At Last

Jacoby Ellsbury (2) and David Ortiz celebrate near home plate after J.D. Drew's two-run single in the 7th inning of Boston's 9-6 victory over the Yankees Friday afternoon.

And just like that, all is right in the universe again.

Kicking off the 100th Home Opener at Fenway Park in supreme style, the Boston Red Sox did exactly what fans have been waiting for them to do for nearly a week: win a baseball game.

Despite another poor outing from veteran starter John Lackey (5 innings, 6 earned-runs), the Sox bats finally awoke and Boston escaped Fenway with a 9-6 victory over the hated Yankees. The Red Sox are now 1-6 on the young year.

"I came in here thinking, 'We need to find a way to win. I don't care how we do it. I don't care if it's the ugliest win of all time. We need that win," said Dustin Pedroia after the game. "But we played great, man."

Thank god. For a second there, I didn't know if I'd make it through another day. All the negativity was really starting to get to me. Just yesterday the frustration reached its tipping point as I starting fighting with my roommate over who was a true fan. I was even beginning to have a recursive nightmare of Asdrubal Cabrera's recent game-winning suicide squeeze.

But just like that, all the tension, bad vibes and anxiety is gone, erased by a glorious return to Fenway Park by a team who finally delivered a victory to their die-hard fans with mile-high expectations. The ten-thousand pound monkey is finally off their back.

"It feels great," said David Ortiz. "We were just waiting to get home so we can win. Just kidding."

After a moving tribute to recently deceased, longtime GM Lou Gorman, the sell-out crowd of 37,178 rose to its feet in celebrated uproar as living legend Carl Yastrzemski threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Among the player introductions, 91-year-old Johnny Pesky received one of the loudest ovations, followed by Dustin Pedroia, Jason Varitek, Tim Wakefield and new-acquistions Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford.

When the game finally got underway, Lackey coughed up two runs in the first inning but Pedroia provided a momentum-swinging jolt of his own in the bottom half of the first, blasting a homer into the Monster seats to cut the deficit to 2-1.

The spark-plug second baseman finished 3-5 with two runs scored and three runs batted in.

However, his impressive numbers don't explain how important his home run in the bottom of the first was. The 0-6 Sox had just fallen behind again, and up until that point no one put the team of their back and punched back. This time someone finally stepped up. It marked the second consecutive Home Opener in which Pedroia homered in the first inning.

"He gave us a huge lift," admitted Terry Francona. "We're down two, he takes a good swing and kind of gets at least a little bit of momentum, a little bit of excitement going."

As bad as Lackey was, he exited the game with a 6-5 lead and earned a win (1-1) due to the excellence of the bullpen. Alfredo Aceves combined with Bobby Jenks, Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon to pitch four scoreless innings in relief.

"We didn't keep them off the board the first five inning," said Francona, making a subtle dig at Lackey's second poor outing in a row. "That's a hard way to win. Our bullpen came in and put up four zeros. That's tough to do."

Ortiz, J.D. Drew and Jarrod Saltalamacchia all went 2-4. Adrian Gonzalez finished 2-5, including a bunt base hit to beat a shift. He now leads the team with a .321 average. Drew stroked a pivotal 2-run single in the 7th to extend the lead to 9-7.

"We have a lot of expectations, too," said Pedroia. "We don't want to let anybody down."

For the first time all season, they didn't.