He said, 'We’re not letting these guys shut us down.'" “I remember being on the phone with city hall officials, Mayor Menino,’’ Kennedy said. The city was on lockdown searching for the bombers. The Red Sox returned to Boston after their three-game series in Cleveland and this time, their buses were the only vehicles on the highway. Lucchino laughed at him, and then told them if that happened, he’d buy him a car. Gomes told his teammates he was not going to shave until after the World Series “so when the playoffs start, this thing is going to look majestic.’’ Dustin Pedroia told Red Sox president Larry Lucchino before they played a single spring-training game that the team was going to go all of the way. The truth is the Red Sox, a team mostly filled with veterans on short-term contracts, were talking about the World Series back in spring training. “We’re supposed to be these heroes that play for the Red Sox, and we’re leaving. Then, you see all of these firetrucks, ambulances, police cars all pouring into the city from the other side of the freeway. “I remember we thought there was an electric transformer explosion,’’ Gomes said, “and then you start seeing these gruesome photos, blood all over the place, body parts all over. They had no idea what happened until they were on the bus and started seeing the horrifying images on their cell phones. The first bomb went off at 2:49 p.m., 39 minutes after their game ended. The Red Sox just finished playing their early baseball game that day, winning 3-2 over Tampa Bay on Mike Napoli’s walk-off double, They quickly showered, trying to beat the traffic, and boarded the bus headed to Logan Airport for Cleveland. This whole region was robbed of that innocence. “Patriots Day is so important in the ethos of New Englanders, with kids not having school, the Marathon, our Patriots Day Game. “With all respect to the different championship teams,’’ said Red Sox president Sam Kennedy, who was born and raised in Boston, “that team is the most important team in our time here given the magnitude of what happened here at the finish line. The Red Sox have won four World Series titles in the last 20 years, including the 2004 World Series that broke their 86-year curse, but none will ever have the impact of that 2013 season. “I’m not sure it’s a celebration, but a remembrance.’’ “We are going to be celebrating a World Series championship season, but at the same time, there’s a very sobering event that happened. “It’s something that will stay with me, for all of us, forever,’’ Jonny Gomes, one of the leaders of that World Series team told USA TODAY Sports. It was the largest terrorist attack in America since 9/11. It was 10 years ago on Patriots Day, April 15, 2013, that two bombs went off, 14 seconds apart at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The Boston Red Sox are celebrating the 10-year anniversary of their improbable 2013 World Series championship, but the reality is that baseball will only be the backdrop, with everyone recognizing just what their achievement meant to a shaken community. They will be standing alongside one another at Fenway Park on Sunday, basking in the glory of their triumph on a baseball field, but also fighting back tears and the raw emotions of that horrific afternoon still searing their souls. Watch Video: Jazz Chisholm explains why MLB needs to let players be themselves
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