The Greatest Place In The World

Fenway Pahk on Patriots Day!!!

Mark Loretta wanted to feel the whole celebration, even the fun-filled pounding that comes from teammates at the plate after a game-ending home run. Loretta hit a two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Boston Red Sox, saved by Kevin Youkilis' hustle, rallied past the Seattle Mariners 7-6 Monday in the annual Patriots Day game.

"I've never experienced it before at any level -- Little League, high school or college level," he said. "Just complete euphoria. You kind of have to take a step back and think `is the game really over?'"

Loretta's shot landed in the Monster Seats, where moments earlier many fans turned around to watch the women's leader of the Boston Marathon running through Kenmore Square.

Part of my thrill of this is being an old Fenway vet, having seen the likes of Yaz, Pudge Fisk, and El Tiante in their heyday, giving us our daily thrill. Remind me to tell you the one about Opening Day in '77!! Where me & Brotherman the Younger skipped school to sit in the bleachahs...

Nowhere else does this happen in America (well, maybe >cough!< Yankee Stadium). And today, as it's described by a player heretofore unexperienced with the Fenway atmosphere, like it was the World Series. Here it is, only April! Throw in the Marathon, and it's a bloomin' dream, where one moment you're in one place, and the next you're somewhere else entirely.

God, but I miss Boston in the Spring!!