Yesterday was the Red Sox home opener, a welcome sight for the thousands of Red Sox fans and for the players themselves who had just completed an 18 day road trip that brought them to Japan, California and Canada and saw them open the season with a 3-4 record. For me this was a bit of a sad day, the first time in the past seven years that I was not attending the game at the ballpark, but for Red Sox Nation it was day that lived up to the hype.
First there was the ring ceremony. This was an event for the ages. I was present for the 2005 ring ceremony when the Red Sox opened their season at home, something that seemed hard to top; first world series in 86 years, ceremony taking place in a game against their biggest rivals, but from what I heard of yesterdays ceremonies they were at least just as good. There were flags from 62 nations to symbolize just how far Red Sox Nation has extended in the past few years. There were champions from other Boston teams: Bill Russel, Bobby Orr, and Tedy Bruschi. There were the World Series Rings of course. But probably the most touching thing was there was Bill Buckner. Buckner was chosen to throw out the ceremonial first pitch, and was announced to a standing ovation. Red Sox fans, and the media have finally forgiven the poor for the mishap that was scrutinized for 18 years. He was cheered, he was respected. And I almost forgot, the lifelong Red Sox, 88-year-old Johnny Pesky, helped to raise the World Series banner up the center-field flag pole.
Oh yeah, the game was good too.
Dice-K Matsuzaka pitched an impressive 6 2/3 shutout innings, striking out seven batters while throwing 109 pitches. The Red Sox won 5-0 over the Tigers who after much hype in the off-season are 0-7 to start the season.
Keywords: boston, buckner, matsuzaka, opening day, red sox
