NL DIVISION SERIES: PADRES VS DODGERS

October 13, 2022

Bob Melvin

Petco Park

San Diego Padres

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. Bob, just how good does it feel to be back, and what is your anticipation for tomorrow?

BOB MELVIN: Yeah, I'm expecting -- look, pretty consistent all year. I don't know what another level will look like. But if there is one, I'm sure we're going to see it tomorrow.

Like I said, I can't say enough about the fan base and what they've done this year. I don't know how they can surpass as far as enthusiasm what they've done during the season, but I wouldn't put it past them tomorrow.

Q. Blake has been throwing the ball extremely well, didn't have his command in the last outing. What are you anticipating out of him tomorrow?

BOB MELVIN: Yeah, you're always going to have a tough one from time to time, and he's pitched well here at home too. He's comfortable with the mound, with the environment. So I think we're going to see what we've seen, like I said, better part of the second half.

Q. Bob, what do you remember from seeing Robert Suarez for the first time? Was it this spring? Did you see video on him? Since then, what have you thought?

BOB MELVIN: Yeah, a little video, but it was in spring, watching him throw bullpens and seeing how easy it comes out and how quickly it gets to the plate, the dive on the changeup. He's worked on breaking balls this year that have made him better.

And then it all comes together with the confidence. We put him in in a tough Opening Day and then kind of backed him off a little bit, pitched him in different roles. He had an injury that he had to come back from that kept him out, as well.

But this is as good of a right-handed reliever as you see in the National League right now, and kind of showed what he's made of yesterday.

Q. This is what the Padres hired you to do, was to get them to this point and even further. Of all the skill set that you have, is there a skill set that you have used more with this team than in the past?

BOB MELVIN: No. You know what, you just try to be yourself. Look, the reason we're here is because the players have played well, and the coaches have been terrific this year. Our coaching staff should get a lot of credit for being with these guys every day and working them, maintained a certain work ethic throughout the course of the season that these guys have bought into.

I think it's just as much about them, and then the players performing. We've talked about how the toughness of the season may make us better, and if we do get to the postseason, I think it's showed up here a little bit in the postseason games that we've played.

But look, it's the players that do the heavy lifting.

Q. It seems like every pitch is magnified in the postseason so much. How do you balance going into a game with a plan of what you'd like to see happen and then things change so quickly and how quickly you have to make a change if you do?

BOB MELVIN: Yeah, you know what, very rarely does it go exactly to script, how you want it to go, so you're always having to look an inning ahead, look a couple innings ahead. If your starter comes out sooner than you would expect, then what are you going to do to get to how you want to finish the game.

But the intensity of it in the postseason keeps you engaged, and you're always talking to -- in the case of Ruben and Ryno and Matt Williams and these guys about what's lurking, but that's just how baseball is. It's intensified even more in the postseason.

Q. With the possibility tomorrow of not necessarily a bullpen game, but seeing a few guys, is that a little simpler against a team that you've seen as much as you've seen with these guys as opposed to an unfamiliar or less familiar opponent?

BOB MELVIN: Yeah, I don't know that it's going to be a complete bullpen game, but they use their bullpen a lot regardless, so you're used to seeing a lot of their guys in their bullpen. They're very effective in how they do it. Even if a starter is really effective, he may only go five or six innings, a couple times around, maybe, three at tops, they turn it over to the bullpen.

I don't see tomorrow being that different than how they deploy things. Unless something happened early in the game and they had to get their starter early, then maybe you would see a Heaney or a bulk guy like that.

Q. I know you weren't here when the Padres signed Manny Machado, but that was a pretty seismic shift for this organization and kind of in the game, kind of what direction this team was headed. Do you remember your reaction to when that happened?

BOB MELVIN: Yeah. Yeah, I remember the years and the dollars and went, "wow." But that's what you pay for.

When you look at long-term contracts like that, you're not really sure how they're going to play out, but what he's done here and what he continues to do and what he's done this year this deep into his contract, this is one of the better contracts out there.

At the time you're going, wow, how can anybody really perform to that level, but he certainly has and continues really to get better and work harder and strive to be a better player every year.

Q. Off the field, how much does a guy like him, kind of the way he has the pulse of the clubhouse, how much does he make your job easier?

BOB MELVIN: Yeah, he's very much the guy, so to speak, in the clubhouse. We have other guys, too; Joe, obviously, and Craig Stammen, and we have a lot of high-profile guys. Jurickson Profar has some leadership qualities.

But Manny's the guy. It's tough enough being the guy on the field and having to perform. It's even more difficult to be the guy in the clubhouse, and he does it like he does on the field. There's an easiness to it. He's easy to talk to. Everybody likes him. He's very friendly.

He's the same in the clubhouse as he is on the field.

Q. Back to the pen for a second, with Hader going more than one inning and then the off-day today, did you see anything that would make you possibly do that again or maybe avoid doing that again?

BOB MELVIN: Yeah, I don't think the amount of pitches he threw would suggest that I'm going to stay away from him tomorrow. You always want to see how he feels, like today he'll throw, tomorrow he'll throw, and then we get together -- I get together with Ruben and Fritzy and talk about, based on his comments, what we look for him on a particular day.

So I'm not sure. But he came to me for the postseason and said, I'm ready for a little bit more.

Q. Specifically using him for more than one inning, did you see anything that would say, you know what, I'm not comfortable with that?

BOB MELVIN: No, not in his performance, but obviously we want to see how he is from day-to-day and how much we think we can throw at him.

Q. You never really know how guys are going to respond when the pressure is on, the spotlight is on, especially after you get punched down. What have you seen from this group in terms of being locked in, still having fun out there but also playing clean baseball and kind of doing what they need to do?

BOB MELVIN: Well, we got punched down a lot during the season. There were really difficult periods for us, and I think that may have helped us at the end when we finally got to this point that we had played so many tough games, hard games, emotionally draining games on both sides of the spectrum.

I think that's made us better, but it doesn't surprise me the way this group is playing right now. We've done it various times during the course of the season, and you expect a little bit more with the intensity in the postseason, but that's how I expect these guys to play.

Q. Three games in three days, of which you need to win two. I imagine you may have started kind of looking at what might happen in Game 5, but I also imagine you won't share that with us?

BOB MELVIN: No. (Laughter.)

Q. How much is it just a focus on winning those two games and then whatever is left for Game 5, and how much is there a plan ahead for --

BOB MELVIN: Honestly, it's about tomorrow. We know Joe is going to pitch the next day, but I don't even know what the bullpen would look like because tomorrow is the only game that's really important for us.

I really have not given much thought to Game 5, other than where it lines up. But we're going to give everything we have tomorrow. We know Joe is pitching that next day, and once we get past Joe, I don't know what it looks like yet.