Team low-key as it flies high

As the Red Sox charter flight groaned to a temporary stop on the runway at Denver International Airport yesterday, the pilot got on the intercom and announced that they were third in line for departure.

A Sox player - perhaps the rambunctious Jonathan Papelbon - yelled out, "We're third in line? We should be first. We're champions."

Once the plane was in the air, first baseman Kevin Youkilis helped clear the air by disposing of a diaper quicker than the Red Sox dispatched the Rockies to win the 2007 World Series. Then he grabbed a pillow, lowered his designer sunglasses, and lied down across the floor of the bulkhead Row 18. He slept past the Mississippi River, until he was bopped on the head by a 2-year-old with an Elmo book.

The Sox had partied hard after winning their eighth straight World Series game Sunday night - Jason Varitek carried David Ortiz on his shoulders - but their flight home was more of a family affair.

The Sox entourage left a Denver hotel yesterday at 8:45 a.m., Mountain Time. Airport security personnel asked third baseman Mike Lowell to put his Series MVP trophy on the table before spreading his arms and legs for the metal detector.

On the plane, team captain Varitek waved his arms the way Tom Brady would to get a Gillette Stadium crowd to be quiet. He wanted his teammates to sit down so they could take off. The world champions wanted to get home.

There were so many children on the flight that Delta provided home plate-sized 64-ounce peanut butter jars. The grown-ups had a choice of fettuccine, steak, halibut, chicken, Reuben or Cuban sandwiches.

Daisuke Matsuzaka wore a T-shirt that said "Hope" and signed a jersey for rookie outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, who looked like an Ivy League student in a white shirt and glasses.

A relaxed Josh Beckett played with the kids. Manny Ramírez stretched out on some seats in back, his dreadlocks falling into the aisle from under his do-rag.

Sox owner John Henry, president Larry Lucchino, and chairman Tom Werner strolled the aisles like friendly camp counselors. They initially placed the World Series trophy in the first class cabin but shared it with players and staff. The trophy spent most of the 3 1/2-hour flight way in the back of the Delta 767.

Around a makeshift card table were Beckett, Ortiz, Varitek, Kyle Snyder, Manny Delcarmen, and Dustin Pedroia. There lots of cards - and even more money - lying around.

The players ignored the seat belt sign. Curt Schilling, a renowned poker player, played video games throughout much of the flight. His screen saver was already a Schilling family portrait shot on the mound of Coors Field Sunday night.

Jon Lester, the happiest young man on the face of the earth, strolled the aisles, the smile never leaving his face. Mike Timlin paraded around with a good-luck charm, a gremlin doll, and went through the aisles with his video camera. Pointing the lens toward the floor and a sleeping, stretched-out Youkilis, he kept the commentary brief. "There's our first baseman," he said.

Everyone ignored a Robin Williams movie and then a Harry Potter movie.

Julio Lugo read the papers, then napped on the shoulder of his wife, Sulky. He was glad for the sweep.

"I'm all beat up from baseball, but this is the greatest, especially coming from so many other teams," he said. "It's indescribable. I've been waiting for this so long. And I love the Boston fans. I appreciate that they stuck with me. They knew I was trying my best day in and day out. I was always hustling."

Tim Wakefield, one of the holdover players from the 2004 championship team, said, "It seems like they are different but they are similar. Both had good chemistry. But a lot of the 2004 team left soon after we won. I think this core will stick together."

Toward the end of the flight, the card game got larger and more serious. Who won?

"I don't know," said Papelbon.

"I don't know," said Big Papi, flashing that walkoff smile. "But I know I did pretty good, man. Real good."

Ortiz lugged the World Series trophy down the stairs of the plane. Lowell used the back stairs for deplaning with his trophy, as Massport employees applauded and posed with players for pictures. Ramírez got a ride from a Massachusetts state trooper on the tarmac. He tried to open the back door, which is reserved for bad guys. A trooper moved in quickly.

"No Manny, you can't go in the back," said the trooper, smiling and opening the front passenger door.

The team piled into buses. Police stopped traffic in the Ted Williams Tunnel and on the Southeast Expressway at 4:50 p.m. to let them pass. People climbed on cars on local streets and held up signs and cell phones. The turnout en route was less than it was in 2004 but the team got a standing ovation from some homeless souls on Melnea Cass Boulevard. On this day, they too were champions.