Red Sox Get Rings, Then Drop Tigers to 0-7

Matsuzaka shuts down Detroit bats over 6 2/3 innings
By Chip Bayers,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 8, 2008 6:16 PM CDT
Red Sox Get Rings, Then Drop Tigers to 0-7
Boston Red Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka delivers in the seventh inning against the Detroit Tigers in a baseball game in Boston, Tuesday, April 8, 2008. Matsuzaka gave up four hits and struck out seven in 6 2-3 innings.    (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

There was red-white-and-blue bunting hanging from the stands, a Green Monster-sized American flag on the left-field wall and an Air National Guard flyover punctuating "The Star-Spangled Banner." After opening with a three-country trip of nearly 16,000 miles, the Boston Red Sox returned to Fenway Park, received their World Series rings and beat the winless Detroit Tigers 5-0 Tuesday behind Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Bill Buckner, a goat of the 1986 World Series collapse that helped extend the team's title drought until 2004, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. He hadn't been to Fenway since 1997, when he was a coach with the Chicago White Sox. During an hourlong pregame ceremony, Boston raised the championship banner in center field for the second time in four seasons. (More Boston Red Sox stories.)

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