updated 6:14 p.m. ET April 8, 2005

SAN FRANCISCO - Derek Lowe will receive his World Series ring along with the rest of the Red Sox on Monday.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have granted the pitcher permission to leave the team to be in Boston on Monday to receive his World Series ring before the Red Sox play their home opener against the New York Yankees. He will rejoin his new team Tuesday.

“He belongs there,” Dodgers manager Jim Tracy said Thursday. “It’s not every day you get to do something like that.”

The 6-foot-6 right-hander won 14 games for the Red Sox last season, plus three victories in the postseason.

He lost his Dodgers debut Tuesday to Giants ace Jason Schmidt. So far, the rivalry between Los Angeles and San Francisco doesn’t compare to what he saw for so many years with the Red Sox and Yankees.

“One thing I don’t sense is the pure hatred — the ‘I hate you!”’ he said. “Do both sides want to win? Absolutely, but it’s life or death up there.”

Lowe tried to reach the Red Sox trainers late Wednesday to get an update on the condition of manager Terry Francona, hospitalized in New York in the morning after feeling tightness in his chest and then transferred to Massachusetts General Hospital later in the day.

Lowe was happy to hear the skipper was doing well.

“Knowing Terry, he’s like most guys, and for him to admit something was wrong means something really must be wrong,” Lowe said.

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