NL DIVISION SERIES: PADRES VS DODGERS

October 10, 2022

Bob Melvin

Dodger Stadium

San Diego Padres

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. Bob, how much do you think what you accomplished in New York and that momentum you can carry into this series?

BOB MELVIN: Yeah, any time you have a series like we did there and move to the next round, makes you feel good, so we're just glad to be here.

Q. You've talked a lot about the reset for your players, and some of them have clearly done that, with Grisham, Bell. Same thing for your ball club facing this Dodger team that's been a challenge this season?

BOB MELVIN: Yeah, 0-0. We have to look at it the way. They handed it to us pretty good this year, so we realize what we're up against. I think it feels a little bit better now that we're not looking at the standings and 18 games behind or 20 games behind, whatever it was.

Q. Do you have your starting rotation set up that you can share with us?

BOB MELVIN: Yeah, we'll go Clev tomorrow, Mike Clevinger, and Yu Darvish the next day.

Q. Then beyond that, that's just --

BOB MELVIN: We'll see how it goes, yeah.

Q. What have you seen from Clev in his last couple of starts? It's kind of been a roller coaster for him. What leads you to be confident tomorrow?

BOB MELVIN: There have been some really good ones too. Based on a little bit more rest every time, he has been better. There have been games -- I think he had the -- at home pitched five, I believe, and had a low pitch count. We kind of look at a certain pitch count for him to where maybe the effectiveness tails off a little bit, but he has pitched some really good games for us. He has done it recently as well, and we always have confidence when he pitches.

Q. How was the five-game series with the off day maybe different from three games in terms of constructing the roster and 13 relievers potentially versus what you had with 12?

BOB MELVIN: Probably so. Probably right on with that, and then an extra starter. It's what we do position player-wise that we're still pondering at this point. That's about it right now.

Q. Grisham didn't start regularly against lefties in the regular season, but do you expect him to be in the lineup against Kershaw and Urías just after what he showed over the weekend?

BOB MELVIN: I do. He has had a history of hitting lefties. Actually, some years better. It's just all about how the quality of his at-bats are and what he means to us. He certainly had a great series both at the plate and in the field.

Even if production-wise offensively was down a little, he still makes up for it on the defensive end and on the run end as well. I expect him to be out there, yes.

Q. Wanted to ask about something that got glossed over yesterday. Are you comfortable with Juan Soto's sacrifice bunting?

BOB MELVIN: I think it was initially for a hit, and then if he moved the runner up, then he moved the runner up. I think that was his intent at the time.

Q. Have you seen -- I mean, his last -- that series he kind of looked like more like what we saw from Juan Soto when he is really going well. Have you seen him starting to come around?

BOB MELVIN: I always have a good feeling when he is at the place. You almost feel like if he has a couple of bad games that he is due, so he has been a prime-time player in these type of scenarios and these type of series.

Like I said, no matter what the at-bat looks like before, I always have confidence in him in the next one.

Q. With some distance between last night and today, have you talked to Buck about the thing with Musgrove, and do you plan to? I know he is a good friend of yours.

BOB MELVIN: No. Look, he texted congratulations after the game, and I thanked him. We have another series coming up here, so for me that's kind of water under the bridge.

Q. The spin rate in the postseason is up across the board. The adrenaline -- can you speak to that and why that might happen?

BOB MELVIN: I think exactly what you are talking about. Velo is up across the board, like you said. You're seeing higher spin rates. It has a lot to do with pitching in the postseason.

Q. Bob, of all the people that could kind of have that thrown at them in the middle of a game, like where you feel pretty confident when it's Joe that gets that challenge kind of sent his way?

BOB MELVIN: I do. We feel good about Joe in any situation. He is a tough guy. He can pitch through just about anything. He has been a guy that's gotten off to a tough start and is able to recover during the course of games. So, yeah, but I think it probably motivated him a little bit after that.