BOSTON – It was a picture-perfect Opening Day at the Fens this season with the very-same packed house enjoying the annual “Welcome Back” ritual of bringing baseball and the Olde Towne Team Red Sox back into Boston’s collective heart.
One day after the festivities were washed away by driving rain and high winds, the Boston Pops played out the National Anthem with stirring emotion, the F-15 pulled their fly-over that had them fly directly overhead the Woburn High Tanners playing at Ferullo Field before they ended up at Fenway Park and “ooohs” and “aaahs” echoed from the Fenway boxes as the familiar Sox players walked gingerly down through the stands behind home plate during team introductions.
It was certainly unique, and it might have been flirting with disaster just a little bit.
“I’m sure it was a little scary for the fans because there were a lot of legs and some little kids, and it would have been unfortunate if a fan got an elbow. It was something a little different coming down the stairs through the stands during introductions,” said Sox third baseman Mike Lowell. “I thought it was okay. I was just trying to make sure I didn’t trip and fall in my spikes [and hurt somebody].”
As players made their way onto the Fenway Field – where the grass was seemingly greener than it’s ever been in it’s previous 96 seasons -- some of the loudest ovations were saved for catcher Jason Varitek, who there was some question whether he’d even be back after a contentious contract negotiation this winter, as he warmed up starter Josh Beckett in the Sox bullpen.
Sox manager Terry Francona then assisted US Senator Ted Kennedy to the pitchers’ mound for the ceremonial first pitch of the baseball season, and Kennedy – fighting terminal brain cancer but still able to walk out to the mound and make a short toss under his own power – officially marked the beginning of spring in the city of Boston.
Newly inducted Hall of Famer Jim Rice caught Kennedy’s toss and brought everything full circle for the Sox skipper.
“That was an honor,” said Francona. “That was a highlight. I’ve been pretty fortunate here to get to do some pretty neat things, and that was one of them.
“It seemed like Opening Day to me,” added Francona. “[There’s]still the anxiety. You start trying not to look ahead and concerning yourself with the result so much as just playing the game out. Once you get into the grind, you get into the routine – but we’re not in the routine yet. We’re so result-oriented that you just try not to get ahead of yourself.”
As far as the actual game of baseball goes, Beckett enters the 2009 baseball season with plenty to prove in his own mind after suffering through an injury-plagued and sluggish season just one year prior.
Things never seemed quite “right” for the 28-year-old from the beginning of spring training, but he put all that care and worry behind him in his first career Opening Day start for the Sox. Beckett started three Opening Day games during his career with the Marlins, but none had the import or resonance that a mound appearance against the reigning AL Champion Tampa Bay Rays did.
Beckett finished with seven complete innings of work and allowed only two hits and a single run while fanning 10 batters in a 5-3 Opening Day win, and he looked every bit the pitcher that won 20 games in 2007 and led his team to a World Series title with a Cy Young-worthy season.
The 10 K’s were the most for a Sox pitcher on Opening Day since former RHP Pedro Martinez fanned 11 at Seattle on April 4, 2000, and were augmented by an offensive lineup that saw every player – save for Jacoby Ellsbury – collect a hit and both Dustin Pedroia and Varitek pop solo home runs in the afternoon triumph.
“A healthy Beckett…we’ve got a long way to go, but watching the way he’s throwing is big,” said Sox manager Terry Francona. “If you run good pitching out there, you give yourself a chance every night.”
The Sox ace even had to tone things down a little bit entering an Opening Day start at a sold-out Fenway Park, and liberally mixed in a biting curveball and effective change up with his exploding mid-90’s fastball.
“I had a lot of adrenaline,” said Beckett. “I think ‘Tek and I worked well together, and there wasn’t any point when I was scared to throw any of my pitches.”
The Opening Day adrenaline carried each and every Sox player through the entirety of the day, but that momentum will help carry through the 161 game grind that most are hoping won’t end until some long future date seven months from now.
