Committing to going to a baseball game in April is a lot like playing weather roulette. It could either be 40 degrees with a 30 mph wind like it was this past Saturday… or it could be 65 degrees with bright, sunshine-y blue skies like it was today. A perfect scenario for my very first Opening Day at Fenway Park.

Me… in my happy place!

Fans were asked to be in their seats by 1:30 for some special pre-game ceremonies that began by honoring a 60 year partnership between the Red Sox and the Jimmy Fund with a performance by the Jimmy Fund chorus. Following the introductions of the two teams, there was a brief remembrance for both Johnny Pesky and former Baltimore manager Earl Weaver—who both passed away last year.

An American flag, covering the entire Green Monster was unfurled for the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner by the Jimmy Fund chorus. And what Opening Day would be complete without a flyover—this year by two vintage P-51 Mustangs from the Air Force Heritage Flight Foundation. From behind the giant flag emerged players and patients from the last several decades who made their way from the outfield in to the pitcher’s mound to throw out the first pitches… Tim Wakefield, Jason Varitek and Jim Rice were among those players. Of course, it made me teary. They always know how to make me cry.

The only thing that could make the day better was a win, which the Red Sox served up in dramatic fashion. The pitchers dueled for the first 6.5 innings—Clay Buchholz for the good guys and Wei-Yin Chen for the Orioles. At this point, I figured the first team to score would win the game. Luckily, the Sox struck first.

You just knew good things were going to happen when Dustin Pedroia led off the bottom of the 7th with an infield single. Mike Napoli quickly followed with a line shot to the center field wall for double. The fans got a bit restless when Pedroia was held up at third, especially when Will Middlebrooks whiffed for the first out. Not to fear though, Daniel Nava smashed a 91 mph fastball over everything into a dumpster on Landsdowne Street.

Clay Buchholz was masterful, pitching seven innings of three-hit shutout ball, while striking out eight Orioles. He joins Jon Lester at 2-0 on this young season with an ERA of 0.64. Joel Hanrahan earned his third save, but it was not without drama. He gave up two hits in the top of the ninth, one a home run to Adam Jones to make us all hold our breath just a little bit.

The Sox take on the Orioles again for game two of the series on Wednesday night with Ryan Dempster taking the mound, trying for his first win with his new team. Click here for the exciting box score, courtesy of the Red Sox.

It’s a rainy Monday and my mind is definitely not on work today. I’m still busy reminiscing over the events that transpired at Fenway Park this past Friday. The events that shot April 20, 2012 up to the top of my list of most memorable sports moments for me (at least that I’ve witnessed live.) For the life of me I couldn’t figure out how the Red Sox organization would pull off the introduction of some 200+ past players and still start the game on time. But they did it, and did it in star-studded style.

Photo by me.

Baseball has always been a very emotional sport for me. I’ve been a fan as long as I can remember — thanks to my dad, grandfather and even my great grandmother (who loved her Sox!) I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love this team. I’ve endured so many ups and downs over my 35+ years of following them — for most of those years, I suffered mainly through the ‘downs’. The ‘ups’ came later. When the Red Sox finally won the World Series in 2004 after an 86 year drought, I cried.

I knew from the time I secured tickets for this historic game that I would be a blubbering mess. And stupid me, I forgot my tissues. I spent a good portion of the celebration wiping tears from my eyes with the sleeve of my shirt. And just when I would get myself under control, another past player would appear and the waterworks would start again. But nothing made me out-loud sob like when Jason Varitek and Tim Wakefield (with David Ortiz) wheeled out a 92-year-old Johnny Pesky and a 94-year-old Bobby Doerr to the middle of the field. I’m too young to have seen them play, heck my dad is too young to have seen them play, but there is just something about Johnny’s relationship with organization that gets me every time I see him.

Photo by me.

My Top 5 6 Loves from Friday, April 20th:

1. Yaz. Enough said.

2. Seeing some of my favs from my childhood – Jim Rice, Dwight Evans, Jerry Remy, Carlton Fisk – to name a few.

3. The return of Bill Buckner to cheers! And of course, Terry Francona’s return to the biggest cheers. I miss him a lot right now!

4. The roar of the crowd each time a favorite walked onto the field. Fenway seemed to be almost buzzing with excitement, like nothing could ruin the day….

5. The throwback uniforms. Although having no numbers on them made it a bit difficult to keep track.

6. Getting to meet Becca in person!!

My Top 5 Dislikes from Friday, April 20th:

1. The obvious missing players. Where or where was Rick Burleson?? I know some had an excuse, like Fred Lynn. But Mike Greenwell, Ellis Burks, John Valentin, Bob Stanley… where were they?

