On Friday night, Citizens Bank Park turned into a wonderland for a special group of Philadelphia-area children, who were able to turn from hospital patients into Major Leaguers for a sleepover in the Phillies' clubhouse.
The children, all being treated for serious illnesses, had the rigors of that routine wiped off their faces by wide smiles as they filed into the clubhouse in the early evening, accompanied by their parents and lugging sleeping bags and duffel bags of baseball equipment.
Each youngster had an assigned balloons-bedecked locker, and a reedy teen broke into a grin as he entered the room and, with glee, immediately pointed to the nameplate "Marcus Quattlebaum" above a locker.