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Sunrise with the Sox
 Eye on Dice-K A fan uses a pair of binoculars to watch Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka during the teams practice before the exhibition baseball game between the Red Sox and the Yomiuri Giants at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on Sunday.
Top Headlines That's when the first pitch of the 2008 season will be thrown. You'd think Sox fans would be wired to see Boston try to defend its second World Series title in four years. The Sox are playing the Oakland Athletics in Japan on Tuesday and Wednesday. Yet, while Boston is in the Land of the Rising Sun, New England won't necessarily be the Land of the Rising Sox fans. NESN will broadcast both games live at 6 a.m.  While some local Red Sox fans will sleep in, these fans in Tokyo, Japan will likely be awake to watch the game.
And Attleboro's Kerwin and others will sleep through the first inning of 2008. And the second. And maybe the third."I don't like the idea of being in Japan for the first game. I think it should be here," Kerwin said while reading the newspaper at Jaec's Cafe in Attleboro. "I think it's just the tradition. They might want to do that around the Fourth of July as an exhibition game. (But) the tradition is, 'The beginning of spring, the first game in baseball is supposed to coincide.'" Rebroadcasts are scheduled for 2:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday. Boston's first regular-season games in the U.S. are in Oakland on April 1 and 2. California bound "Mr. Personality" will catch them while they're in California. Attleboro native Kevin Nolan, voted "Mr. Personality" at a recent Red Sox fantasy camp, moved to the Golden State in 2004. Nolan has tickets to Saturday's Sox exhibition game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at the L.A. Coliseum. "Believe it or not, in L.A., every time I walk in public, a lot of people are wearing Red Sox shirts," Nolan said. "It's amazing how many people are here who are Red Sox fans. It makes me feel right at home." Nolan said the Sox are "very unpredictable." "They always start doing well in the beginning, and in August, they start going downhill. It can be frustrating as a fan. It makes you a little nervous," Nolan said. But, he added, "I've always had a lot of faith in the Red Sox since I was born. "I'm always positive." Early predictions Kerwin predicts that Boston will repeat at least as the American League champion. "I think they're going to be real good because they've got the same people," he said. "It's going to depend on whether or not (ace pitcher) Josh Beckett's back injury is serious. It's a world championship team and the same cast of characters." Butch Salisbury, another fan, said Tuesday's early start doesn't bother him. "I'll get up and watch them play any time they play. They are my team," said Salisbury, a retiree from Brockton who was shopping last week in Norm's Emporium in downtown Attleboro. Salisbury said Boston has a "very good chance" of repeating as champs in 2008. "The manager is great. The whole team is great," said Salisbury, whose Honda Pilot has a 2007 World Series champions decal on the trunk. Wrentham District Court Clerk Magistrate Ed Doherty said he's unsure where he'll catch Tuesday's game. He might go to his brother's Irish pub in Hyannis. "It'll be great to have the season start again," Doherty said. Doherty said the only problem he sees with the 2008 Sox is that "expectations are going to be so high." "They do have a great team, but so many things can happen," he said. "Anything but first place is going to be a disappointment." MICHAEL GELBWASSER can be reached at 508-236-0439 or at mgelbwasser@thesunchronicle.com.
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