Happy Easter to everyone. While you’re probably just waking up, the Boston Red Sox have already played their game against the Yomiuri Giants.

J.D. Drew must like hitting in Japan as his grand slam in the 6th inning got things going for the Red Sox as the beat Yomiuri Giants 9-2 at the Tokyo Dome on Sunday night. This was the Red Sox final tune-up before starting their two game series with the Oakland A’s on Tuesday morning.

Jed Lowrie added a solo home run in the 8th for the Sox and Brandon Moss was 2-for-2 with 2 RBIs.  Kevin Youkilis was the only other Red Sox player with 2 hits as he was 2-for-3. Manny Ramirez, Mike Lowell, Bobby Kielty, Coco Crisp, Julio Lugo, Alex Cora and Kevin Cash all had one hit each. David Ortiz had a tough day at the plate as he was 0-for-3 with 3 strikeouts.

Tim Wakefield pitched well in the game going 5 2/3 innings, scattering 5 hits and 2 runs. He walked 1 while striking out 3. All 5 hits were singles as most of the Japanese hitters were fooled by the knuckleball. The bullpen was solid again as Bryan Corey, Hideki Okajima, David Aardsma and Julian Tavarez combined to give up 2 hits in 3 1/3 innings.

So here’s the real reason why the A’s are playing the Red Sox in Japan according to A’s owner Lew Wolff.

“Tickets are so hard to get to the Red Sox games back home; that’s why we came here.”

Terry Francona’s routine is like none other. His day starts early and ends late as you would expect. He even listens to the radio after the game but only to see what else has happened in MLB that night.

“Sometimes I can’t even remember,” Terry Francona said. “Sometimes it’s going 100 miles an hour. I’m either pissed, frustrated, something I should have done I didn’t do. Somebody I know I’d better talk to. But it’s just kind of a ritual. It’s not like I make myself. It just happens. It’s not like I can just, after a win, turn on music. Or after a loss.”

With what Francona has done here in Boston in his short time in nothing less than spectacular. He has won the hearts of many Red Sox fans as the manager who broke the Curse of Babe Ruth.Bryan Corey got a chance to pitch against his old team the Yomiuri Giants this morning. He was more looking forward to getting some work in as he tries to make the Red Sox bullpen.

“Things have a funny way of working out,” said the Red Sox reliever. “For me being able to come back here – I wanted the opportunity to come back here, and I’ve never ruled out the possibility of coming back here under the right circumstances. I can’t possibly imagine a better scenario to come back here against this team.”

With one or two spots quite possibly open in the bullpen, Corey figures to be competing with David Aardsma for the one the spots. Corey has good stuff and showed last year he can pitch in Boston.Kevin Youkilis checks in again from Japan and he tells us how he had Matsuzaka beef.

It’s been very interesting to read what the members of the Boston media have been doing with their time over in Japan. Here is an account from Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald, Rob Bradford of the Boston Herald and Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe.

For more raw pieces of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant and Providence Journal websites.