After months and months of waiting, it finally arrived: the first Opening Day in the US for the Red Sox that’s two days after actual Opening Day “Night.” But that didn’t stop me from dressing up in a jacket an Oxford shirt for the occasion. (If you’re wondering why, it’s a tradition for members of the media to dress up for Opening Day. For example, Jon Miller wears his tux every Giants Opening Day.)

I helped my friend Ryan, who’s a reporter for ESPN radio, at the game today and as payment was rewarded with a media credential. Ryan and I got down to the field in time for both the A’s and Sox to take BP, and found one Dustin Pedroia sitting by his lonesome in the dugout. If you ever want to see Dustin get all riled up and spew out a stream of obscenities not heard since the ball went between Billy Buckner’s legs, ask him about the “and THAT happened” video.

We also ran into Dave O’Brien, who’s very nice and personable. He’s also possibly the hardest working man in MLB-show business. I offered to buy him a beer after the game, but he was leaving on an 8:30 red-eye flight so he could do the Jays-MFY game on ESPN. And no, that’s not like a girl saying that she can’t go out with you because she has to wash her hair.

Don Orsillo is a rock star. I think he gets asked for more autographs than Manny.

I don’t care what people say, this game did not feel like Opening Day. In fact, after attending Sox-A’s games for the past three seasons now, this one had the least intensity of them all. Maybe it’s because the Sox just won the Series, I’m not sure. But something just didn’t feel right.

The game itself was about the battery-mates of Tek and Dice-K. They both looked kind of wild at the start, Tek fouling out with runners at 1st and 3rd and one out and Dice-K doing his usually “I’ll spot you 3 balls and then try to pitch to you” routine. They both settled down nicely though, and Dice-K looked the strongest I’ve ever seen him, striking out nine batters in 6 2/3 and allowing ZERO walks.

His couterpart behind the plate scorched a ball to right in the 5th, and then got a clutch 2-out “double” that SHOULD have been a HR in the 6th to give the Sox the lead. And for good measure he got a single in the 9th, just so we couldn’t say his one hit was a fluke.

Paps also finally looked like himself, King the side in the 9th. I asked the Sox PR man before the game about Paps, and he said that he just looked “out of sync.” Well, I’m going to blame that on the jetlag, cause if three straight strikeouts to any lineup besides the Giants isn’t “in sync”, then I’m not sure what is.

As a member of the media, the real game starts when the game on the field ends. I sprinted down to the hallway outside the Sox locker room to get in line for interviews. The line lines both sides of an entire hallway. When they let us in, everybody crowds into Tito’s office for him to answer a few questions. After Tito’s done the reporters all file back into the locker room as players try to get dressed and eat something without being attacked. If you want to talk to a player who’s not a big name from the game, that’s usually pretty easy and they’re nice about it. Otherwise, you’d better be persistent.

After reading that Clay Buchholz is a huge Apple fan, I went over and introduced myself. He was very nice and asked me about a bunch of our products and also mentioned that “I’ll never use Windows.” Music to my heart and my stock. I also gave him my number. No, I’m not leaving Kim for Clay, it was to see if he wanted any discounts.

In case anybody is curious, here are what some of the interviews sound like. Below is the interview with Tito, Jacoby and Tek. Also, tomorrow I’ll be live-blogging from the press box in the stadium. I promise it won’t be like the shitty stuff you get from Amalie.