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Roger Mooney

Roger Mooney covers the Tampa Bay Rays for The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8. He has covered the Rays since their first season in 1998, including 11 years for the Bradenton Herald. Roger has also covered Florida, South Florida and Florida State football, the Bucs and the Lightning.

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Rays postgame reaction to clinching playoff berth

Posted Sep 29, 2010 by Roger Mooney

Updated Sep 29, 2010 at 12:44 AM

Here’s what the Rays were saying after Tuesday’s 5-0 win that clinched a playoff berth …

Manager Joe Maddon
On the feeling after the final out: “I told (Rafael Soriano) before the game he was going to be on the mound for the last out, I already told him that prior to it. And as it transpires, it’s like, for that moment, obviously you revel in that moment but what’s different his year is I’m already looking forward to the next moment. It gets to the point where you expect to be in the playoffs on a regular basis. I’m not saying it isn’t still magical but you’re a little more pragmatic in a sense the second time through. I’m exalted in that moment but immediately I’m already thinking about what happens next. We still have other goals in mind; to win the division, best record, and we go on from there.”

On the celebration on the field: “Everybody embraced each other. To be out there, you can see how sincere everyone is, how heartfelt it is. I felt good about that, it’s great.”

On if this time it was different from 2008: “The first time, it just kind of came out of nowhere in a sense. But now the guys expected it, there’s a lot more expectations.”

On if the celebration should have been more subdued: “You should always celebrate achievement, which we’re doing right now. It’s a long season and to accomplish this in our division two out of three years is pretty significant. Of course I’ll want them to have as much fun as possible, but we have to come back tomorrow, the game matters.”

David Price
On how clinching a playoff spot feels: “This is awesome. This is a good moment.”

On the final out: “That felt good. We’ve worked hard all year. We’ve had one common goal the entire year and everybody’s been on the same page. It’s been a lot of fun.”

On coming in to this game following his “tweet” last night: “That was definitely the biggest game I’ve ever pitched in I feel like. I felt like I needed to throw well for our team, throw well for our fans and throw well for the city of St. Pete. That was big for us. We came out and hit the ball well and we played good defense and it was a good game. I really thought I needed to throw nine. That was a nightmare. I knew if I didn’t throw well, I was going to be done. That was worse than Game 7, by far. Everything that led up to it was terrible. We want more fans here obviously. We love our fans that come; that’s not what I was saying last night, obviously, but that was a nightmare last night.”

On the solidarity of the team: “We gel on and off the field. I can hang out with anybody on this team at any given time. We have one common goal right now and that’s to win a World Championship and that’s awesome.

On why he thinks this team could win it all this year: “We never think we’re out of the game. We always think we’re going to win. Every game we play in, we think we’re going to win. That’s the feeling this team has had all year and it’s been good.

On how important homefield advantage is: “Everybody knows how well we play at home, so we want to open up here, that’s for sure. If I throw that first game, this is where I want to throw it.”

On how important a Cy Young award is for him: “Winning a World Series is first on my list by far. That other stuff can come later. Whatever happens with that happens, but I’m really not worried about that.”

Carl Crawford
On how it feels to make it back into the postseason: “Once we got three outs, it was time to celebrate and we’ve been waiting for this moment all year. To finally get it, it feels so good. This is a tough division, so whenever you can get to the playoffs, you know you earned it, but most importantly, the guys in the clubhouse worked to get to this point. We had goals in Spring Training and we were able to get to those goals, so it feels good.”

Carlos Pena“This is a family. It feels so good to come back to the playoffs. We’re not done. We know there’s a lot of work to do. We’re in it. We like our chances. Personally, I feel like I’ve grown with this ballclub. This is one of the moments I’ll never forget in my life. There’s a lot of chemistry. You can’t put a finger on it, but we have something special going on in that clubhouse.”

Rafael Soriano
“This win was one of the best things to happen to me in my career. It’s great getting to the playoffs.”

Reid Brignac
On making the postseason and being a part of this team: “It feels great to be a part of this team and be here all year. We still have some more celebrations to handle so that’s what we’ll be trying to do.”

Vice President of Baseball Andrew Friedman
On the clinching win: “A total team effort and something all of us can take great pleasure in.”

On the meaningfulness of 2010 as compared to 2008: “I think it’s always meaningful, especially in this division when you can be one of the top two teams in this division, it’s incredibly meaningful and something that’s extremely difficult to do and it’s a very special accomplishment for all of us.”

John Jaso
On improving from spring training: “Bobby Ramos and I put in a lot of work, a lot of early days in spring training, and it’s good to see hard work rewarded. A lot of these guys have put a lot of hard work, a lot of dues in the minor leagues, and it’s really great to see a lot of the young players on this team up here right now, and they’ve all contributed.”

On hitting leadoff as a catcher: “It takes a manager like Joe to put a catcher at leadoff, especially a guy as slow as I am sometimes. It’s awesome to feel like they have confidence in me to know that my bat might mean something to the game, and I’m very happy to be in the lineup.”

Dan Wheeler
On winning a playoff berth tonight: “This is what it’s about. Just playing this game and working so hard as everyone in this clubhouse does… We’ve still got a lot of work ahead of us, but we’re one of those eight teams, but the ultimate goal is to win the championship.”

Dan Johnson
On being called up from Durham late in the season: “It’s been a long road. I just kept a positive mind when I was down there (Durham), and I was focused on getting back. It was really my ultimate goal to get back and help this team in the stretch, and really do what we’re doing now.”

“We’re out there to win the East right now. That’s our next goal. Whatever happens from there, all we want to do now is win.”

Jeremy Hellickson
On winning a playoff berth: “This is what everybody has been working for the whole year, and I’m just glad I’m here and a part of it.”

On the confidence the Rays showed in him once he was called up: “It means a lot. I’m really happy I came out and threw well, and hopefully we can continue this through the playoffs.”

Evan Longoria
On the Rays clinching a playoff berth tonight: “This is where we expected to be. It doesn’t always go as planned, but to have it go as planned and be right here where we wanted to be the whole year, that right there feels as good as it gets.”

On the backlash from comments about the low home attendance: “Obviously everyone has their own opinion. The one thing I do want to say is for the fans that have been coming up year-round, we’re happy that they have been here. Just moving forward from all this and not looking back, we need to say thank you to the fans who have been year with us. The fans who have been here have been very supportive, and that’s the biggest thing for me is to just thank those people—and having everybody else jump on the bandwagon now and ride into the post-season.”

On moving ahead following tonight’s playoff berth clinching victory: “The attention now has to turn to now winning the division and trying to solidify having the best record.”

On who the Rays would prefer to play in the playoffs: “We’ve done a good job of going into every series and putting the same emphasis on every series. We played hard no matter who it was.”

Matt Joyce
On winning as a hometown player: “Coming from a kid that’s playing in his hometown, I think it means that much more. Cheering for these guys growing up, and now going to the playoffs playing for the Tampa Bay Rays is really special for me and it means a lot.”

On the confidence the Rays have shown in him): “I don’t think I’ve shown them too much just yet; I’ve got a left. I’m looking forward to playoffs and looking forward to having fun.”