It's definitely not a good feeling, but you can't dwell on it. Just get better because of it and make another run at it next year.

It was a very good series and a great Game 7 of the ALCS. We're going to keep our heads high, after battling back the way we did and giving ourselves a shot to win it tonight. We played hard. Just fell a little short tonight to the Rays.

Even when Jed Lowrie is up with two outs in the ninth and we're down by a couple, everyone still felt like we had a shot. Anything could have happened. He could have hit a home run, could have got on base. We were in the game and gave ourselves an opportunity to win, and that's all you can do.

We played with a lot of heart. We have nothing to hang our heads about at all. A lot of guys did a tremendous job as a team to get to this point.

Now that it's over, I'll let the body recover a little bit and go in the offseason and work hard, and build on it and just get better. I know I can get a lot better. This was my first full season, going through all of it. I'll take a lot of the knowledge I gained this year and take it into this offseason, this Spring Training and into the regular season next year.

Last year was such a whirlwind for me and it ended so well. Now I know what it takes to go through a full season and go through the ups and downs.

As a team, we played very well all year, even with all the injuries we had. Hopefully we can build on this for next year.

Coming into this game, we felt confident. Half the battle was just believing in the first place that we could come back from 3-1, that we still had a shot.

We did it again tonight, just like in Game 5, though it didn't have to be quite so dramatic this time.

It's a lot nicer to play like this than to have to come back from 7-0 down in the bottom of the seventh inning. You never know what can happen, but it is nice to have the lead going to the latter part of the game.

You have to love what Josh Beckett did for us tonight. He was tremendous. He only gave up four hits against a team that has been swinging the bats great. He gave us exactly what we needed and kept us in the ballgame. He's obviously not 100 percent right now, but every person on this team still believes in him and still has confidence when he takes the ball.

The one thing about Josh is that you always know he'll give us everything he has, and that's all you can really ask for.

It was also great to see Jason Varitek get that big home run. Sure, he was in a slump, but he keeps on grinding out his at-bats and he got a reward there. When you're a good hitter, that's going to happen, so it was nice to see him roll again.

We got the feeling of what it's like to play in Game 7 last year. Everything is on the table. It's win or go home. I guess it's been like that for us the last few games, but now it's that way for both teams. It's going to be another great atmosphere tomorrow.

Obviously we like having Jon Lester out there in Game 7. He's pitched very well for us all year. I can't wait for Sunday night to get here.

If ever there was a testament to what can happen when guys just go out there and battle and compete, no matter what the score, this was it. You always hear about how it's not over until it's over, and then you see something like this to believe it.

We were just grinding out at-bats and playing solid defense, because you never know what's going to happen. This was a perfect example of that.

We kept on saying in our dugout, "It's not over. Even until the last out, you have to always remember that it's never over. I remember earlier this year we scored eight runs in an inning. I think I got us going that time with a double. That's the thing, you just never know.

Each pitch, each at-bat, each out, you've got to stay at it, and we did. The crowd got into it and so did we. It was exciting for anyone who was here. It was exciting for the players, it was exciting for the fans. You definitely feel the energy in the dugout when the place is rocking like that, and it kind of gets you going. The fans could see how much we were trying to grind it out.

I think after the seventh inning, when we got four runs and David Ortiz hits the three-run homer, everyone all of a sudden really felt like we could win the game. All of a sudden we're in striking distance. That gave us some life.

Once Kevin Youkilis came across to score the winning run on J.D.'s hit in the ninth, the feeling is just one of, "We live for another day."

That's all we can do is just get on that plane and go to Tampa and force a Game 6. We accomplished what we wanted to today.

This is just huge. It gives us a lot of momentum going into Tropicana Field. This is an exciting win, very exciting and fun to be a part of. It's something we'll never forget.

We're down 3-1, but our spirits are high. We've been in this situation before, just last year. We just know that we have to go out there and play our game and if we do that, this team is capable of winning three in a row.

I was out of the lineup for Game 4, and I found out about it the day before right after the game. I was ready to go if they needed me. Even if it was the ninth inning and two outs, or any other point of the game, I was ready to go. Unfortunately, the game kind of got out of hand on us.

Like I said after Game 3, I'm in a slump, but I feel like I'm close to coming out of it. But it's their decision to make. My job is to be ready to go every day and be prepared whether I'm in the starting lineup or I'm coming off the bench. That's the manager's decision.

I'm not sure if I'm starting in Game 5. I know they have the lefty going in Scott Kazmir. Maybe I'll find out later today or tomorrow. We'll see.

I know last year we had the opposite thing happen, and I came in for Coco Crisp in the ALCS. Why not? Coco has been swinging well so, like I said, it's their decision, and I'll be ready to go either way.

