Euphoric and Ecstatic

Lenny DiNardo:

I'm ecstatic right now, more for the 'W' than anything else. I felt my stuff was getting better throughout the game. I was just trying to put the ball in play and give it to the defense and let them take over.

Terry Francona:

As the game progressed, he got a little more comfortable. It probably helped that when he got into the flow of the game, the ball started sinking a little better. I thought he did a good job -- five innings and keeping us right in the game is what we needed today.

Kevin Youkilis:

I saw [Seattle second baseman Jose Lopez] dive. At that point, you have to just bury your head and go. If you watch the ball and try and track it, it might slow you down. Once I got a foot from the bag, I knew I was safe. But you never know how they're going to call it.

Mark Loretta:

I figured even a double may score Youk in that situation with the right bounce. Eddie's a guy that comes right at you. I had a pinch hit [at-bat] off him a couple days ago where I probably saw six or seven pitches. I think that really helped me today because I hadn't faced him in a quite a while.

David Ortiz:

I'm just glad that somebody else could do the job, so it doesn't have to be me all the time.

Loretta:

I did think about [taking off his batting helmet to decrease the chances of a headache] rounding the bases but having it be my first time, I felt I wanted the entire experience.

DiNardo:

I did get some tears in my eyes and I can't say that happens very often.

Loretta:

It was euphoric. What's struck me about Fenway was there wasn't any drop-off [in excitement] from Opening Day to the next day to the next day to the next. I've played in a lot of places where we'd have 55,000 people Opening Day and have about 8,000 the next day. If anything, the intensity here just continues to build. That's what people told me it was going to be like but until you experience it, you have no idea.

Dave Loretta (Mark's father):

I've been here six games now, I gotta tell you this is a totally different feel. This is really the major, major leagues. Red Sox Nation, you can't describe it. It's one thing to say 'Red Sox Nation' as a term, but it's another thing to just feel the vibrancy, the energy this whole thing has. ... Oh my God, this was one of the greatest events of my life.

Youkilis:

That's what we live for in this game, to see walkoff home runs and walkoff hits. That's what we live for, when dire times come and guys answer it.

Jason Varitek was obviously hobbling on the basepaths yesterday, but he says it's nothing more than a pain in the ass.

Jonathan Papelbon is looking for suggestions for a new "entrance theme". The Herald has set up an email address: sportspoll@bostonherald.com. It won't happen, but I'd like to see a closer forget about death metal and pick some wimpy pop tune -- Barry Manilow, maybe (he did write a song called "Weekend In New England"). Hearing something like that blasting through the PA might really distract the hitter.