Ryne Miller had never been to California before he made the trip this week to Lake Elsinore for the California/Carolina League All-Star Game.

His first impression: "I'm from Odessa [Texas], so it was all dry, just the same, just a bigger city."

Miller was surprised by the crowd of 6,689.

"I've never seen people in the West who like baseball so much," said Miller, who noted that football dominates interest in Texas. "I thought it was an East Coast thing."

He and Salem teammate Derrick Loop were also impressed when they got a gander at the All-Stars on the California League roster.

"When we saw 'em we were thinking, wow these guys are huge, what're they feedin' 'em out here?"

After the game started, though, the big hitters didn't do much.

"It turned into a pitchers' kind of game," Miller said.

Miller struck out five of the six batters he faced. In the fifth inning, he went to a full count to three straight batters and threw three straight curveballs for called third strikes.

"All of 'em watched like they've never seen a 3-2 curveball in the West," Miller said. "I threw extra hard out there, harder than I have all year. And I was still hitting my spots and getting my curveball over."

This was Miller's second All-Star game, and the first one might have been more important.

He hadn't been drafted out of Weatherford College and was playing in the Texas Collegiate League All-Star game when Boston noticed him.

"I face two batters and struck 'em both out," Miller said. "They were like 'How'd you like to play for us?' I guess All-Star games are my forte."

New swagger

The return of Yamaico Navarro, who was injured the first season, should help on both offense and defense, manager Chad Epperson said.

Not only will Kris Negron get to go back to his natural position at second base, but Jason Place, who'd been hitting cleanup nearly every day this spring, was moved up to the No. 2 slot in the order to start the second half with Navarro batting No. 4.

Add to Navarro the three South Atlantic League All-Stars Tim Federowicz, Anthony Rizzo and David Mailman, who joined the team after the break, and Epperson said the team has a new feel in the dugout.

"It wasn't overconfidence, it was a nice easy swagger," Epperson said.