No Z's for this MVP

WBC star Dice-K set to air it out

FORT MYERS, Fla. - When Daisuke Matsuzaka sleep-walked through his examinations yesterday morning on his first full day of spring training with the Red Sox, there were reasons to forgive the exhaustion.

The righthander had just arrived from the West Coast after pitching Japan to its second straight World Baseball Classic title. Matsuzaka (3-0, 2.45 ERA) was also named MVP of the WBC for the second consecutive time.

But that's behind him now, as he works his way into form for his first regular-season start in two weeks.

"He was on the West Coast, and at 8 o'clock this morning his time clock is still 5 a.m.," pitching coach John Farrell said. "So, I'm not going to evaluate how he walks in the clubhouse."

This morning Farrell will be able to evaluate something more important - how Matsuzaka's right arm looks. Matsuzaka will work a bullpen session at City of Palms Park. While he was originally scheduled to throw an inning in a minor league game, he will instead throw a side session of approximately 45 to 50 pitches, the same number he had been throwing in WBC bullpen sessions.

"He went through our entry physicals and testing like every other pitcher in camp," Farrell said. "He went out and just threw flat ground in preparation for his bullpen."

In Matsuzaka's last outing, Sunday's semifinal victory over Team USA, he threw 98 pitches over 4 2/3 innings. So today's side session will be on normal rest. Matsuzaka is scheduled to throw around 75 pitches, according to Farrell, against Atlanta Monday. That is on line with where most of the other Sox pitchers are in terms of pitch count.

Rocco Baldelli made an appearance at the minor league complex yesterday, getting at-bats in the Double A and Triple A games to face lefthanded pitchers. He had already hit a double and struck out twice in the Triple A game when he headed to the adjacent field for the Double A game, where he blasted a pitch to left that cleared the fence by a significant margin. In major league games, Baldelli is batting .179 with just five hits in 28 at-bats. He has two doubles and four RBIs . . . Jason Place, a 2006 first-round draft choice, played in the Double A game. Place was on the shelf last week because the ankle injury he suffered last August - in the ligaments and tendons in his right ankle - had flared up again. The injury limited his ability to work out extensively in the offseason before he was cleared to swing about two weeks before arriving at spring training . . . The Sox announced yesterday there will be a concession freeze on all prices from the 2008 season, the first time there hasn't been an increase since 2002. The Sox will also offer the "Fenway Family Hour," in which nine concession items will be up to 50 percent off in the hour after the gates are opened to the public in April. Some merchandise at the Red Sox Team Store on Yawkey Way will also be discounted during the same time.