MLB's Orient Express slowed by absences

0 Comments | USA TODAY, March, 2008 | by Bob Nightengale

PHOENIX -- They might be billed as goodwill tours, but with bumps, bruises and babies on the way, Major League Baseball's junkets to China and Japan are creating more of a disruption than a celebration.

The Boston Red Sox might be without their top two starters -- Josh Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka -- when they leave March19 for Japan, where they will open the regular season a week later against the Oakland Athletics. The A's probably will be without third baseman Eric Chavez, who hasn't missed an opening-day start in 10 years but has yet to play a spring training game.

Matsuzaka's wife is scheduled to give birth March19, the day of the Red Sox's 16-hour flight. The Red Sox are hoping he can join them in Japan in time for their season opener March25. Their...