Matt Barton was preparing for a rough night.

Barton, 36, owner of the Thirsty Mule Sports Bar in Oakland, drove down to Boston on Wednesday afternoon, hoping to buy a ticket to Game 6 of the World Series in Boston. Barton and a friend made a similar trip for Game 2, spending $300 on right field seats. But the duo couldn’t strike gold twice, as tickets for the Wednesday night game skyrocketed to $1,000 minimums.

“It was a crazy scene,” Barton said, adding that his budget was $600 for any spot inside Fenway. “We spent two-and-a-half hours looking for tickets, but the scalpers were trying to make big bucks.”

After getting into Fenway failed, Barton and friends tried to go to one of the popular sports bars surrounding Fenway, but each had hundreds of people in line with the same idea. Instead, Barton drove back to Maine and watched the game at a sports bar in Portland. While it was still a relatively late night, Barton was ready for an even rougher one.

“I was planning on sleeping in the car in Boston,” he said.

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Barton was among many central Mainers who stayed awake for the final outs and ensuing celebration of the Red Sox’ third World Series championship in 10 years. Most Red Sox fans weren’t missing the opportunity of seeing the first championship in the friendly confines of Fenway Park in favor a couple hours of sleep. The last time the Red Sox clinched the series in Boston was in 1918. The game itself was over about 11:30 p.m., but someone who wanted to take in the entire post-game celebration would have had to stick around until well after midnight.

No matter how late the game was going to go, nothing was going to stop the Smiths from staying up to watch the Sox clinch the World Series — not even their 6 a.m. alarm the next day.

David Smith, 61, and his wife, Doris, 60, are lifelong Red Sox fans. They have been to at least 10 games this season, including Game 6 of the American League Championship Series and Game 2 of the World Series.

Smith, who is a branch manager at Raymond James Financial Services, and his wife, who is his office manager, were two of many who stayed up late to watch the Red Sox clinch their first World Series championship at Fenway Park in 95 years. Despite the tired eyes, many Red Sox fans also slapped on wide smiles to accompany them into work Thursday morning.

“I’ve enjoyed this season so much,” Smith said. “This team has been totally incredible. All year long this has been a fun team to watch.”

The Smiths contrasted the enthusiasm this year’s squad exhibited compared with last year’s team, which lost more games than any Red Sox team in more than 40 years and looked as uninspired as baseball players can look. Combine that with the powerful “Boston Strong” movement, which was born out of the tragedy of the Boston Marathon bombings in April and was used as a rallying cry with the Red Sox throughout the season, and New Englanders had more than enough reasons to stay awake until the very end.

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“This season was really special to me, especially with everything that happened with the marathon,” Doris Smith said.

Game 6 itself didn’t live up to the dramatics of the previous contests, as the Red Sox jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third inning before adding another three runs in the fourth. Lights-out pitching by the Red Sox down the stretch completed the victory, as the entire team came together in a victory mosh pit near the pitcher’s mound. After the trophies were handed out — the World Series title to the management and owners, the World Series MVP to David Ortiz — the players traded their baseball hats and batting gloves for safety helmets and ski goggles and proceeded to spray each other in beer and champagne.

Other fans attempted to stay awake through the game and celebration, but an early lead by the Red Sox and great pitching by John Lackey calmed even the most nervous of Sox fans to the point that some managed to get some shut-eye.

“I shut the television off a little after it was 6-0 and went to sleep,” said Renee Raymond, business manager at Champions Fitness Club. While she slept, she said, her husband, Gary, who works for Central Maine Power Co., stayed up for the final out despite his 5 a.m. wakeup. When asked whether he was tired this morning, Raymond laughed it off.

“I don’t know. I was still sleeping,” she said.

Jeremy Bingham, who works at Cumberland Farms in Waterville, also tried to stay up until the end, but his 5 a.m. wake-up call won out.

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“I made it to the fifth inning before I had to go to bed,” said Bingham, 28. “It didn’t make it any easier getting up this morning.”

Despite the late night and early morning for some Red Sox fans, the joy of another World Series championship is enough to stay upbeat.

“Sometimes sports has the ability to make people smile,” Smith said. “I certainly didn’t expect anything like this.”

Jesse Scardina — 861-9239jscardina@centralmaine.com

 


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