Fans erupt in joy after Sox comeback

From the bars and restaurants of Lansdowne Street to the luxury boxes atop Fenway Park - not to mention the legions watching on television - Red Sox Nation erupted in celebration of the team's World Series berth last night.

To contain the revelry, hundreds of Boston police officers, many in riot gear and armed with pepper spray, surrounded the ballpark determined to keep the celebration peaceful while avoiding a tragedy like the one that struck the 2004 league championship celebration when a fan was killed outside the park. There were at least 12 arrests last night, but police did not provide details.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis began the day with a call for restraint, announcing that no one would be allowed to enter or mull around Fenway Park after the start of the seventh inning.

At the Cask 'n Flagon pub on Brookline Avenue, patrons watched columns of officers march by, shoulder-to-shoulder, toward Kenmore Square. Some fans, lucky enough to be inside the park or in nearby nightspots before the streets were closed, snapped pictures of police in riot gear.

"I knew we were going to win," said Shannon Coldwell, who drove from Haverhill to see the game. She did not have tickets, but wanted to be near Fenway, so she settled for the glow of the stadium lights and the noise of the crowd on Lansdowne Street. "I just knew it," she said, cracking a giddy smile as the game came to a close.

Davis said police would use surveillance video around the ballpark and Kenmore Square. Many bars shut down following the sixth inning.

The measures were intended to head off the tragedy that struck following the Red Sox's 2004 playoff series win over the New York Yankees. Emerson College student Victoria Snelgrove died after being struck in the eye by a pellet from an officer's pepper-pellet gun. Fans had converged on the park following the game, which was played in New York.

Boston police banned the use of pepper-pellet weapons like the one that killed Snelgrove after the 2004 death. An independent commission blamed the 21-year-old student's death on poor planning and decisions by police.

Last night's game fell on the third anniversary of Snelgrove's death.

Menino, who immediately donned an American League Championship T-shirt in a luxury box after Coco Crisp caught a fly ball for the game's final out, said the city was well prepared for the celebration.

"This is great for the city," he said after the game. "We have put in a lot of planning."

Officers in fluorescent jackets lined up, 40-deep, on Boylston Street in the bottom of the eighth. More than a dozen police officers on horseback headed toward Lansdowne, preparing for the game's finale.

As the Sox expanded their lead to 11-2, World Series fever began to take hold.

"The Red Sox are the best team in baseball," said William MacKinnon, a Hudson, N.H., resident in the Cask 'n Flagon, as if he never had any doubt.

Officers ringed the field before the ninth inning, after the Red Sox exploded for 6 runs in the eighth, leaving the crowd at Fenway Park pulsating with anticipation.

Police remained in place, and about 20,000 fans stayed in their seats to watch the trophy presentations on the big screen and players celebrate on the field.

As the game ended, fans spread into the streets. Men exalted, hands high in the air, hugging and high-fiving anyone in sight. Women skipped and danced down the streets, chanting the names of their favorite players. As fans left the park, college students poured into the Lansdowne Street area, but police blocked their path. At Brookline Avenue and Riverway, fans briefly danced on cars before police ran them off shortly before 1 a.m.

"It just doesn't get any better than this," said Josh Smick, 26, Watertown. "This is incredible. I just can't describe it."

Amaury Santana, 36, of Boston, a native of the Dominican Republic, said his homeland was overjoyed at the Red Sox win because they have several players from there. "They are shaking in the Dominican."

Pam Fielding and her son Ethan, 7, won game seven tickets in a lottery a week ago. "We knew we'd be here," she said.

"We're out of our minds," she added, watching the celebration on TV from the stands. "Look, Papi's got his goggles on. It must be for the champagne."

Donovan Slack, Carol Beggy, and Peter Schworm of the Globe Staff and Correspondent Dan Muse contributed to this report.