April 11, 2005: In home opener as reigning World Series champions, Red Sox rout Yankees

The Boston Red Sox display a large 2004 World Series banner covering the left-field wall at Fenway Park during their home opener on April 11, 2005. (Courtesy of Kurt Blumenau)

Opening Day ceremonies at Fenway Park were notably different in 2005. For the first time in 86 years, fans who were present were able to welcome and celebrate a championship Boston Red Sox team. It was the first time since the beginning of 1919 that that tribute could be paid on that field to a team that had won the World Series the year before.

Perhaps it was only fitting that the visiting team was the New York Yankees, the historic rivals of what Bostonians called their Olde Towne Team. The Yankees had won 26 World Series since the Red Sox had last won one. They had also eliminated the Red Sox from Series contention in the 11th inning of Game Seven of the 2003 League Championship Series. That the Red Sox had come from behind – pulling off an unprecedented comeback down three games to none to the Yankees in the best-of-seven 2004 ALCS – only made Boston’s eight consecutive wins over the Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals for the title all the sweeter for fans at Fenway Park.1

Pregame ceremonies included the unfurling of a massive banner that covered most of the left-field wall, the Green Monster.2 World Series championship rings were presented to members of the 2004 team, beginning with manager Terry Francona, including clubhouse personnel, and ending with the longtime legend Johnny Pesky, known as “Mr. Red Sox.”3

Pesky was joined by Carl Yastrzemski in raising the world championship banner on Fenway Park’s center-field flagpole. Ceremonial first pitches were delivered by representatives of other Boston-area championship teams – for the Boston Celtics, 11-time champion Bill Russell; for the Boston Bruins, Bobby Orr; and for the New England Patriots, winners of three of the previous four Super Bowls, Richard Seymour and Tedi Bruschi.4

It was a day Boston fans could fully enjoy, and not one filled with bristling bitterness against their archenemies; “[T]his town, a town once steeped in cynicism and negativity, when it came to baseball, couldn’t have enjoyed it more.”5 The spirit was perhaps best exemplified when fans rose and gave Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera a standing ovation during the pregame introductions.6

There were very few who had had the opportunity – or even the possibility – to have watched the Red Sox both in 1918 and 2004.7 

The 2005 opener was, of course, sold out. The official attendance was 33,702. The Red Sox were partway into a record-setting streak of selling out 794 consecutive regular-season games.8

Starting for the Red Sox was 38-year-old knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, who had gone 12-10 in 2004 and 1-0 in the postseason, winning Game Five of the ALCS in extra-innings relief. It was Wakefield’s first start in a Red Sox home opener.9 For the Yankees, the starting pitcher was 36-year-old future Hall of Famer Mike Mussina, coming off a 12-9 season for New York. Five days earlier at Yankee Stadium, both Wakefield and Mussina had received no-decisions in the third game of the season, a 7-3 Red Sox win.

In the first inning, Wakefield got Derek Jeter to ground out, struck out Álex Rodríguez, walked Gary Sheffield, and then struck out Hideki Matsui. Mussina allowed a leadoff single to Johnny Damon, but then retired Trot Nixon, Manny Ramírez, and David Ortiz.

Wakefield threw a one-two-three top of the second. Mussina retired the first two batters in the bottom half, then hit Bill Mueller with a pitch. Mueller had been 0-for-18 in his regular-season career against Mussina, and 1-for-11 against him in the postseason. He still didn’t have a base hit, but he was on first base.

Doug Mirabelli – who caught most of Wakefield’s games – swung at the first pitch and homered into the front rows of the Monster seats in straightaway left field.10 The Red Sox led, 2-0.

Wakefield faced just three batters in the third inning and got outs from all three. The Red Sox added another couple of runs in their half. With one out, Mussina surrendered a single to Nixon and then – on just nine pitches – walked Ramírez and Ortiz, loading the bases.

First baseman Kevin Millar had come into the game batting a career .403 (31-for-77) with the bases loaded, including three grand slams. In postseason play he had been 0-for-7 with the bases loaded. He lined a single over the mound and into center, driving in Nixon and Ramírez. The Red Sox were up, 4-0. With the single, Millar improved to .429 lifetime against Mussina. Edgar Rentería lined to Jeter for a 6-4 double play to end the inning.

The Yankees scored a run – unearned – in the fourth. Alex Rodríguez lined a single to right-center. With Sheffield at the plate, A-Rod stole second base. Sheffield then singled to Rentería at short, and Rentería’s throw to first was errant, allowing Rodríguez to score.

Sheffield wound up on second. He went to third on a Matsui’s grounder to second, then saw Tino Martinez pop up foul to Mirabelli. Wakefield walked Jorge Posada, but Jason Giambi, representing the potential tying run, popped up foul to Mueller at third base, ending the inning.

The Red Sox responded with three runs in the bottom of the fourth, capitalizing on shaky defense. The rally began with a two-out single over first base by second baseman Mark Bellhorn. Damon reached on a fielding error by A-Rod aggressively charging the ball at third. Nixon hit a ball to deep right field. Sheffield, perhaps blinded by the sun, got his glove on the ball but it landed for a two-run double. Ramírez singled down the line in left field and it was 7-1, Red Sox. As the New York Times noted, Rodríguez had made “a pivotal error [which] led to three unearned runs against a shaky Mike Mussina, putting the game away.”11

Wakefield pitched around a one-out double by Tony Womack in the fifth and singles by Sheffield in the sixth and Bernie Williams in the seventh. He was done after seven innings of 110-pitch, 5-hit, 2-walk, 5-strikeout work, while not allowing an earned run.

