HEALING BEGINS AT FENWAY.(Sports)

Byline: Joe Layden

The pitch was thrown at 1:23 p.m., EDT, under a New England sky so perfectly clear and blue it seemed to have been painted.

For the record, it was a strike, stared at by Tony Phillips of the Detroit Tigers and cheered heartily by a Fenway Park crowd of 35,199. This particular fastball, which came wrapped in a blanket of anticipation, landed with a smack in the glove of catcher Tony Pena, just an instant after it had left the hand of Roger Clemens.

As it whistled across the plate, you could almost feel the seed of redemption being planted. It was the first pitch of the first game of the new year - one week overdue but no less sweet for the wait.

"Opening day is big. It's great," said Dwight Evans, who started his 18th season in Boston by driving in three runs to help lead the Red Sox to a 5-2 victory. "I still get butterflies, absolutely. …