BOSTON - They got their rings, they got their standing ovations, and in the end, they got a win.

And still, the Red Sox couldn't wait for the day to end.

Ordinarily, Opening Day - especially one in which you're being recognized as the previous season's champions - is an experience to savor. But the Red Sox have had more than their share of ceremonies, pageantry and special events lately.

In the last three weeks, they have traveled some 16,000 miles - from Florida to Japan to Los Angeles to Oakland to Toronto and, finally, home. This wasn't a travelogue; this was a movie title - From Here to Eternity.

It had gotten old, frankly. Somewhere between Los Angeles and Oakland, maybe, it stopped being a road trip and became a circus. Publicly and privately, most uniformed members of the organization had the same thought: Enough, already.

Yesterday was the last act, the final command performance.

At last, they were home, welcomed back by a fanbase that has begun to expect winning rather than one conditioned to fear losing. The pregame ceremony lacked the emotional wallop that came with the 2005 celebration, because nothing will ever top seeing the 2004 banner run up the flagpole.

Once the field was cleared of Bruins and Celtics and Patriots, and the Boston Pops, the Red Sox were presented with one final gift: The Detroit Tigers. If the Sox were reeling a bit from being swept in Toronto, then the Tigers staggered through the entrance to Fenway, beaten and battered by an 0-6 start.

The Tigers gift-wrapped Boston's 5-0 victory with two errors and six walks and a rather anemic attack in place of a lineup that has been forecast to score 1,000 runs.

In the refurbished home clubhouse, you could almost see the Red Sox discard the last two weeks. They left the whole experience - long flights, foreign lands, football facilities, and endless pregame introductions - right there on the floor for some clubhouse attendant to pick up.

"I feel like it's the beginning of the season, right now,'' said a smiling Manny Delcarmen. "We're not worried about traveling 16 hours or going to California.''

Manager Terry Francona has looked forward to today the way a child looks forward to Christmas - talking about it wistfully, incessantly, endlessly.

Understand that baseball players are, above all else, creatures of habit. Over the 162-game, six-month season, they establish routines and don't like them to be broken.

They stretch at the same time, taking batting practice at the same time and eat at the same time.

If today starts to feel exactly like yesterday, that's because it does. It's all the same to them, which is their coping mechanism for the arduous schedule.

Until today, the Red Sox have been unsettled by change.

The time zones have been different. Heck, for a while there, the hemispheres were different.

"It was a great moment,'' said David Ortiz of the day's proceedings, "but you have to forget about that and get down to business and start playing baseball.''

"We know we've got a long season to go,'' said Dustin Pedroia, "and that the long road trip is over. Now we can look forward to the rest of the year and get into our routines.''

No one is more appreciative of the change than Francona, who seemed to sense long ago that the Red Sox' season would be held hostage until the home opener was behind them.

"We needed to get through today,'' he said. "Now we can go about the business of baseball and see how good we can be. There's been a lot going on. Today was a good way to start fresh and go about our business.''

Think of yesterday as a sort of baseball New Year's Eve, right down the streamers noisemakers and party hats. The Red Sox were the gracious guests of honor, the reason the party was thrown in the first place.

But after the cleanup crew sweeps through Fenway, 2007 and the resulting victory tour that threatened to go on forever is officially at an end. Today is New Year's Day, the first day of the rest of the baseball season.

They aren't going to be introduced one-by-one anymore. They don't have to take their place along a foul line.

"Now,'' echoed Kevin Youkilis, "we get to sit back and just play baseball.''

What a novel concept.