Hope springs eternal on Opening Day. For the 2015 Boston Red Sox, the hope is that Monday’s season opener in Philadelphia was a sign of things to come. A lot of good things happened for the Sox:

• Dustin Pedroia hit a pair of homers, the first Red Sox hitter with multiple home runs in the opener since Carlton Fisk in 1973.

• In the ninth inning, Hanley Ramirez became the first Boston player since Pedroia to hit two homers in a season opener when he hit a grand slam to go with his solo shot in the fifth.

• Mookie Betts hit a home run off Phillies starter Cole Hamels. Betts was the player the Phillies allegedly wanted in return for Cole Hamels. The Sox said no, and Betts was your Opening Day leadoff hitter.

• Clay Buchholz was outstanding. The team without an ace got an ace-like performance from their top starter.

• Shane Victorino got a standing ovation from his former fans, reached base twice, and made a nice catch in right field. He showed us why he was John Farrell’s choice as starting right fielder.

Of all these developments, the work turned in by Buchholz was the most impressive. He was the one who printed up shirts saying “He’s the Ace” with an arrow pointing left, and passed them out to his fellow starting pitchers. The message was clear: embrace the criticism or be stung by it. Buchholz has vowed to lead the charge trying to prove the critics wrong.

Time will tell if he’s successful. He was successful Monday against possibly the worst lineup in all of baseball. The Phillies are going nowhere, which is why so many people think Hamels will be going somewhere before the season is through.

He could be headed to Boston. The Red Sox still may need to add a top-of-the-rotation starter to the fold if they want to finish off the fourth act of a worst-to-first-to-worst-to-first run.

Or maybe not. Buchholz has shown the stuff to be a top-of-the-rotation pitcher when healthy. He just hasn’t been able to stay healthy over the years. If he can crack that 200-inning plateau for the first time, Buchholz could take the pressure off Boston to add a pitcher.

On Monday, he certainly outpitched Hamels. And the Sox have Buchholz under their control for two more years.

For now, the roster looks pretty well set. Of course, there are 161 games to play. With no game scheduled for Tuesday we’ll enjoy the little we’ve seen from the new-look Sox.

Tom Caron is the studio host for the Red Sox broadcast on NESN. His column appears in the Portland Press Herald on Tuesdays.