The season is not over yet. It's not over. We're still in this thing and we have a great opportunity. That's how we look at it. We're very positive. It's a must-win now but you have to stay relaxed. It's just exactly what we did last year. Stay relaxed and have confidence.

I don't see why we should change our approach now. It worked last year. The day off was nice, but nobody on this team would have minded if we got right back out there today.

We're looking forward to Game 5 and hopefully we'll be able to take that flight back to St. Petersburg.

Tough loss, obviously, and a lot of people want to know about my slump.

I thought I took some good swings at balls today and unfortunately got them in the air, so I'm still hitless in the series. I guess that's the way it goes sometimes. You hope it doesn't happen in the postseason. We just didn't get the big hit tonight.

Matt Garza pitched great for those guys. He seemed to have his location going, he was ahead in the count, made some big pitches when he needed to when we had runners on base.

I'm just not getting hits. Tonight, I felt like I swung the bat well. Am I frustrated? Not when I put good swings on the ball. That's the nature of the game. If you're rolling over and hitting little doinkers, that's another thing.

In that one rally we had in the seventh, I was up and we had first and third with one out. I was facing J.P. Howell, a tough lefty. I hit a line drive to right for the sacrifice fly, but I was disappointed a little because I just missed it. It would have been a home run if I would have got it.

You can't be too disappointed when you drive in a run, but at the same time, I just missed it. Man, I just, just missed it. That was kind of how the night went. If I get that, it's a 5-3 game.

It's a seven-game series. If you start to get down now, that's not good. It's a seven-game series, not a best-of-three. If we win tomorrow, then it's a best-of-three after that, which is what we're trying to do.

You can't force the ball to go somewhere. All you can do is swing the bat the best you can. That's when you get in trouble, when you start forcing things.

I swung the bat well in the American League Division Series and it's only been three games in this series. That's how you have to look at it from a player's standpoint.

You just have to keep reminding yourself, "It's three games." We're not worried about it. We lost two games in the regular season before and came back and got hot. There's no sense in getting down now. We're ready to go for Game 4. We have a good, positive attitude.
 
We've got Andy Sonnanstine in Game 4. I haven't looked at the film yet. I'll be here early tomorrow to look at it and have a game plan for him then.

Our spirits are still high. Quality teams bounce back. Our heads are high and we're ready to go tomorrow.

It definitely would have been nice to come out of here up 2-0. It's just unfortunate we couldn't get this one tonight, but we're already thinking about Game 3.

This one was a long, exhausting game. The way it started off, you thought it would be high scoring the whole night. The ball was just flying out of the park.

But it got tight at the end and it was hard for either team to do much. Relief pitching did a great job.

It was nice to get on Scott Kazmir early, but it was just one of those games. It just didn't quite go our way. We'll be ready to get the win on Monday night.

I had that one at-bat earlier in the game where I tried to bunt the ball and it slammed me in the helmet. That could have been bad if you wear it in the face or the nose or the eye. It gave me a headache, but it could have been worse. I'm fine now.

Everyone wanted to know what happened with Josh Beckett tonight, but it's hard for me to tell from right field. When I'm in center field, I have a little bit better read on where the pitches are missing, or if they are. He'll pitch again and I'm sure he'll pitch well, so we're not worried.

We have Jon Lester going in the next game and he's been throwing so great, so we have that to look forward to.

The one thing we do on this team is shake off a tough loss. We'll get on that plane and forget about the game. Short-term memory is key.

We took the first game on the road, just like we did in Anaheim, but there's no letdown. We have Josh Beckett going in Game 2, so we like our chances. But there's no coasting, by any means. Full throttle from here on out.

As for this win, it was very big. Both pitchers, both staffs, did a very good job tonight. Dice-K did a nice job of getting out of some jams.

I don't know how Dice-K keeps doing this. He gets in those jams and finds a way to get out. He makes all the pitches he needs to. It says a lot about his composure, and keeping his cool and executing his pitches.

Standing out there in center field and watching those rallies unfold -- especially in games like these -- it's huge when they get a leadoff runner on, or two runners on, with no outs and he comes away with a zero on the board. It gives us a lot of confidence in him knowing that if we can put some runs across, we have a very good shot of winning.

What can you say about their guy, James Shields? He was very good tonight. We got that one run across and didn't get that second run -- that RBI double from Youk --- until he was out of the game.

Another huge point in the game tonight is when Justin Masterson came in with two on and one out and Evan Longoria at the plate. It's the eighth inning and we're only up by two runs. We all know how dangerous Longoria is. They had some momentum going. And Justin gets him to hit into a double play. That killed their crowd and their momentum in the game. It was huge.

But you knew tonight, the way this was going, it was going to be a low-scoring game. I think it's big. Tomorrow is another big game, so it would be nice to come out of here with two wins and get back home. It's very satisfying to get that first one, especially with the few amount of hits that were in this game.

