Last year, the local band “Dropkick Murphys” recorded the song “Tessie,” which became the informal theme song of the World Champion Red Sox. No word yet if Willie Nelson is being brought in to sing the soundtrack for 2005.

“On The Road Again” could well be the title ballad for your defending World Champs. After savoring all the trappings of a luxurious 90 hours at home, the Sox will head out again this afternoon. After a pit stop in Cooperstown, N.Y., the Sox will play three in Toronto before three more with the suddenly rejuvenated New York Yankees.

By the time they return to Fenway to play Baltimore on May 30, the Sox will have played 30 road games – compared to a mere 19 at home. No other team has played as many games away from home.

After their Hall of Fame fun in the Southern Tier of New York, the Sox will hand the ball to David Wells in the Ballpark Formerly Known as Skydome. Wells is coming off his shortest start since 2001, a 1.1 inning stinker that saw nine of 13 batters faced reach base, and seven of them score.

Do you think, in retrospect, that Wells could’ve used a minor-league rehab start after all?

It was an ugly west-coast swing for the Sox. They lost four of six against two teams that had been struggling mightily. The A’s had lost eight straight games and 11 of 12 before facing Boston. Oakland hitters had the worst batting average in the American League and had scored fewer runs than anyone else in the AL. They had the fewest homers and the fewest stolen bases. No power, no speed.

So what happened? They scored 24 runs in three games, nearly double their season average. They took two out of three from Boston, taking a series from the Sox in Oakland for the fist time since 2001.

To make room for Wells, the Red Sox sent Cla “May I buy a Consonant?” Meredith back to the minors. On Thursday night he took the mound for Pawtucket, marking his second appearance in Triple A. Next month, he will celebrate the one-year anniversary of his college graduation. At 21 years of age, his best years are ahead of him.

The question is, are Wells’ best years behind him? We’ll know before too long. He had pitched very well before injuring his foot on April 25, throwing 15 consecutive shutout innings on April 15 and April 20. He had good command, and was striking out batters.

In short, he was everything the Red Sox wanted when they signed him to a two-year contract this winter. Then he suffered an injury to the plantar fascia in his right heel. He was expected to miss 3-6 weeks, with most estimates on the high side. He came back in exactly three weeks, two days.

Did he come back too soon? It looked like it Wednesday. The Sox are hoping it was a short-term stumble, and not something indicative of a longer-term problem.

Lewiston native Tom Caron is a NESN sports analyst for Red Sox and Bruins telecasts.