2. A ceremonial first pitch that made me want to gag. Caroline Kennedy, Mayor Tom Menino and Thomas Fitzgerald threw out the balls to Jim Rice, Carl Yastrzemski and Pudge Fisk from their seats. Lame.

3. Not learning until after the game that the Budweiser Deck was filled with a bunch of old players. CRAP!

4. Warm grape juice. I’m going to tell you a secret… I barely took a sip. *bleck*

5. Losing the game. That sucked.

Despite the loss, it’s a day I won’t soon forget. I’m so thankful that my father-in-law invited me to meet him in Boston for this unforgettable event. (Happy Birthday to me — a few months early!)

Fenway Park (c/o nesn.com)

Maybe Dorothy’s right.  Maybe, quite simply, there’s no place like home.  After a long spring training and a brutal season-opening road trip, the Boston Red Sox opened up Fenway Park in style today, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 12-2, and bringing their record to 2-5.  The only downside?  Jacoby Ellsbury – who, at least until the iffy Carl Crawford comes back, is the anchor of the Red Sox outfield and a vital part of the lineup, had to leave the game from injury.  We’re not sure how serious Ellsbury’s injury is, but we’ll keep you updated on that.

Following a pre-game ceremony that featured Johnny Pesky, Dwight Evans, Jim Rice, Tim Wakefield, and Jason Varitek, along with the standard flyover (I LOVE THE FLYOVER!), the Sox unleashed an offensive onslaught.  Adrian Gonzalez, Kevin Youkilis, and David Ortiz forced three runs across the plate in the third inning.  After Dustin Pedroia walked to load the bases, Gonzalez lined an RBI single to left, followed by a Youkilis sac fly and an Ortiz dribbler that was good for an infield hit and an RBI.

Jacoby Ellsbury's right shoulder (and the rest of him) pushing a huge tire around. You're welcome.

Boston scored again in the fourth inning, when Kelly Shoppach laced a double off the wall in right field and then came around to score on a single by Ellsbury.  Here’s where things went a little haywire: Pedroia grounded a double-play ball to second, and as Ellsbury slid into second base to break up the play, Tampa shortstop Reid Brignac fell on Ellsbury’s shoulder.  Ruh-roh.  I didn’t actually realize Ellsbury was hurt (my actual job got in the way of my dream job for a few minutes there, and I had to turn off the radio feed), but according to the Red Sox website, Ellsbury was on the ground for several minutes in pain before he left under his own power.  Right fielder Ryan Sweeney took over Ellsbury’s spot in the lineup, and Cody Ross moved to center field.

The Red Sox have, at least so far, termed Ellsbury’s injury as a “right shoulder injury,” and have told reporters that he’s going to be evaluated further.

The eighth inning is where the Red Sox offense really took over, scoring eight runs, seven before an out was recorded.  A Shoppach double, a Sweeney single, a Youkilis single, an Ortiz double, a Ross sac fly… it just went on and on.  Suffice it to say, the Red Sox got their conditioning workouts in running the bases.  It got to the point where I think most people wanted the inning to end, so that the now-boring blowout game could end.  Tampa’s Ben Zobrist hit a home run in the top of the ninth inning off of Mark Melancon, but all that did was prolong the clear Red Sox win.

On the defensive side, Josh Beckett pitched a gem, allowing only one run on five hits over 94 pitches and eight innings.  He only struck out one batter, which is weird for him – in 280 games, he’s never not had a strikeout.  He ended his day getting Carlos Pena to swing at air, though.  Melancon picked up the ball from there, pitching a sturdy ninth inning despite the Zobrist dinger.  The Sox also seemed much more comfortable playing on their own field – again, my real job interfered, but Ross and Ellsbury (at least) each made diving catches to back up Beckett’s effort.

For the Rays, David Price only went three innings before handing the ball over to a bullpen that couldn’t hold on to what was, at that point, only a two-run deficit.  Joel Peralta and Josh Lueke took the brunt of the damage, allowing four runs each during that never-ending Boston eighth.  Peralta didn’t even record an out.

Tampa’s Luke Scott, who gave the Globe an earful about Fenway Park yesterday (the short version: it’s a dump, it’s old, it’s tiny, yadda yadda yadda), couldn’t manage to hit a ball out of the tiny park, mustering only a pinch-hit fly ball to Darnell McDonald in the seventh.

Here’s a link to the box, courtesy of the Red Sox.  Clay Buchholz takes on Jeremy Hellickson Saturday for a 4:05 start.