I got to see most of the game on mlb.tv at work, without sound. It was good to have that familiar feeling yet again. The way every Red Sox game is an entire lifetime. When they're ahead, you feel like you've got a nice house, a wonderful partner, a cupboard full of Drake's products, you know, the important stuff. An when things start to go down hill, you are on the brink of being fired, and a tornado is rolling toward your place. There's something great about an opening game where things go so well for so long. If each inning is a decade, today we basically went well into our adult lives without any major illnesses. I could sit there comfortably, knowing that the entire season (from 2:05 to about 4:00) was frustration-free. A late yankee game, meaning no frustration there guaranteed for at least eight hours, added to the experience.

And those first two runs, well, insert your own wine/desert analogy here. Off the top of my head, I'll call it "that first sip of Coca-Cola after crossing a country that only serves Pepsi."

Mlb.tv seems to be set up nicer now, and it streamed pretty smoothly, although it was on my work computer. I'll see how it is at home tomorrow night.

As far as NESN's coverage, a few negatives to report: On Manny Ramirez's first at bat of the year, the screen was split so that we could see (!) Roger effin' Clemens talking. I've been waiting months to see my favorite players. The first chance they have to show Manny, they make him share time with that Babe Ruth's ass-sniffin' Texan. Yet another case of a network trying to do too much. Even if I liked Clemens, I still feel, and I don't think I'm alone here, that the audio will suffice. No need to see his actual face, especially if there's a game--no, the first fucking game of the year--going on.

Granted, I didn't have the audio. They could have been playing circus music over Roger. Remy could have been announcing through one of those Peter Frampton voice things. I shouldn't criticize without all the facts. It was cool how Joe Castiglione was one of the people around Clemens. Rare to see his face during a game.

They weren't showing the pitch speed. This seems to be a huge problem with NESN. It looked like Schilling was bringing some serious heat, though. I could be wrong.

The team definitely gave me feelings of encouragement. Co-squared played some sweet defense. The Ortiz bomb looked amazing, despite that you really can't see the ball on mlb.tv. Alex Gonzalez plays with such ease out there, snatching pop-ups one-handed like you'd catch the remote when your friend tosses it to you when he has to go to the bathroom. The opposite of Edgar, basically. It is a little scary the way he only uses the one hand, but I feel like after a few days of this, we'll have more faith in him catching a ball behind his back--with his hat--than we did in Edgar playing normally.

Loretta reminds me of McCarty at the plate, but again, I was watching on a one-inch screen. He seems to drive the ball high and far, not like the more classic "little child shall lead them"-style Red Sox second baseman.

I missed the Papelbon inning while walking home from work, but I hear it was a 1-2-3.

AndalsoKeithFoulkeisontheteamByenow.