An absolutely great day yesterday for the Boston Red Sox. The ring ceremony, the forgiveness of Bill Buckner and a Red Sox win. What else could one ask for.

Daisuke Matsuzaka looked like the pitcher he was advertised as when the Red Sox spent $103 million to get him. He’s using his fastball more for strikeouts and seems to have better poise on the mound when faced with adversity. Manny Delcarmen rebounded from his poor performances in Toronto with a solid 1 1/3 innings of work.

The bats started to wake up as Kevin Youkilis was for 3-for-3 while a few others had 2 hits. Even Manny decided to run out of the box on his triple to the triangle in center.

For those of you who will be watching the game tomorrow night, the Red Sox will be on the NESN Plus channel. The reason being the Boston Bruins are playing in the NHL playoffs against the Montreal Canadians. If you click on the link, it will tell you what channel the Red Sox will be available on your cable system or satellite provider.

I think the biggest story of yesterday was the return of Bill Buckner. He’s back to Boston before but never to a reception like that. I think the Red Sox brass was holding their collective breaths when he walked out of the Green Monster. The Fenway Faithful showed their appreciation to a man who was once a leader of the Red Sox but who will always be remembered in Red Sox lore as the first baseman who let the last out of the 1986 World Series go through his legs. But isn’t it amazing what two World Series Championships will do to make you forget about that moment.

One person who was inspired by what Buckner did yesterday was Youk.

“To be honest,” he said. “I have almost never been close to tears for someone else on a baseball field. But that was the most unbelievable thing. It shows how great of a man Bill Buckner is. There aren’t too many people who can do what he did today. He faced thousands of people who booed him, threatened his life and did horrific things towards him. When they think of his name, they think horrible things.”

“For a man to step out there on the field, it shows how much of a man he is,” said Youkilis. “I tip my cap to him and I just wanted shake his hand because that’s a true man in life. . . He’s been through some tough times in his years.”

“I think if you ask Bill Buckner, part of his life wasn’t a game,” Youkilis said. “People threatened his life over a game. Sometimes this is more of a game. It’s life here in Boston. To me, it was awesome. I was literally almost in tears for the guy because for Bill Buckner to come out here and throw out the first pitch it says a lot for the man.”

To see Buckner’s reaction when he met with the media afterwards, click here.

One active player who missed out on yesterday’s ring ceremony was Dice-K. Since he was the starting pitcher yesterday, he chose to warm-up for the game rather than get his ring.

“Since I couldn’t judge how long the ceremonies would take, I missed out on the chance to get my ring with my teammates,” Matsuzaka said. “And as I warmed up out there, I watched my teammates getting their rings and I did feel a little jealous.

“The ring had been put in my locker at some point during the game. After the game I tried it on for the first time and I must say, it looked pretty good.”

Manny Delcarmen was more nervous walking out to get his ring than he was when he came in to pitch.

For more golden nuggets of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant and Providence Journal websites.