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What they were thinking

What they were thinking: McDonald slides home

Red Sox outfielder Darnell McDonald (right) slides safely into home past Northeastern catcher TUCKER ROEDER in the inaugural game at JetBlue Park.Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff/Boston Globe

Every Sunday, Boston Globe photographer Stan Grossfeld asks the subject of one of his photos to explain what’s happening in the shot.

Who's up today: Red Sox outfielder Darnell McDonald (right) slides safely into home past Northeastern catcher Tucker Roeder in the inaugural game at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers, Fla., March 3, 2012.

Roeder: “I could see him with my peripheral vision coming down the line, and I knew we had a chance to make the play on him. When the play is actually going on, the adrenaline is going, and baseball instinct kind of takes over. It’s a bang-bang play. I wasn’t thinking, ‘Oh, Darnell is coming around third, he’s a big-time player, and he’s going to do a hook slide around my tag.’ I was just thinking, ‘Put the tag down on him and try and make the play and reflect about it afterwards.’ His slide was right on the money. He’s outside of the base and he gets his hand in there. When it happened, I thought I had him. You always try and sell it, but I think he might have been in there, too. It was really close.’’

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McDonald: “I was thinking, ‘I hope I get in there.’ I saw the catcher setting up over here, waiting for the throw, and the guys were telling me to get down, so I knew it was going to be a close play. Yeah, man, I just got in there by a few inches. How about that? I’ll always remember that. When my grandkids are down here playing pro ball, I’m going to tell them I was the first person to slide across that plate right there.’’