Manny's 500th! at Fenway South

This post will have absolutely nothing to do with knitting :) and only a passing reference to butt watch 2008 :) :).
I was there!!!! I had no idea when I got tickets back in February that I might see Manny's 500th. Friends and their kids drove down from Arlington MA which took them all day yesterday. We drove into Baltimore at 5 PM from my place (a half hour south of Balmer), to snag parking and that worked well (we were across the street from Camden Yard for $20). My friends who'd never been to Balmer (which I just learned is called Fenway South) were totally amazed to see the streets of Balmer absolutely jammed with Sox fans - and this was 2 hours before game time. There were thousands - and for blocks around Camden Yard they filled the sidewalks. We had been worried all week about the weather forecast as thunderstorms were predicted initially for Sat. night. As we got closer to Sat. they moved the prediction for the storms to the afternoon. They were over by mid afternoon.
Anyway, Manny started out seeming to lack focus. You could feel that he seemed wound up. But after Ortiz's sacrifice fly sent Ellsbury home, the Orioles huddled, then swapped out pitchers. Manny had a couple of minutes to collect himself while the Orioles stood around strategizing. I was watching Manny through my binoculars (which I had brought to the game to engage in some butt watching). He looked very calm, and I told myself he was going to hit the first ball, and it'll be a homerun. It happened! The stadium went nuts. We were all hugging one another. After hugging everyone I knew, I turned to the women behind me- who I didn't know-, and said - this feels like church when you greet everyone around you, and shake hands - which we did enthusiastically. It was so worth it for my friends and their kids to drive all the way down from Massachusetts and back in a weekend. I was soooo happy to be there cuz I love Manny!
Here's the video at MLB.com