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AL WILDCARD GAME: ATHLETICS VS YANKEES

October 3, 2018

Bob Melvin

New York, New York

Yankees - 7, Athletics - 2

THE MODERATOR: We'll start with Bob Melvin.

Q. You guys have had several terrific regular seasons, have come up short in the playoffs. How difficult or frustrating is it when it works for 162 games and the one game you play or the five games you play don't go your way?
BOB MELVIN: I mean, a couple of them were Division Series but as far as the Wild Card game, yeah, we've had a tough time with it. And it's frustrating. They got off to a good start with the home run and they ended up adding on. We just didn't do enough offensively tonight. You do have to give them credit. They pitched really well.

Q. Not just for Hendriks and the bullpen game, but for any game, especially a postseason game, falling behind in the count early, does that become deadly?
BOB MELVIN: Well, falling behind in the game, yeah, you have a chance to recover if you're behind in the count. But yeah, it is. The first run is big. And when you're in -- when you're away and you get the crowd into it, you know, that's more that you have to overcome.

Now, we settled in pretty good and Trivino came in and did a nice job, and it remains 2-0 for a while. We felt pretty good about it if we get some good at-bats together. Then we have first and second, nobody out, Betances comes in and strikes out -- ends up getting out of it, we don't score. So that's another one we have to overcome. But certainly when they score first, especially in their ballpark, it gives them some momentum.

Q. Before the game, Bob, you're talking about the atmosphere and the role it could play. How do you think -- what kind of role do you think it did play, and did it have any effect on Hendriks in that first?
BOB MELVIN: He threw quite a few pitches there early on. Obviously with the home run, it kind of extended things. But early in the game they're going to be loud. It's our job to try to take them out of it. We didn't in the first inning but we're able to, like I said, kind of settle in. But this is a tough ballpark to play in.

You know it's going to be loud. You know, it's Yankee Stadium. And sometimes it's difficult to overcome that, but I thought after we got through the first and settled in a little bit our at-bats would get better and we'd get back in it. We just didn't do it.

Q. You talked about after an off day that sometimes you guys don't put together the quality at-bats. Did you see that today from the club?
BOB MELVIN: No, because we did have a workout yesterday. So they kind of settled into the routine. They got the ground balls and took BP. Actually everybody probably had the off day first, but when you have a workout day where you get to do your baseball activity, I don't think it's like going through a full off day.

Q. I believe Treinen pitched the sixth inning for the first time this year, and Trivino pitched the second inning for the first time this year. If that was all possible was there a thought during the season, in early September, when you first started doing this to put those guys in those roles so that they would be more familiar in this atmosphere?
BOB MELVIN: We did with Lou. We had Lou start that one game, I believe it was in Anaheim. We were trying to get him acclimated to maybe an earlier inning goes. And as Treinen goes, we just gotta get our best in there at that time. They knew everything was kind of up for grabs tonight depending on what the situation of the game was.

So we're not going to that with Treinen earlier in the year, but the point in time in the game we're trying to cut it off.

Q. How did, in your opinion, this whole system go? It's never been done in the postseason -- reliever after reliever after reliever?
BOB MELVIN: After the second inning they settled in well. Then they ended up having a big inning. Offensively we have to put a little more pressure on them, so we're not in that spot where you have to bring Treinen in in that situation.

But you have to give them credit. They pitched really well. And like I said, Severino got off to a good start, and Betances came in and shut it down. After that, other than the one swing from KD, they shut a really good offense down.

Q. How do you assess the season, despite you probably had more pitching injuries than any other team, the team's best record in 16 years, overcome that but then suddenly cut short after one --
BOB MELVIN: Yeah, unless you play the last game, it's disappointing. So I think when you reflect back and look where we started the year, you know kind of where we came from, you know, it ends up being a good year but it doesn't feel good right now.

Q. The other element of this is that I think the Yankees have won nine out of their last 11 and they've scored 72 runs. You ran into them at a time when they were really hitting. Where do you think they go and how dangerous do you think they're going to be for the long haul?
BOB MELVIN: Dangerous. They broke all sorts of records offensively. It's a really good team. I think that the Boston series maybe they swung the bats well, but it kind of -- the slate gets wiped clean once you go into a playoff game, you both have an off day and a workout day.

So probably a better question for them, how they felt coming into it. But they got us on the run early and had two innings where they put up quick numbers.

Q. Probably really hard to assess the whole season right now. But what will your message be to your players about the whole year?
BOB MELVIN: Real briefly, before coming here I told them, all in all, it was a great season. I was proud of them and hopefully this is just the start for us. So we feel like with the group that we have here together that we're going to get better each and every year and unfortunately it's disappointing right now but to keep their heads up.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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