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

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.)