Francona. "We don't want to do anything crazy, but he had another really good day.

"The plan is, they'll keep an eye on him back here and he'll have a schedule mapped out. As long as his back feels good, he'll follow that schedule. Then when we feel he's stretched out enough to pitch in a major league game, he will.

"It's all according to how he feels. If we do it any different, it would be silly on my part. He'll go as fast as he can."

Close call

There was a moment in the third inning of yesterday's loss to the Yankees when David Ortiz thought Andy Pettitte had come in a little too close with a pitch, but nothing happened. Pettitte then picked Dustin Pedroia off first and struck out Ortiz. "He's a great hitter. No doubt, I backed him off," said Pettitte. "You just can't lay it in over the plate for him. Got to move the ball in and out. Got to hopefully make a hitter feel uncomfortable. He's a great hitter and you have to hopefully pitch him inside." Pettitte, who hadn't pitched in 10 days because of elbow soreness, said he felt "uncomfortable on the mound" but it had nothing to do with his elbow . . . Buchholz pitched four scoreless innings in a Triple A game against the Pirates. Bobby Kielty went 1 for 4 in that game with a double and a walk as he tries to come back from a calf injury.

Taking their cuts

Chris Carter went 2 for 4 against the Yankees but was cut yesterday. He is hitting .351 for the spring. Also sent to Pawtucket were catcher George Kottaras, and righthanded pitchers Craig Hansen and Lincoln Holdzkom as the Sox got the roster down to 35. Hansen, said Francona, "had a good camp. He's another kid who has grown up right before our eyes. He's going to be the Manny Delcarmen of last year - he'll go down, do it right, and come back." Said Hansen, "It's not tough at all. They basically said they were proud of what I did this spring training, and how I handled myself. I came in here ready. I came here to compete, and I'm proud of that."

Jackie MacMullan of the Globe staff contributed to this report.