The Arizona Diamondbacks won their Opening Day game over the San Francisco Giants in front of a sold out crowd at Chase Field. With the 5-4 win, the players and manager Kirk Gibson were right in good spirits after the game. Here is some of what was said in postgame interviews.
Kirk Gibson on the transition from spring training to the regular season:
"It's way different than managing a spring training game. There's a lot of excitement, a lot of fans. And your moods are just different, so I thought we just responded well to it."
"When we go through the end of spring training, we know they're looking forward to the season. There's 10 days left and you're trying to push them to push and they kind of look at you with crossed eyes. Like I said, our workouts before the games in spring training were great. They were exceptional. We played a clean game today. The guys did good and as far as making the right decision, getting one out there in the last inning and not try to get two and make a great play. There was definitely a different intensity tonight and it was a good baseball game."
On Chris Young's success at the number two spot in the lineup:
"Today it was good. It doesn't always work out that way, but it's one of the reasons I wanted him up there. He can hit the ball out of the park, he's got speed."
On Paul Goldschmidt's success against Tim Lincecum:
"I think he's 6/10 against him now (note: it is actually 6/11), three home runs and a double. Hopefully it continues. It's one of those things. There's probably no reason for it, but he got ahead there when he hit his home run. It was a 3-1 fastball and didn't miss it."
On Ian Kennedy's performance:
"Ian made a couple of mistakes, they jumped on him and tied it up there....I have great confidence in Ian. He;s a control pitcher. He moves the ball around. He knows what he is doing...He always keeps his composure. That's one of the reason I started him. He believes in himself and he knows how to regroup when it's time. He threw a good game and it's fitting he gets the win tonight."
On Tim Lincecum:
"What a competitor that kid is. He just has a way about him and he's hard to predict an he's always a challenge. I know he's done very well against us, and I think the last four games we've done well against him. He is as good a competitor as I know."
Paul Goldschmidt on his own success against Lincecum:
"I don't know. i was able to get a good hitter's count today and got a fastball to hit, and as with any pitcher, we try to get a good pitch to hit. It's only been a few with me, so hopefully I have a little more to come."
On the Opening Day excitement:
"There's definitely some excitement. It's Opening Day. It's exciting. It's fun. Everyone's ready to go and so it's nice to get out there and really leave relaxed and calm you nerves, and hold on for the win."
Ian Kennedy on his performance and the bullpen:
"I wasn't happy with my command. It wasn't the greatest. I feel like I was just really happy how I battled all the way through and it was a good team. Going and pitching into the seventh inning against these guys, it was really nice...I was happy I could pitch into the seventh and know I could pass the ball to Joe Pa (Joe Paterson), who is a great reliever. He just pounded the strike zone. Same thing with David (Hernandez). He did really good, and J.J. ...Our bullpen, I think it's one of the best."
Chris Young on where he hits in the lineup:
"With Gibby and just the type of team that we have, you just have to be ready to hit anywhere in the lineup because we have so many versatile guys...I wouldn't be surprised if I'm hitting second one day, hitting fifth the next day and leading off another day. So as long as you show up ready to go, they're really not going to catch you off guard."
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