Not a bad ball game last night in the inaugural meeting between the Sox and Astros, helped by it being a Sox win. Oddly, the crowd seemed more against Jeff Bagwell than Jimy Williams, as Bags got booed a bit while Jimy got pretty consistent cheers. Not sure what the crowd had against Bags; it's not like the trade was his idea. Neither got the sort of heckling that Trot Nixon did, based on his failure to drive anyone home the night previously when he was up with the bases loaded in the extra innings against the Cards.

The biggest boos, of course, came with the highlights of Clemens' milestone. I didn't boo, but I didn't clap, either. I'm actually more annoyed that the Cards don't seem to be giving the Bombers much of a fight.

It was a horrific night for baseball, a 90 minute rain delay (though there didn't seem to be any rain for about half of that time) that led into a night of temps in the low to mid 50s, wind in from right field, and swirling mist. It was like something out of April. Or October.

Last night was also the Boston debut of Ryan Rupe. You probably most remember Rupe from his Tampa days, where he plunked both Nomar and Shea Hillenbrand, and thus provoked Trot Nixon's bat to "slip" and make a fly-by of Rupe's head. Rupe was one of the first (if not the first) players acquired at the start of the Theo Epstein administration.

Speaking of which, the park is looking pretty different nowadays. It took me a while to realize that a lot of the wall behind the bleachers is now gone. I'm sure it provides a nice city view for the folks in the upper deck. One one side of the main scoreboard there is now an auxiliary board that transmits a whole host of information about both hitter and pitcher, from almost full hitting stats (no OPS) to a pitch count, speed and type of pitch, strike percentage, and even a history of pitcher versus catcher (if there is one). You can tell the roto-geeks are in charge.

The scoreboard is also gives player pictures and items of interest. They tend to be less interesting as the game goes on. The first couple of at bats you get good stuff, then it's things like the player's draft info. By the time you get to the fourth or fifth at bat, it's becomes statements such as "Likes fudge" or "Drives a pick-up truck."

Oh, the Sox now also have a pre-game that rivals the Myrtle Beach Pelicans for length. Not quite so many opening pitches (there were 4 or 5, and they were still "ceremonial" first pitches). No crab races, sorry to say. I also missed my first attendance quiz in quite some time. I think they were doing a "tickets sold" quiz, but that's just the conspiracy theorist in me talking.

Most of my baseball watching today was of the event that ESPN billed as "more ping, less bling," the College World Series. I don't really follow college baseball, but I enjoy watching the series. One of these days I'd like to go out to Omaha for it.