For Tim Wakefield, the man who has spent more time with the Red Sox than any of his teammates, pitching at Fenway Park in the most anticipated home opener in team history is no small honor.
"It's a huge honor," said Wakefield. "To be able to get our rings and start the home opener against New York after winning the World Series, it's a tremendous honor and I'm proud to be able to take the ball for us."

Wakefield has been with the Red Sox since 1995, making him the only person to be part of Boston's last five postseason teams. His first start of the regular season will come April 6 at Yankee Stadium, the third game of the regular season. The Fenway opener will be played on April 11.

The 38-year-old Wakefield hopes those first two starts of the season against the Yankees will be nothing like the one he had Tuesday night against the Reds, when he was touched up for eight hits and six runs over 3 2/3 innings. Wakefield also walked three.

"I just didn't feel as comfortable as I have the last three starts," said Wakefield. "Some balls stayed up. They have a good hitting club over there with [Adam] Dunn and [Sean] Casey and Wily Mo Pena. You make mistakes with hitters like that, they're gonna make you pay. I felt like I made some decent pitches early. They just got hits off them and I wasn't able to stop the bleeding as much as I'd like to. The positive thing out of this is I got my pitch count up to 85 and I feel physically good."