Fenway Home Opener

Fort Myers, Florida. Tokyo, Japan. Los Angeles, California. Oakland, California. Toronto, Canada. The Red Sox have literally traveled the globe the past three weeks. Yesterday, the defending World Series champions finally were able to return home to Fenway Park for the glamorous home opener. I was a tad bit skeptical that the circumstance on display yesterday would fall short of recent home openers, especially the 2005 shindig when the '04 championship team was celebrated. Now that Dr. Charles Steinberg works for the Dodgers, the Red Sox don't have an in-house P.R. guru and with the '07 championship rings being handed out, I worried that the Sox might drop the ball on the big event. I was wrong (as usual). The Red Sox did a great job of celebrating 2007 and preparing Boston for 2008. The ring ceremony, played to the tune of composer John Williams, was excellent. The flag raising, with a Rondo-sized assist from Big Papi to Johnny Pesky, was a well planned "awe shucky" kind of deal. The jet fly over was amazing, as it always is. And that first pitch... Yeah, it was special. If the comeback against the New York Yankees and sweeps of the St. Louis Cardinals and Colorado Rockies weren't enough for you, 1986 officially became just another sad piece of history around 2:00 pm yesterday for Red Sox fans. The pain and suffering has finally been laid to rest. Bill Buckner, the enemy of Boston baseball fans from 1986 - 2004, has finally been absolved. In the most well thought out, Steinberg-esque, pass me a Kleenex moment of the afternoon, Buckner -- who I listed as my favorite baseball player on my 1990 Milton Pee-Wee League baseball card -- was invited back to Fenway to toss out the ceremonial first pitch. All the bad feelings toward No. 6 were nowhere to be found. Only thunderous applause from the crowds and a few tears from Buckner could be heard or seen. It was a very nice moment. To top off the day, cherry-on-a-sundae style, the Red Sox blanked the (0-7) Tigers, 5-0 behind a very solid performance from (2-0, 1.47 ERA) Daisuke Matsuzaka. With a very tough month of April facing the BoSox, every win is important. Taking care of the Tigers while they are struggling is vital, especially with the Yankees coming to town over the weekend. The playoffs might be months away but the reality is, every win in April counts just as much towards the final standings as the ones in August and September. To make the postseason in the daunting American League, the Sox need to pick up wins anyway they possibly can.