Congratulations Boston! You survived the snowiest winter on record and Opening Day finally arrived. And what a day it was. It’s really hard to temper expectations on Opening Day, especially when everything goes oh-so-right, but I will do my best to offer an objective analysis of Game 1.

At least for one day, Ben Cherington’s plan for the 2015 Red Sox worked perfectly. A great pitching performance from one of the “#3” starters, and five homers from the offense, 4 of which were solo jacks off of oft-discussed potential Red Sox “ace” Cole Hamels. Some of the highlights:

Clay Buchholz:  All of the naysayers chirping about the Red Sox not having an ace look like idiots (for now, at least). ACE went 7, gave up 0 runs, 3 hits, struck out 9, and walked only one, on 94 pitches.

He had good command of (and confidence in) all five of his pitches, featuring a biting breaking ball, and a devastating changeup.

Clay didn’t give up a hit until the 4th when he left a fastball up to Ryan Howard, who smacked a double on the offending pitch. Obviously it’s unrealistic to expect him to be this sharp for every start this season, but I’ve done some math and here are Buchholz’s projected numbers:

31 Starts, 217 IP, 0 R, 279 K, 31 BB, 0.57 WHIP, 0.00 ERA.

Sounds like an ace to me.

Dustin Pedroia: I recall a certain handsome prognosticator having this to say about Pedey on yesterday’s roster breakdown:

The wrist [injury] sapped his power and really hampered his ability to turn on inside pitches and keep them fair (the ones he did turn on, he hooked foul)…He’s been talking shit to Shaughnessy (and anyone else who will listen) about how great he’s going to be this year. Good sign. And of course, Pedey will play Gold Glove defense, sacrifice his body, and make you say “wow” almost nightly. – Righty

Well lo and behold, Dustin’s wrist is fully healed. He cleaned out two inside fastballs from Hamels for a pair of dingers, his first multi-homer game since 2011. We even got a “La Luna!” from Orsillo on the second one.

He also did this in the field:

MLB.com won’t let me embed the video. Click the link though, it’s worth it

Hanley Ramirez: A solo job and a broken bat grand slam. He also caught a fly ball in left field, so he’s clearly adjusting well.

Mookie Betts: A homer, a walk, and a single. On pace to combine with Pedroia for 486 long balls and be the greatest 1-2 combination of all time.

Seriously though, this was a great way to start the season. Everything went favorably for the hometown 9. Obviously they’re not going to hit five homers and play the Phillies every game, but Papi and Sandoval went 0-9 with 6 Ks so there was also some room for improvement.

Notes:

-Shortly after the game it was announced that Rick Porcello signed a four-year, $82.5 million contract extension. That’s a lot of money, and the Red Sox are gambling on his tantalizing potential. We’re essentially looking at 5 years and $95 million for his ages 26-30 seasons. That could either be a huge bargain or a monumental disaster. Or if he continues to be a decent innings-eater, it could be an okay contract. One of the three.

–Sandoval looked a little rusty. In his first AB he swung and missed on a 3-1 pitch and his bat ended up lying next to the shortstop.

-Buchholz has a pretty sweet lefty stroke. He squared up more balls than Papi and Pablo combined.

–Ryan Hanigan had few nice at-bats. Worked a walk and roped a single.

-Papi played Gold Glove defense and showed off his patented agility…in the dugout