NL DIVISION SERIES: PADRES VS DODGERS

October 12, 2022

Bob Melvin

Dodger Stadium

San Diego Padres

Pregame 2 Press Conference

Q. Hey, Bob. In the leadoff spot, we've seen this before. Matchup or just trying to mix things up instead of Profar?

BOB MELVIN: A little bit more matchup. A little different look in the lineup for matchup reasons on the other side as well.

Q. As far as Yu goes, base-running has been an issue at times. Base running against him. How important will it be for him to control it against this lineup, and what more can he be doing to try to control that?

BOB MELVIN: First, keep them off base, right, and then keep the guys that run off bass. There's always a balance between making a pitch and worrying too much about the runner.

Even in games when he has given up stolen bases, he finds a way to get through the inning. That's kind of a balance with him.

Q. You broke it up today by moving Kim up, but the bottom of your order, it's rare that it's been this good.

BOB MELVIN: Right.

Q. Might that be one of the things you would look back on if you can't get things going and feel like you didn't take advantage of that with the whole lineup being as good as it could be?

BOB MELVIN: Yeah, I think we're a little early for that. I really do think our guys are going to show up when they need to. We're one game into this thing, but they were instrumental, obviously, in the previous series and had some good at-bats last night.

That's kind of a bonus a lot of times, especially against good pitching that you are always going to face in the postseason. But I'm very confident our middle of the order guys are going to get going too.

Q. Catching Yu Darvish can be a chore. How have you noticed Austin responding to that challenge this season, and what makes him capable of handling all those different pitches and looks he has?

BOB MELVIN: Very well studied. They work together well. They study together.

You have to be on the same page with Yu Darvish because there's a lot of pitches, there's a lot of different variables he throws at you over the course of a game.

He pitches differently from game to game. He likes to -- the catcher being on the same page with him. There's conviction in that when the right sign comes down, and that's why for the most part he likes to have the same guy, work with the same guy. He has done that all year with Austin. Austin has been great.

Q. Tim Hill was effective for you guys last night, and this seems kind of like a series where he might be used with kind of the way of the left-right-left. What makes him capable of handling that lane, a good lefty, a good lefty, with a righty in between them?

BOB MELVIN: There's deception and movement. You always know you're going to get tough righties in the middle of that too. If you look at the numbers against righties this year too, it's good. With guys on base, he's got a ground ball rate against righties. He has had a really good year.

When you talk about our bullpen, you talk about some of the years that these guys have had. Suarez and so forth. Tim Hill has had a sneaky, really good year.

Q. Back to the Darvish catching question, for a couple of years he had Victor Caratini, and he came over from the Cubs to San Diego, and I know you weren't here last year. This year, when Yu was -- you guys were breaking in a new catcher for Yu. This spring did you become involved in those discussions? How did that all come together in transitioning Yu from Caratini?

BOB MELVIN: He made it easy on me. When I talked to him, I said, look, I want different guys to catch you this spring. He said, I've never said I need one guy to catch me.

It helps, but starting in spring he was willing to let everybody catch him and see how that went. And then as you go forward, obviously, you want the same guy with him because there's so many different pitches and he pitches differently all the time. You kind of have to be on the same page with him, but he made it easy on me.

Q. Bob, can you speak to how tight and small the margins are on these short series? I mean, maybe a Wil Myers' hit last night that gets through, you have a different game, and then tonight. Lose this one and you're 0-2. The margins are very tight.

BOB MELVIN: Yeah, they are. The game was 5-0, and then all of a sudden it's 5-3. Then you talk about Wil's at-bat. That's exactly what you want to do off that type of pitcher. Usually the second baseman is on the other side of second base and that ball is in the hole, and now it's a whole different game.

A few feet one way or the other, and it's a different game. That's how close it is. That's how close last night's game was.

Manny hits the ball to left field, and the ball comes back, and I think three minutes later the wind dies down. That's probably a foul ball in the at-bats extended.

That's how close these things are and how important and why you want to -- every bat, every pitch is really important over the course of the series even though it's a nine-inning game, but when you come back and look at it, there are certain instances that could have led the game go another direction.