A POWERFUL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM

October 29, 2007 ... The joyous sounds rolled down, if not from the snow-capped mountains themselves, then from the grandstands shorn of purple, as if a long velvet rope had been extended from one dugout to the other and only those wearing red were allowed inside.

Not a word of it, of course, meant anything to the smiling Japanese lady and her husband, the man wearing a full-length parka painted with a big Sox logo, who were standing quietly among the milling celebrants scattered across the patch of green where just a short time earlier, Jonathan Papelbon had flung his glove skyward, the starter's gun to a night of revelry that nearly 2,000 miles away was being duplicated on city blocks, town squares, and village greens throughout New England.

While Daisuke Matsuzaka, his hair glistening from champagne and a towel draped over his shoulders, raised his arms in salute to the fans calling his name, and posed happily for pictures with the Japanese reporters who had traveled in lockstep with him from the day he signed with the Sox last December, his mother, Yumiko, spoke softly to translator Masa Hoshino.

The "B" on the cap glittered with rhinestones was Marie Mirabelli's idea, and the T-shirts, the ones that sparkled with "Red Sox World Champs," those were Shonda Schilling's inspiration.

It was Tim Wakefield who had said, days before, that maybe there was a reason for him being hurt and unable to go. Maybe, he had said, it was Jonny Lester's turn to shine.

This time, Terry Francona had vowed to himself, he would remember to turn on the inner camera. Behind Francona, Coco Crisp and nearly a dozen family members and friends struck a pose, Crisp's billowing Afro resembling a halo around the World Series trophy he clutched to his chest. Bobby Kielty once was known for a carrot top that evoked comparisons to Ronald McDonald. Now he will be revered in Boston for a home run that was 2007's answer to Dave Roberts's stolen base.

When it was over, pinch hitter Seth Smith vaporized by one last fastball from Papelbon, the three Sox owners, principal owner John W. Henry, chairman Tom Werner, and CEO Larry Lucchino, shared what Lucchino described as a "group hug" in the front row just above the visitors' dugout.

Winning a World Series, their second in four seasons, can have a healing effect. Theo Epstein was recalling that horrible late-summer day a year ago when the Sox received the diagnosis of anaplastic large-cell lymphoma, a rare blood cancer, for Jon Lester, then 22 years old. Francona said he had deliberately downplayed that part of the Lester story. But now, after seeing Lester with his mom Kathie and dad John, standing on the field, the bond of love etched on all three faces.

As a bleary-eyed city adjusted to its baseball club's championship habit, it was all Red Sox all the time yesterday. At Logan Airport, world-weary cargo employees openly shrieked upon the players' arrival. Around Fenway Park, hundreds upon hundreds of fans filled souvenir shops and snapped up championship memorabilia. In staid Back Bay, businesses along Boylston Street prepared for the onslaught of the parade.

On Yawkey Way, well more than a thousand fans gathered to catch a glimpse of their returning heroes and the glittering World Series trophy. While they waited for the buses to arrive they chanted "Let's Go Red Sox," sang "Sweet Caroline", and bounced around beach balls as if it were the bleachers. Many fans said that while 2004 erased years of frustration, this championship was every bit as sweet.

The Sox did not rush home after winning the World Series here Sunday night. They lingered long into the morning with their traveling band of fans swaddled in team garb and took a leisurely flight home to the sports Hub of the Universe after catching a few winks at the Westin Taber Center in downtown Denver. They'll sleep in their own beds tonight, and today the world will see Jonathan Papelbon's Riverdance at City Hall Plaza.

City officials declined to estimate how many spectators are expected, but if past "rolling rallies" for the Red Sox and New England Patriots are any indication, hundreds of thousand of fans, from suburban families with schoolchildren to downtown office workers will descend on the city.