Quotes from the Aftermath: Players on the World Series

The moods in the respective clubhouses were predictably different after last night’s game. Here are what eight players — three San Francisco Giants and five Detroit Tigers — had to say about the 2012 World Series:

Prince Fielder: “It’s definitely unfortunate that we lost, but we did everything that we could. We played hard. You can’t try harder. We battled, it just didn’t work out. Good pitching does that at times. We had some good at bats, it’s just that they made good pitches when they had to.”

Jeremy Affeldt: “I think this has been as good as you can ask for. This is a situation for Bochy and for Rags, and Sabes as a GM, where they should be very happy with how the starters have thrown. This is what good starters do in the playoffs.

“You can build an offense all you want — you can put up guys who can score 10 runs — but if you give up 11, you lose. You’ve got to have good pitching to go to the World Series”

Max Scherzer: “They pitched well. They outplayed us in every aspect of the game. They’re a great team, but I also feel like we didn’t play our best baseball as a team. Everybody in this clubhouse wishes they could have done something a little bit better — especially when you get swept like this, because we know we can compete with anybody. Getting outplayed like this leaves us with a bad taste in our mouth.”

Gregor Blanco: “We’ve been playing like this all year — great defense, great pitching and timely hitting,”

Miguel Cabrera: “Right now, I feel bad. We did a very good job this year, to come to the World Series, and we should feel proud, but now this happened. Very sad is how I feel right now. I felt embarrassed. I struck out. I made the last out of the World Series.”

Justin Verlander; “It’s tough. Obviously, we weren’t clicking on all cylinders. It would be good for both teams to be really clicking, and see who comes out on top, but we weren’t. We got outplayed. Simple as that.

“There are highs and lows, and it seems like our high was awhile ago, sweeping the Yankees. I don’t think you can blame the layoff for anything. It is what it is. Like I said, we got outplayed.”

Ryan Theriot: “It’s a great group of guys and no coincidence that this ball club fought back and won six elimination games. We continued to fight and continued to play hard. It’s unbelievable. Words can’t describe this.

“It’s such a grind, the season that we play. Everybody sees the games at night, but there is so much more that goes into it. We get to the ballparks early every day, and that starts in spring training. We’re going from February to almost Halloween, so it’s a long season. You create these wonderful friendships with these guys, so to end on a high note — to be the last team standing — makes it all worth it.”

Phil Coke: “I’m sorry that it didn’t go the way that everybody here wanted it to. I’m sorry that it didn’t go the way I wanted it to. But do you know what? I did the best I could. We did the best we could. We came up short, but don’t think we won’t be back.”