The early scene at Fenway

They invented baseball to be played on days like today. For everyone reading outside the area, it is a Chamber of Commerce day at Fenway. A slight breeze blowing out toward right field has flared up every now and again, but the flags in centerfield have been limp for stretches, too.

Paul Byrd predicted a "playoff atmosphere" for the series, and the press box will come close to doing its part to help fulfill that. It's not quite the packed house usually reserved for October and Yankees series, but it's close. There are seats reserved for CBSSportsline.com, ESPN.com, Yahoo.com, and two writers from USA Today have already arrived.

"That's a first for us, to have two of you guys here," a Rays PR man said to them, to much laughter from the Tampa Bay press corps.

One note about Extra Bases today: When the game begins, I'm going to post all of the game updates on one, continually updated post. The latest update will be on top with a smaller headline than usual in ALL CAPS, and the time stamp will be refreshed with each new update. I think that will allow for more, quicker updates while cutting down the clutter so many big headlines create on the blog.

We want to make the blog as informative and easy to navigate as possible. Once the game begins and the updates start rolling, let me know in the comments section or with an e-mail to akilgore@globe.com if this way works better or worse than the old way. Thanks.

Lineups coming shortly.