Beautiful day in Boston. Sunny areas were perfect, shade was only slightly chilly, and the enclosed areas (third base deck) were borderline sweatbox.

My ticket was for bleachers, but of course I got right down by the Sox dugout for a better view of the ceremony...only to see them setting it up by third base. But I stayed where I was for the head-on shots.

Joe Castiglione was psyched to host the day.

The recently re-done Citgo sign, which is back on again at night after a little while off.

Lowell honored on the Monster.

The set-up. The sun-shade thing was a little difficult to work with, photography-wise.

These kids did the anthem, and then an ill-advised version of Iron Man (which would have been cooler in pre-The Osbournes America, but only a little). (That was the one thing that was a little off about the festivities--overall the whole thing was great. I just don't want to be confused with the Boston sports media who look at everything the team does and says, This was stupid, that was stupid, you "fanboys" (who pay our bills) are stupid, etc.) And I was right behind that woman with the field on her head.

Mike Lowell comes out onto the field.

Mike is greeted by Tito, his parents, wife, and kids.

Mike, Tito, Larry, Dad.

Alex Cora was there! Gotta love Cora.

Lowell and the kids.

A close-up of that field-head woman's jacket and bag-made-of-newspapers.

Josh Beckett presented Mike with third base.

They also gave him a grandstand seat with 25 on it.

Mike at the electronic device which shares his name. He kind of didn't know what to say in overwhelmance (overwhelmity? mired in whelmage? what the fuck is whelm?), but thanked us. I liked how when he acknowledged his minor league coach in the Yankee dugout, he said he hoped their team won the silver medal in that day's games. (They ended up with one silver and one gold.)

They had the senior Mr. Lowell throw out the first ball to Mike, to invoke father-son catch memories. (Why not mom, too?)

Wrapping up the 'mony.

Hugs all around. Many of the seats around me had filled up by this point. But I still had options had anyone come to my spot.

Alex Cora leaves the field.

Lowell on deck for his first AB.

He doubled! Of course...

He played first, not third. Wakefield started. It's hard to believe after all these years I'm still noting how after these years that I'm still saying how after all these years I'm still going to Fenway and seeing Wakefield make a start. He'll get his day in the sun, too. Pretty soon.

They had the plaques for the new Sox Hall members out. Here's Piersall and Valentin.

And here's Bruno's catch!

So Mike got pulled later in the game for a pinch-hitter. I had decided I was done with my last Fenway trip early on. 99% of the time when I go to a game, I stay for the whole game. On this day, I was there for Lowell. And I left mid-game, just wanting to get the hell out of Traffic Town, knowing full well that I could miss something unique and awesome. (Instead all I missed was the Yanks winning on a Jeter dribbler that apparently one cannot teach.) It was so weird--for a 4:10 game, I should be back in Providence around 8:30. I was. Yet I left in the fifth. And I watched the end of the game at home! Just a bizarre day all around. As the second game dragged on, I was doing other stuff, made 40 bucks betting 1 dollar on a fumble in the Florida game, watched SNL. I got an e-mail from my dad at 11:24 saying he's giving up on the Sox game and going to bed. I didn't watch any of it after that point either. Until...I was about to go to bed at 12:48. And I thought, Oh right, the game....gee I wonder who won....and I saw it was the to of the ninth! So I was back to the TV, and watched us win it in extra frames. I was kind of baffled as to why we were celebrating so hard. Bill Hall rounded home for chrissakes, to get out to where Patterson was. Then I thought, Well, this is payback for the Yanks over-celebration in that game where they scored the winning run against us on a walk. But still, these walk-off celebrations are getting to be more of a private joke among players rather than genuine excitement that they won.

I'll be happy if the Yanks don't get home field, but I'm not losin' sleep over the whole thing. Today determines it. They need a Rays loss and a win over us. Final game, 1:35.

Oh, and one more thing about the ceremony. I heard O'Brien and Castig going on and on about how classy the Yanks were. What else are they gonna do? Stand there with their backs turned??