5 Best Things About Being at the Game When the Red Sox Clinched a Playoff Berth

1. The Bee took 459 pictures from our spot in the 5th row. Seriously. 459. Hence his new nickname, Johnny Pap. (For paparazzi).

2. We made it on television . . . every time they used the right infield camera. Really! Yours truly is the blondie with the red jacket looking at, you know, not the game. (The scoreboard, presumably):

And here’s The Bee (short, spiked silver hair) chatting up the guy on his right:

Yeah, we know that has nothing to do with clinching a playoff spot. But wouldn’t you be excited if you were on television chewing gum and looking fatter than you really are? We thought so! (Kudos and invocations to the other half of Team Revision for the screen capture and a tape of the game!).

3. We passed on Gary Sheffield’s message to the Indians. Just kidding. Sorry, this had nothing to do with the wild card berth, either. However, we were close enough to Grady Sizemore to whisper in it in his ear. Well, more like shout it over four rows of people. But still.

4. The warm and fuzzy feeling that came over us, even though the air temp was a nippy 40-something degrees, when we realized that New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi is probably out of a job . . . was a Schadenfreude moment if there ever was one!

5. Alcohol. It started pre-game with reader Prospero’s absinthe at the Eastern Standard, which ensured that we’d see a good game no matter what. (Ah, we just had a couple of sips just to say we did. You could get trashed on that stuff in a hurry, though). It ended with a post-game martini at Sonsie. The champagne celebration after the win? Absolutely priceless. We avoided getting sprayed (just barely), but so much bubbly was flowing and/or being doused that we left inhaling that happy, happy scent.

Dustin Pedroia et al. in the midst of champagne antics; the MVP hopeful emptied that bottle over some lucky gal’s moments after this picture was taken. Glad it wasn’t us!