Greetings, everyone. There's a hint of rain in the air -- I've heard some talk we might get hit around noon -- but I don't think anyone expects it to pose a threat to our little day-night double-header, with Manny serving as the headliner in the matinee affair and Dice-K making his spring debut tonight.

Quiet pregame session with Terry Francona this morning. He updated us on Craig Hansen, who is still limited to throwing on the side, and Mike Timlin, who they're proceeding cautiously with after he tweaked a side muscle last week. Timlin feels like he could pitch, Francona said, but they're keeping him reined in.

The Blue Jays sent a skeleton squad here, much like the Sox did yesterday to Dunedin. Gustavo Chacin is drawing the start for the Jays, with Alex Rios, who is DHing and batting cleanup, maybe the most prominent guy on their travel squad.

Manny is batting cleanup as the Sox roll out their 3-4-5 combo --Papi, Manny, and JD Drew -- for the first time this spring. Manny will probably bow out after a couple of ABs.

Tonight is Diceapalooza, with the game being televised on NESN and back to Japan on NHK. The Japanese network is employing three camera positions for the game: low third-base side, center-field, and high home. When the lefty, Hideki Okajima, pitches, they'll use a camera on the low first-base side.

NHK will also televise live next Tuesday from Jupiter when Matsuzaka faces the Marlins. Pity Marlins PR man Matt Roebuck. He's got roughly two dozen seats in his pressbox ... Sox PR man John Blake said he expects a crowd of 200-225 media types tonight.

Okajima is on the list of pitchers scheduled to work this afternoon. Kyle Snyder draws the start, with Runelvys Hernandez, Brendan Donnelly, Okajima, Bryan Corey and Mike Burns also listed to throw.

The only other pitchers listed to throw behind Matsuzaka tonight are Kyle Jackson, the kid from Litchfield, N.H., and Nick Debarr, the Rule 5 pickup.

The Sox have the Phillies here tomorrow. The Phils are sending Adam Eaton to face the Sox, while Tim Wakefield and Jonathan Papelbon are scheduled to make their spring debuts, in that order. Joel Pineiro, J.C. Romero, Manny Delcarmen and Travis Hughes also are scheduled to go.

Nice marquee matchup in Hammond Stadium Sunday: The Big Schill vs. Johan Santana, the Cy Young Award winner.