The road ahead for the Sox

The Red Sox are back in the States, bidding sayonara to Japan after yesterday's loss to the Athletics. They arrived in Los Angeles last night and will hold an optional workout today before playing the first of three exhibition games against the Dodgers on Friday.

Saturday's exhibition may prove to be the most interesting. It will be played at the LA Coliseum in front of a crowd that could exceed 115,000. The stadium will feature a 60-foot netting wall in left field less than 200 feet from home plate.

“We pulled the left-field netting as tight as possible so that balls will bounce off it kind of like the Green Monster,” Lon Rosenberg, the Dodgers’ vice president for stadium operations, told the New York Times. “But we didn’t want to pull it too tight and be like a vertical trampoline.”

Sounds like fun, huh? Read more about it in this New York Times story.

After the exhibition series, the Sox fly to Oakland to complete their opening series against the A's on Tuesday and Wednesday, before traveling to the third country of their 16,000-mile road trip (Canada) for a three-game set against the Blue Jays, which begins a week from Thursday. Somewhere along the way, ace Josh Beckett could rejoin the team. Beckett (sore back) is eligible to come off the disabled list on April 3, the day before the Sox play their first game against the Jays.

To help you make sense of it all, below you'll find the Sox' schedule of games (along with TV info and probable pitchers) from now until they get their rings at the Fenway Park opener on April 8. All times are Eastern .

March 28: Red Sox at Dodgers, 10:40 p.m. (Exhibition) -- No TV -- Bartolo Colon
March 29: Red Sox at Dodgers, 10:10 p.m. (Exhibition at LA Coliseum) -- on NESN -- Tim Wakefield
March 30: Red Sox at Dodgers, 4:10 p.m. (Exhibition) -- No TV -- Clay Buchholz
April 1: Red Sox at Athletics, 10:05 p.m. (Regular season) -- on NESN -- Daisuke Matsuzaka
April 2: Red Sox at Athletics, 3:35 p.m. (Regular season) -- on NESN -- Jon Lester
April 4: Red Sox at Blue Jays, 7:15 p.m. (Regular season) -- on NESN -- Pitcher TBD
April 5: Red Sox at Blue Jays, 1:07 p.m. (Regular season) -- on NESN -- Pitcher TBD
April 6: Red Sox at Blue Jays, 1:07 p.m. (Regular season) -- on NESN -- Pitcher TBD
April 8: Red Sox vs. Tigers, 2:05 p.m. (Opening Day at Fenway) -- on NESN -- Pitcher TBD