NL DIVISION SERIES: PADRES VS DODGERS

October 15, 2022

Bob Melvin

Petco Park

San Diego Padres

Pregame 4 Press Conference

Q. Especially considering what Joe did in his last outing, how reassuring is it to have him on the mound for tonight's ballgame?

BOB MELVIN: Yeah, very. I think you even go back to opening day here where there were a lot of nerves for him, first-time hometown boy pitching in front of a full house and pitching fantastic, same thing in New York.

So I think he's got a little experience doing this, and he's a guy that we have a lot of confidence in.

Q. Coming into the series, there might be two guys on their club that you would want to control, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, and so far you guys have done a good job of that. How crucial has that been and how crucial will that be moving forward?

BOB MELVIN: It's been the difference at this point. Trey, as well. The top of their lineup is probably as good as any in baseball, maybe in recent memory. It's important to keep those first two guys off base for the guys that knock in the runs behind them.

Q. Can you share a little bit about the year you've had with Robert Suarez? Opening day things were obviously not how he wanted, injury, but now he's pitching total lights out?

BOB MELVIN: He is. Credit to him. You saw the stuff in Spring Training. Worked on kind of different pitches along the way, refining his breaking ball, fastball, changeup were really good. He was actually finding a breaking ball that he was comfortable with.

Give Ruben and Ben Fritz a lot of credit working with him. Stuff was always there. Learning the league, having some confidence, sixth inning, seventh inning, now is that guy that comes in a lot of times with runners on in the seventh and pitches the eighth, as well. Throws 100 miles an hour, has swing-and-miss changeup, has a breaking ball that makes you think about three different pitches, which makes his fastball that much better and has pitched himself into one of the better right-handers in all of baseball.

Q. The No. 6 seed is in the NLCS and the No. 5 seed could be there, as well. People are like, oh, these playoffs, they're not really fair. What would be a fair postseason after 162 games? How long would a series have to be in your opinion?

BOB MELVIN: I know I don't like one game, so I think it was a step in the right direction for three games. Maybe there's something to the fact that there's a layoff for a team. I'm not sure. I think anybody before the postseason started would rather have that.

But I really don't know what's fair. Each game has its own personality. I don't know what to tell you. There are times that the top seeds have won throughout; there are times that the bottom seeds have played better. I wish I had an answer for you. I don't.

Q. Do you have a recollection of the first time you either spoke or met Joe after you got this job?

BOB MELVIN: Yeah, I called him right away and was impressed by kind of knowledge of the clubhouse, the guys, wasn't afraid to intimate that to me early on. Got to Spring Training, got to know him some. The year he had before, the first year in San Diego, embraced the whole San Diego thing. Had a great year. It felt like he was going to take it to another level this year, not only performance-wise but also in the clubhouse as a leader, which he has done.

I was impressed the first minute. I keep getting more and more impressed anytime I have any interaction with him.

Q. Two guys who aren't on the roster, Craig Stammen and Nabil Crismatt, how much are they a part of the great success this bullpen is having both on and off the field collectively even though they're not playing right now?

BOB MELVIN: Yeah, it's great to have them around because they've had a big impact as far as performance during the season. They also are a part of the personality of the team.

If you know Nabil, he is as funny as anybody we have, lightens up the mood, easy to talk to. Had a great year.

You look at the numbers across the board, I don't know that we have more of a leader than Craig Stammen in our clubhouse. So to have him here, too, it's very disappointing for both of those guys not to be on the roster. Those were really hard conversations to have.

Craig now has taken out the lineup card for us, so this is a guy that has real impact in our clubhouse, and everybody looks up to, player rep, the whole bit. There are very few guys that have the kind of -- just everybody looks to Craig when there are difficult times and/or any questions about anything. Craig kind of leads the way as far as that goes.

Q. What are they continuing to do to stay ready? What do they do with you guys?

BOB MELVIN: They're throwing bullpens. They're throwing them like in game-type conditions, guys standing in, you do the best you can with it. We were considering on the off-day having them throw to some hitters, but we weren't sure going forward what that would look like, too. But just trying to ramp up the intensity when you're throwing bullpens, doing the best you can with it.

Similar to our hitters that haven't gotten some at-bats here recently. You just have to deal with it, and really it's the psyche more than anything else.

Q. You've talked a lot over the course of the season being able to work backwards with your bullpen. How important has it been for Hader to really take over that closer's spot for the rest of the guys in that bullpen?

BOB MELVIN: Yeah, that's been the easier part to this year recently is knowing, okay, who's available that day. Start with Josh. Is it going to be four outs. I knew it was going to be four outs if there was a game like that in LA.

Then it's Robert for the most part; do we need Robert in the seventh to get an out and go to the eighth. Do we have enough pitches for that. Nick has the ability to go righty and lefty. Garcia, power stuff for a righty.

It's been pretty easy to figure out where guys go. With Timmy, too, where are the pocket of lefties that they don't pinch-hit.

We've gotten to a point now where we're really comfortable and each one of these guys kind of know where it's going to be for them.

Q. Yu Darvish is a pretty regimented guy. What is his schedule in terms of when he might pitch next?

BOB MELVIN: You'll have to ask him. He's on a schedule. I know that. I haven't talked to him about it yet. We hope we can finish it out today, but I'm sure he's prepared for anything.

Q. With what Austin Nola is doing offensively behind the plate, catching day after day, handling this entire pitching staff, the bullpen, the way it's performing, what's impressed you most throughout the course of the year with what Austin has done and his development as a catcher?

BOB MELVIN: I don't even -- I can't even begin to tell you how quick a study it's been and gotten to the point where he is right now. His relationship with the pitchers, his relationship with myself, the unspoken language between the manager and the catcher, his relationship with Ruben in between innings, the confidence that he brings the pitchers in putting down the right numbers when they have that same thought in their head, studying with them. It's been as quick as anything I've ever seen or ever dealt with for a guy that has not been a catcher.

A lot of credit to what he's done. A lot of things that don't show up in analytics or stats, he does. When you're dealing with a guy like Yu Darvish, you're dealing with Blake Snell, all these guys are different in how they go about it, and they all have the same amount of confidence with him, as do we as a staff. It's been fantastic.

Q. Momentum in baseball can be debated forever probably. You and the Phillies both clinched your spots the last four days of the season. And Phillies won today; you guys are on the doorstep of it. Is there something to be said for maybe not clinching a spot too soon and staying in playoff mode right up until the start of the postseason?

BOB MELVIN: Well, typically the Wild Card teams are in that position anyway. It's always been that way where the teams that get in through via Wild Card are not only playing with intensity up to the end, but they're also playing well to get in.

And there's probably something to be said that when you're playing well and you have a lot of confidence, you get into the postseason, then there isn't as much expectation on you, then maybe that's a pretty good way to go about it.

Yet you do have to play another round. Obviously everybody aspires to win the division, get a little time off. But there might be a little something to that.