NL WILD CARD SERIES: PADRES VS METS

October 7, 2022

Bob Melvin

Citi Field

San Diego Padres

Pregame Press Conference

Q. Bob, what can you tell us about the final roster decisions to go with Sean Manaea and not have Clevinger on there?

BOB MELVIN: Clev was not great, feeling great. I think he's feeling a little better now. Maybe another lefty in the bullpen now. We could have gone a lot of directions, flying late and the whole bit. We'll see how we go with him. I felt like another lefty with a little length down there was important.

Q. Any surprise seeing Marte in their starting lineup today?

BOB MELVIN: None. I expected it. If you look at it that way, then you're not surprised. I've had him some. I knew if there's any way he could get in there, he was going to be in there.

When I saw the rosters today and they still had Gore on the roster, I knew he was going to be in the lineup. So it doesn't surprise you.

Q. You go through the decision to start Bell and Myers today and having Drury bat off the bench?

BOB MELVIN: A lot of things went into today. As we typically do, try to get the best lineup on a particular day against a pitcher. We identified defense a little bit, another left-handed bat, and then some guys that had some success off of Max as well.

So Josh has had some success off him. Extra left-handed bat, and we still feel like we have a good defensive glove out there.

Typically Brandon's in the lineup all the time, but it also gives us a matchup off the bench.

Q. It seems like the Mets are crafting their pitching strategy with the next round in mind. Is that something you guys also looked at, and what do you kind of make of that?

BOB MELVIN: I don't really necessarily think that. If deGrom shows up tomorrow, really what's the difference? You're going to see both these guys anyway.

We're looking at today. We'll look at tomorrow tomorrow. We had it kind of lined up how we knew we were going go, whether there was a blister issue or whatever. But you expect to see both those guys. It doesn't really matter if it's in Game 1 or Game 2.

Q. The challenge of the season most of the time was being consistent offensively. At a point in the year, how do you turn on that offensive light switch this late? You don't really have the leash to be inconsistent moving forward when every game matters to this degree.

BOB MELVIN: It's a different level now. So I think, whether guys were swinging the bat well, not swinging it well, starting in postseason series, I think you kind of throw that out the window. Typically, I'll look at the last 10-5 with hitters, but once the postseason starts, it's different.

Nobody's thinking about their mechanics. They're just going out there trying to compete. We have guys with track records that have done well, and that's what we expect now. So I think anything that happened in the regular season kind of gets thrown out the window once the postseason starts.

Q. Decision to start Grisham strictly left-handed bat in the lineup?

BOB MELVIN: And some pretty good defense in centerfield. That's the balance that we're trying to find today.

Q. So over the course of the season, it feels like this has become more and more Manny's team. I'm curious, for you, what was your perception of him as a person before you became the skipper here? And how has that kind of changed as you've gotten to know him over the course of the season?

BOB MELVIN: I think each and every year Manny's been in San Diego it's become more and more his team. You start with the numbers, and then you go to the games played and the durability, playing injured.

I think the only soft spot that he's had this year was coming back from an ankle injury probably a little bit too soon, but wants to be in there every day for his guys.

Then you see the impact that he has in the clubhouse around those guys. It really kind of allows you to insulate and know that Manny is there to do the heavy lifting and you can just do your job, and he's comfortable with that too.

From the other side, he plays at a pace that no one else does. The game seems to be very easy for him. When you're around him more and more on the same side, you realize that is the case. He does play hard, but it looks very easy to him, which is hard to do.

Yeah, it's been terrific to spend a year with him and realize the impact that he has on this team, not only on the field but in the clubhouse.

Q. Obviously in the playoffs runs are at a premium. You guys played a ton of one-run close games all season long. You guys fared well in them. Is there any carryover, or do you feel like that has maybe set you guys up for these type of games this time of year?

BOB MELVIN: Well, it doesn't hurt that you come in having success like that. A lot of them were in the extra inning games, which are going to be a little different here now too without the runner on second base.

I think any strength you had during the course of the season you try to carry forward with you. We did play a lot of one-run games. We had some success in them. We've been able to over the course of the season beat some good starters as well. You don't necessarily have to beat them up if you can make them work and get them out a little earlier. We talk about that some against good starting pitching.

So going into a game like this when you know there's one of the premier pitchers on the mound, and you know in our case the same, it looks like it might be a close game, runs at a premium. So therefore, we probably added a little defense in there for that.

But it can take one swing of the bat, it can take an error late in the game, there's a lot of things that can swing these games, so we have to be cognizant of that. But I do think, based on the success we have, we feel good about close games.

Q. I walked in late, so I apologize if this was touched on. I wondered, as someone who's been on the short end of the one-and-done Wild Card game, do you feel this is a fair way to determine a playoff series?

BOB MELVIN: Yes. Well, look, baseball is all about the long run, and it's from series to series. So I know that one game is very entertaining, but I think this is probably the right way to do it because a three-game series is basically the way you play it during the course of the season. It gives you a chance to, if you have a bad game, to come back next day.

Q. With the extra inning stuff, do bullpen decisions change at all, maybe as compared to the regular year?

BOB MELVIN: Yeah. A lot of times you're targeting strikeout in the 10th with a runner on second base. So it does a little bit. Yeah, short answer would be yes.

Q. Just one quick one on pitching. The narrative nationally a little bit is talking about the series, Scherzer and deGrom, how do you get past those guys? It's hard to think with the numbers that Yu Darvish has put together, he could be under the radar in any way at all. Is he a bit, do you think, in terms of perception? He's been fantastic, but he's not the guy being talked about in a lot of places right now.

BOB MELVIN: I don't think he minds that, but if you look at the numbers and look at his body of work this year, he's probably pitched consistently as any pitcher in the National League. We feel good every time he takes the mound. We know there's not a ton of pressure to have score a bunch of runs when he's on the mound.

He's pitched deep into games too, which in general allows your bullpen in a three-game series to maybe not have to use him as much.

Now, you never know how these games are going to go, but I probably agree with you that this is one of the better pitchers in the National League. We're talking about him a lot in our clubhouse, maybe not as a whole, but I think the three starters, at least two stack up pretty well, especially the way Blake's pitched second half of the season. So we like our starting pitching.

Q. Considering Padre history and everything you guys have gone through this season, is it a feeling of relief or a feeling of elation that you got here?

BOB MELVIN: Well, think we went through a tough year. I think our expectation was always to be here. In that case, I don't think it's a surprise to us, but it's 0-0 now. We didn't win the division, we have to play a series on the road, but I think everybody's excited about getting here and being 0-0, and I think we have a good roster to stack up against anybody. So I know they're excited.