Duquette: "We're going to party like it's 1969"

The party started in the outfield at Camden Yards, spilled onto the infield, moved to the clubhouse and returned to the field. Players sprayed champagne and beer. Adam Jones pied pretty much everyone in sight and finally got a taste of his own confection. It was pure bedlam, as you'd expect after the Orioles won their division for the first time since 1997 and clinched with a win at home for the first time in 45 years. "We're going to party like it's 1969," said executive vice president Dan Duquette. Pretty much my favorite quote of the night, but there are lots more to share with you. Shortstop J.J. Hardy: "You tell us at the beginning of the year that now we're going to lose Manny (Machado), lose (Matt) Wieters, CD (Chris Davis), all this stuff and be where we are right now, I mean, nobody was going to believe it. Everybody stepped up. It's a fun team." Right fielder Nick Markakis, who celebrated with a broken thumb in 2012: "I can't even explain it. It's awesome. It's an awesome feeling. And to do it with all these guys is another thing. It's been a great experience. We've worked hard. We got step one out of the way and now we've got a couple more steps to go. "We worked hard to whole season to be in a position like this, and all you can do is put yourself in a good position and, as Buck would say, roll the dice in October. "It's just a good feeling. Just taking it all in and the experience itself is something I'll never forget. To do it with these guys, it's on a different level. It's awesome and it's one of the reasons why I wanted to be part of this team and this organization, but we did this for the fans. Ultimately we want to win, but we're doing this for the fans, that's the main reason why we play this game." What about his back? "I'm good, I'm good," he said. "I feel a lot better now." Center fielder Adam Jones "You finally get to release it. We've been grinding our tails off. We've got more work to go, but we've been grinding and grinding and grinding. And good things come when you work hard and work as a unit." What about the crowd? "They haven't seen anything like this since 1969, so I'm going to go outside and celebrate with the fans." As I started to ask Jones another question, he said, "Why aren't you wet?" He proceeded to pour a beer over my head while insisting that I continue, so I kept on going. One of those classic moments. What about all the contributions from more unheralded players such as Jimmy Paredes, Alejandro De Aza and Nick Hundley? "It's everybody," Jones said. "It's not one person. You see that the other night, it was Kelly Johnson. You see tonight Steve Pearce and Ubaldo threw a hell of a game. There's no "I" in team. We're a cohesive unit and we've got a strong bond." Vice president of baseball operations Brady Anderson "Think about it. Wieters, Machado and now Chris Davis, and we just keep rolling. It's really a tribute to all of the guys on the team, how they play. They're professional, they're exciting to watch, they play good defense, they pitch well. Have the best manager I've ever seen. It's really an amazing bunch." Duquette, on clinching at home "It's great for the fans and I'm glad that they could see a championship. I think it's the first time since '69. We're going to party like it's 1969 and then we're going to get ready to go to work for the next couple of steps." Duquette resisted an "I told you so" directed at all the critics who said he didn't do enough over the winter to improve the team. "We try to improve the team every chance we get and it's not just an offseason project. You can see a lot of the guys we added during the season, and little by little we try to improve the team whenever we see an opportunity. That's what you've got to do if you're going to be good year in and year out. "This is a team and those guys got an opportunity to contribute and they came through. Good for them. "I'm happy for the guys, I'm happy for the Angelos family, I'm happy for the fans in Baltimore they got to see a division championship. And now we are going to do our best to go out and bring them another couple titles." Reliever Tommy Hunter, who got the last three outs "It was really loud. It was fun. You got the shakes a little bit warming up. Well, I did, not you. But it was cool, it was a good environment, and that's the environment that it should be in Baltimore. I mean, these people love baseball. These fans, the city. And we're bringing it back. "Every player on this team has been through some (stuff) at some point in this season and to come together like all these guys have, everybody has stepped up when they needed to step up. Guys coming over via trades, guys coming up from the minor leagues. Everybody's contributed throughout the year and we've got a hell of a team and it doesn't stop with the 25 guys that we have on the roster. It goes further than that, and it's awesome. "Everybody steps up. You just roll with it as long as you can. Keep rolling. Roll."