Boston Day 15 April

At 2:49 in the afternoon today, all of Boston went silent to mark the second anniversary of that awful time when the first of two bombs exploded to bring carnage and terror to the Boston Marathon, the Patriot's Day event that has long brought the city together. The Marathon is next week, but the anniversary is today, and we marked it at Fenway, during our at-least annual trip to the hallowed ground to see the Sox play the Washington Nationals on a truly gorgeous day at the old ballpark.

Boston Day silent moment

The fans and the players placed hats over hearts and faced the stadium flags, lowered to half-staff, as the announcer read the names of the victims killed by the lunatic perpetrators, one of them dead in a police shootout, the other just convicted of murder and awaiting sentencing. It was a somber moment during an otherwise splendid outing, marred, alas, by a less-than-stellar performance by the Red Sox pitching staff. The Sox batters plated five runs, which is often enough for a win... but not when the Nats managed to score ten runs. Oh well, as someone once said, even a bad day at the ballpark beats the best day at the office. Amen.