Delcarmen relieved after nervous walk

The fear factor for Manny Delcarmen did not arrive with two outs in the seventh inning yesterday, when he was called to face Edgar Renteria with two outs and a man on. The Red Sox reliever welcomed the summons, retreated safely to the dugout after Renteria flied out to center, then returned to throw a scoreless eighth.

Delcarmen was sweating long before, as he waited for a different summons, this one to receive his World Series ring from Sox owners John W. Henry, Tom Werner, and Larry Lucchino, along with general manager Theo Epstein.

"I was waiting on the top step of the dugout, thinking, 'OK, don't fall when you walk out on the carpet,' " Delcarmen said with a smile after yesterday's 5-0 win over the Tigers. "I'm thinking, 'Take your hat off, spin around, and don't fall.' "

There were no pratfalls for Delcarmen or any of the other Red Sox, although ancient Johnny Pesky was heard to mutter a mild curse on NESN as he hoisted the championship banner along with David Ortiz before the game.

Coco Crisp chuckled while describing his runway moment.

"I just waved," he said. "I looked at my hand, and I didn't know what to do with it. I almost went into a 'pageant' wave, but I stopped that real quick and brought my hand down. The main thing was not to trip out of the dugout."

Before yesterday, Delcarmen had allowed all five runners he'd inherited to score, that total bumped up when he gave up a first-pitch grand slam to Frank Thomas in Toronto Sunday after giving up a two-run double to the Big Hurt Friday night.

"I gave it up back-to-back times, so you always look for the bounce-back," Delcarmen said. "Hopefully, that was a big spot for me. Tito [Terry Francona] said he'll keep using me in those situations."

Delcarmen couldn't wait to try on his ring yesterday; he slipped it on his finger during pregame ceremonies.

"I can't wait to show it to my dad," said Delcarmen, whose father, Manuel "Kuki" Delcarmen Sr., pitched in the Phillies system. "My dream was always to make it to the Red Sox, and hopefully, I can finish my career here. This was an unbelievable feeling, to get a ring."

Stranding room only

The longest Mike Lowell went without an RBI last season, when he knocked in a career-best 120 runs, was seven games. The Sox have played eight games this season, and Lowell has yet to knock in a run. Yesterday, he came up twice with men on base. He lined out to right with runners on second and third to end the first inning, then drew a walk with two on and two out in the sixth . . . David Ortiz, meanwhile, went 0 for 3 to drop his average to .103 (3 for 29). "I'm just going to keep playing, that's it," said Ortiz, whose troublesome right knee is an ongoing irritant. "Every year it's the same early. I have to stop hitting the ball at people." . . . The Tigers went 0 for 3 with runners in scoring position, dropping their season average with RISP to .140, the worst in the AL . . . J.D. Drew, who singled and scored in the second, has hit safely in all five games in which he has played this season . . . The Sox have won four straight home openers.

Exact specifications

Details on the Sox ring, as provided by the club: It was cast in white gold. The top has 28 diamonds channel-set around the bottom of the bezel. On the top, recessed in black letters, are the words "World Champions." The 2004 ring had a ruby "B." This one has a pair of red socks, with four custom-fitted rubies. The left side of the ring has "7th World Series Championship" inscribed. Underneath is a depiction of Fenway Park with "4-0 Sweep" at the bottom of the panel. Players who played on both the '04 and '07 champions had rings with two Series trophies. In all, there were 42 diamonds with a total weight of 2.33 carats. The rings, as in 2004, were made by Jostens, the Bloomington, Minn.-based company that just this winter closed its plant in Attleboro.

A team to call their own

Seven players on the 25-man roster were drafted by the Sox: Clay Buchholz, Delcarmen, Jon Lester, Jonathan Papelbon, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, and Jacoby Ellsbury. But in terms of homegrown lineups, as Rob Neyer noted in his "Big Book of Baseball Lineups," the Sox still can't match the team they put on the field for Game 1 of the 1988 AL Championship Series against Oakland, when all 10 starters (including pitcher Roger Clemens) were products of the farm system. That lineup: CF Ellis Burks, 2B Marty Barrett, C Rich Gedman, LF Mike Greenwell, 3B Wade Boggs, DH Jim Rice, RF Dwight Evans, SS Jody Reed, 1B Todd Benzinger. That team was swept four straight by Oakland.

Minor celebrities

Chris Carter, the player acquired by the Sox in the Wily Mo Peña deal, is off to a fast start in Pawtucket. Through six games, he is batting .500 (10 for 20) with five doubles and four RBIs. He singled and doubled and knocked in a run in a 4-1 win over Lehigh Valley yesterday . . . Meanwhile, Portland lefthander Dustin Richardson, who threw five hitless innings in his last start for Single A Lancaster last August, threw four more hitless innings in his Double A debut before being touched for a couple of hits in the fifth yesterday against Double A Norwich. The 24-year-old Richardson, a fifth-round draft pick out of Texas Tech in 2006, struck out the first five batters he faced and 10 in all . . . In Lancaster, meanwhile, former Harvard star Zach Farkes, who had three doubles in the JetHawks' opener, was batting .381 (8 for 21) in the team's first four games.

Pitcher was not in picture

Pitcher Kyle Snyder, who was designated for assignment Sunday, did not attend the ring ceremony. A club spokesman said Snyder had returned to his home in Sarasota, Fla. . . . Doug Mirabelli and Royce Clayton, two players no longer with the club, came to pick up their rings. Jason Varitek visited with Mirabelli Monday, the offday, but did not wish to discuss what was said between them. Mirabelli, who received a warm ovation, has not caught on with another club . . . Leave it to Varitek to say that the day's highlight was seeing former teammates Brian Daubach, Curtis Leskanic, and Dave McCarty, who carried the 2004 World Series trophy in the pregame ceremony . . . In a minor league deal, the Sox picked up a relief pitcher, righthander Eric Hull, from the Dodgers in exchange for infielder Christian Lara and cash considerations. Hull was 4-3 with a 2.74 ERA in 49 games at Triple A Las Vegas last season and was a September call-up for the Dodgers. He has options left, which means the Sox could send him down to Pawtucket without risking losing him on waivers.

Gordon Edes can be reached at edes@globe.com