Not to say that this Drew's slam in Boston's 9-2 victory over the Giants was anything close to the magnitude of his shot in Game 6 of the 2007 American League Championship Series, but it was a nice display of a sweet swinging not getting lost in translation from one continent to another.
While New Englanders back home were either still sleeping or just arising for Easter Sunday, the Sox were engaging in their final tune-up for Tuesday's Opening Day against the Oakland Athletics, which will be played here under this same roof of Tokyo Dome.
Nobody looks more ready than Drew, who has gone deep in both exhibition games in Japan.
When Drew stepped to the plate, Boston was trailing, 2-0, with one out in the top of the sixth. His slam came against Giants left-hander Adrian Burnside.
For the second day in a row, the Red Sox faced off against a tradition-laden franchise from Japan. A day after edging the Hanshin Tigers, the Sox went against the Yomiuri Giants, the most revered franchise in the history of Japanese baseball.
It's doubtful the Giants have seen a knuckleball quite like the one floated by venerable Boston righty Tim Wakefield. Yomiuri did scrape one run across in the first on an RBI single by Seung-Yeop Lee and another in the fourth on a double play grounder by Yoshitomo Tani, but Wakefield cruised for most of his outing.
Over 5 2/3 innings, Wakefield scattered five hits and two runs, walking one and striking out three.
Hideki Okajima marked his return to Tokyo Dome -- his home venue for his 11 seasons with the Yomiuri Giants -- by firing a scoreless inning.
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