Let the regular season begin...

With their 9-2 win over the Yomiuri Giants tonight, the Red Sox are heading to opening day. Finally.

Of course, they'll head back to exhibition games next week in Los Angeles, but for now the next two games count in the standings.

So is the team ready?

"That's the question that I think every manager the night before opening day, why they don't sleep," manager Terry Francona said. "You do everything in your power to have your team ready to play. But what it really comes down to almost every night is if you get the pitching your team will look like they're ready. If Daisuke goes out there and gives us six, seven good innings, we're going to look like we're ready. If our pitchers are around the plate, we'll be fine. That's the one thing that every manager struggles with and has some anxiety with before every opening day. You always hope that everybody's ready to play."

By the way, Hideki Okajima wasn't the only player who had a homecoming tonight. Bryan Corey also pitched for the Giants, back in 2004.