I was there as well. Pavilion SRO, right above the first base side next to the press box. Buchholz was getting hit around and the Sox couldn't hit their way out of a paper bag. I was upset because not only were they losing but I was also putting off a shit ton of work to go to this game, thereby making the rest of my week quite stressful. So I wasn't a happy camper. After the Sox were retired in the 7th I decided to take a walk to collect myself and try to enjoy the rest of the game, as shitty as it was. I ended up in Pavilion SRO in the exact opposite section of where I originally was, over on the third base side. Middlebrooks ripped the double and I started to think "just make it interesting, score a couple runs."
Once the order turned over, my thoughts quickly turned to "just give Papi a chance to tie it." Because even in those rare situations where he doesn't come through, the atmosphere in Fenway when Ortiz has a chance to tie the game or give the Sox the lead late is electric. After Pedroia ripped the single to right field, you could feel the entire crowd thinking the same thing. The whole park was tense with anticipation throughout the pitching change. I was geared up for a long battle between Ortiz and Benoit, so I was a little surprised when he swung at the first pitch.
Right off the bat I could tell it was arguably the hardest hit ball I've ever seen. But from my angle (pretty much exactly the view at 1:33 in the video clip below), it didn't look like it had nearly enough height. I thought it was headed more towards the triangle at first. But then it curved, and it carried and Torii Hunter was right there, and I could just barely make out the ball drop neatly beside him as he flipped into the bullpen.
Everyone went batshit insane. I was running around in circles at the top of the concourse high fiving everyone I could reach and hugging all of the other guys in SRO I had just met minutes before. I think that was the most amazing part of the whole thing. Everyone was expecting Ortiz to do it (hell I was hoping for it from the moment we got multiple baserunners that inning) and he went out there and did it.
I was 11 years old in 2004 when Papi made me a baseball fan and a Sox fan with his heroics. To be standing there at Fenway, nearly 10 years later, watching him continue to do insane things in October was so surreal. If he doesn't get a statue, a number retirement, and a HOF induction....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YSFMimAI3Q&t=93s