08:07 AM EDT on Thursday, July 15, 2004

PAWTUCKET -- Hey, Sacramento. Good luck next year.

In fact, all of future All-Star game cities have a tough job ahead because the Pawtucket Red Sox set a new standard for Triple-A baseball in a big way this week. They dropped the gloves, didn't pull any punches, and hosted one heck of a party.

Pawtucket, its All-Star committee and the state of Rhode Island wanted to raise the bar on this event, but it even went higher and farther than one of the home-run derby winner Bucky Jacobsen's moon shots out of McCoy Stadium.

There shouldn't even be another Triple-A All-Star Game.

That's right. Cancel all future midsummer classics because there's no way another organization can duplicate what the Pawtucket Red Sox have given to the fans this week.

The Memphis Red Birds of the Pacific Coast League hosted last year's event and, while it was spectacular in its own sense, it cannot compare with what the PawSox pulled off.

From the Celebrity Monday to the Baseball Block Party and WaterFire, to last night's All-Star Game, the PawSox hosted a first-class event. In fact, anyone you talk to had nothing but good things to say about it. Players, out-of-towners and local fans have been talking about this All-Star Game for three years and the PawSox didn't disappoint. Hey, Sacramento. Good luck.

For years the PawSox brass have traveled around the country to other All-Star games, taking notes and getting ideas. Each city has a signature event. Memphis had a Blues theme to most of their events, and a few years ago Norfolk's gala took place on an aircraft carrier. In Scranton in 1996, people were taken into a coal mine.

This week, however, the PawSox combined everything great about Rhode Island and treated the masses to a New England-style festival like no other. From the "chowda" and clam cakes, lobster, shrimp to a fabulous old-time baseball experience.

Even though the weather wasn't great, it didn't dampen the spirit. Obviously, Mother Nature isn't a baseball fan.

All the planning and the headaches were definitely worth it for the All-Star committee.

Hey, Sacramento. Good luck.

The opening ceremonies at McCoy Stadium last night blew last year's away. From the cannon fire to the tremendous job by trumpeter Richard Price playing the the national anthem, things started with a bang.

The festivities didn't conclude with the game, either. They continued at the Westin hotel in downtown Providence.

As PawSox assistant general manager Daryl Jasper put it yesterday, "It's like planning a three-day wedding, and we're going to spend the rest of the season writing thank-you cards."