We're ready to go. You get the days off in between, but to us, that really doesn't matter. We're excited just to be moving on to the American League Championship Series. It's tough enough to get here. It was a tremendous series against the Angels, but now we're focused and ready to go for this one.

We had a workout today at Tropicana Field, and we're just trying to stay in rhythm. You're not going to change any of your routines or anything. Get whatever necessary work you need in. Stick to the same schedule. That's the biggest thing.

Playing the Rays in the ALCS, I think you just have to realize that whatever series you play in, pitching and defense is going to be the biggest difference. Timely hitting, that will be another key to this series.

We had a tough time at Tropicana Field this year, losing eight out of nine. While the season is going on, you don't really think about that stuff. So I don't really know what we've done differently here or haven't done differently in this park. We'll stick to our game plan and stick to our approach and have quality at-bats, playing solid defense and coming with a lot of energy. This is do or die. If you lose, you go home. You win, you go to the World Series.

You have to respect what the Rays have done this year. Their bullpen has been solid all year. Their starting pitching has been great, and they've played great defense. And that's why they're here.

As for our team, we've got a lot of confidence. It's a different guy every night. We don't have to rely on one person to carry the team. I think that's what has made us strong. Any given night, it could be someone different. But everyone through the line contributes. Everybody has a role and they execute it.

I feel confident. My body feels good. I'm excited for the ALCS. It's a great opportunity. We're looking for one win at a time, but we're one series from the World Series. So it's one game at a time -- the old cliché!

That was playoff baseball tonight. Wow.

Jon Lester, what can you say? He's been tremendous all year. He's done everything we've asked him to do and he gave us a shot to win tonight. The lead disappeared in the eighth, but not for long.

This is just a great feeling to get a walk-off win in the ninth. Jed Lowrie, a rookie, gets the game-winning hit. As a fellow young guy, I'm so happy for him. He works his tail off and comes to the yard prepared every single day. He deserves it. He's had a tremendous year.

I can tell you, nobody wanted to get on that flight and go back to Anaheim. Coming to the yard, we wanted to get this done tonight and did everything in our power and finally did it.

Watching that squeeze play from center field, I was afraid the umpires were going to overturn it after it came out of Jason Varitek's glove. Fortunately, 'Tek had the tag before the ball popped out, but there's no way I can see that from where I am. It caught a lot of people off guard when they squeezed, but that was just a huge out right there. That changed the whole ninth inning for us.

That's what they wanted to do, try to catch us off guard. But fortunately for us, it worked out.

We had a lot of guys on this team contribute all year for us, and that's a great feeling. This game was like our season -- it didn't come easy, but we got it done. We've filled holes, we've had injuries, but guys have just done a tremendous job to stay with it, to battle, and it's nice to move on.

It wasn't easy getting to this point. The Angels, we knew they weren't going to give up. They won 100 games. And besides that, they just have too much pride. They were going to come out and battle, and that's what they did today.

We've seen the Rays 18 times already this year, and we're excited to see them again in the ALCS. We're excited to go down there and try to get to the World Series.

Tampa Bay had a tremendous year, but we're excited to go down there and take a shot at it.
We get a couple of days off now, and we'll be ready to go again on Friday night in Game 1 of the ALCS.

The best thing about an exhausting game like that is just to be able to come out on top. Emotions are running high. They come back and tie it up. J.D. Drew gets that huge home run to put us up in the top of the ninth and Kevin Youkilis makes a great catch to pull that foul ball out of the stands, and Pap finished it off.

It takes a lot out of you when you're tied after having that 5-1 lead early. We knew coming into the series that it was going to be like this -- that the games would be down to the last out. So even though they came back, it wasn't surprising for us.

Even when we're up early, our only objective is just to add to the lead. We knew 5-1 might not hold the way they execute and with the hitters they have in their lineup.

I thought Dice-K did what he had to do tonight -- he got to Oki, who had a big inning and then Masterson came in and did a tremendous job. Our bullpen showed a lot of guts. The Angels kept coming and our guys did a tremendous job once again. They've been solid. A game like that, you have to rely on them, and it was nice to see them come through.

What can you say about J.D.? Just a great job. He made that great catch and hit the homer. If not for that, we still might not be playing right now. It's nice to get on that plane up 2-0, but we still have a lot of work left.

When the Angels finally tied it and then we took the lead right back, it fired everyone on our team up and silenced their crowd. I'm sure it takes a little wind out of them. A playoff game like that, you get a one-out homer in the ninth of a tie game and of course we're going to be fired up.

It's definitely nice to have the 2-0 lead. We've done everything we could up to this point. But there's still a little baseball left.

Now we get to Fenway, but it's going to be a grind, just like these last two games.

We get Josh Beckett back for Game 3. We've put ourselves in good position. We need to come out just like we did in Game 1 and again tonight.

It's a long flight home tonight, but it's so much shorter after a win.