Yankees manager Joe Torre went to the bullpen in the sixth. Félix Rodríguez relieved Mussina and pitched a relatively uneventful sixth and seventh. Mike Stanton came in for the bottom of the eighth. The first two Boston batters both doubled – Rentería to left and then Mueller to center, driving in Rentería, Stanton then booked outs from Mirabelli, Bellhorn, and pinch-hitter Jay Payton.12

In the meantime, Boston’s Matt Mantei took over from Wakefield to work the eighth, struck out two, allowed a Matsui single, but then saw Manny Ramírez haul in a fly ball hit to left by Tino Martínez. Keith Foulke closed out the ninth. Posada hit a fly ball to right-center, Giambi struck out swinging, and Williams popped up to short.

It was an 8-1 win.

Yankees manager Torre was generous overall regarding the celebrations: “This day is supposed to be about what the Red Sox accomplished, not what the Yankees didn’t accomplish.”13

The Red Sox and Yankees finished 2005 tied for first place in the American League East Division with 95-67 records. Head-to-head, New York won 10 of 19 games against Boston. But a third straight postseason rematch was not in the cards: in the AL Division Series, the Yankees lost to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, three games to two, and the Red Sox were swept by the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox went on to sweep the Houston Astros in the World Series – thus winning their first title in 88 years.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Gary Belleville and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS200504110.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2005/B04110BOS2005.htm

Notes

1 What the Red Sox fans celebrated as a comeback was seen by Yankees chroniclers as “the most monumental choke in baseball history.” Jack Curry, “Wakefield Knows Loss; He Likes Victory Better,” New York Times, April 12, 2005: D2.

2 The opening ceremony may be seen at length at “Yankees @ Red Sox – April 11, 2005 (Home Opener, Red Sox Raise Banner and Get Rings,” YouTube video (Brian Fleming account), 1:44:25, accessed March 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWEqURVjH7M, as can highlights of the Red Sox offense.

3 The Associated Press reported that the Red Sox players themselves found the inclusion of Johnny Pesky the most memorable part of the ceremonies. Howard Ulman (Associated Press), “Poll says Pesky Highlight of Tribute,” Quincy (Massachusetts) Patriot Ledger, April 12, 2005: 32.

4 It had unexpectedly been the honor of the author of this article, with three friends, to represent these athletes in a run-through before the ballpark had opened.

5 Dan Graziano, “The Mellowing of a Nation,” Newark Star-Ledger, April 12, 2005: 43.

6 “And Rivera got it. Boston wasn’t mocking him. It was having fun with him. Rivera laughed and doffed his cap.” Mike Vaccaro, “A Banner Day,” New York Post, April 12, 2005: 86. The fun, though, was fueled by Red Sox fan memories of his back-to-back blown saves in Game Four and Game Five of the 2004 American League Championship Series. Rivera added, “They’ve waited 86 years. I have no problem with that.”

7 For the story of one such fan, see Bill Nowlin, “Kathryn Gemme Finally Saw the Red Sox Win the World Series, at Age 109,” in Bill Nowlin, ed., Sox Bid Curse Farewell: The 2004 Boston Red Sox (Phoenix: SABR, 2024), 326-328.

8 The streak had begun on May 15, 2003, and ended when “only” 30,862 turned out on a rainy April 10, 2013. It was early in the season – one that proved to be another World Series-winning campaign, and the Red Sox were in first place at the time, but it was the second home game of the year and the streak did indeed come to an end.  

9 As a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1993, Wakefield started and won Pittsburgh’s Opening Day game against the San Diego Padres at home. In seven innings he allowed just two hits while walking nine and striking out nine. Wakefield also contributed two hits, including a double, and an RBI in that game.

10 Wakefield said of his catcher, “We’ve been working together exclusively for the last three years. … He is a vital part of me being successful.” Rich Thompson, “Mirabelli’s Bat, Glove Key Win,” Boston Herald, April 12, 2005: 90. Mirabelli said of homering off Mussina, “I was just trying to be aggressive in that situation. Mussina has so many pitches, it’s hard to wait and try to work the count with him. When you see a first-pitch fastball, you have to be aggressive.” Paul Harber, “Caught Up in Hoopla,” Boston Globe, April 12, 2005: F9.

11 Tyler Kepner, “With Rings and Then a Rout, It’s a Great Day for the Red Sox,” New York Times, April 12, 2005: D1.

12 The first out was a routine grounder by Mirabelli, hit to Alex Rodríguez at third base. After a “routine play” by A-Rod, “Fenway fans gave him a mocking standing ovation.” Michael Morrissey, “Giddy Fans Cut Red Sox Some Slack,” New York Post, April 12, 2005: 87.

13 George King, “For $200 Million,” New York Post, April 12, 2005: 88. The Post headline was about the money that owner George Steinbrenner had spent on the team, one that was off to a less-than-stellar start.