NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: PHILLIES VS PADRES

October 17, 2022

Bob Melvin

Petco Park

San Diego Padres

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. After taking down a couple of 100-plus win teams, how much more true inner belief does your team have in itself? Coming into this series, you're not as much the underdog. Does that change the mindset?

BOB MELVIN: Yeah, I don't think it matters. These guys are all good teams, and they're playing great right now. We've got our work cut out for us just as much as we did the last couple of series, but we try to concentrate on what we're doing, our style of play, and kind of go from there.

Q. How much respect do you have for what they accomplished coming out of the Wild Card situation, and how different is that team than the one you played a couple times earlier this season?

BOB MELVIN: Yeah, different, doing things a little differently. Certainly have some starters that get your attention, some bullpen guys. I think they're getting Robertson back, too, and they can shorten games there. They have power. They run the bases. They steal bases. They can beat you in different ways.

We have to be ready for them on any number of levels.

Q. Have you had time to reflect on how important it was to win that series in four the way you did and kind of align your pitching now? And with the potential for five games in five days for 3 through 7, how does that change --

BOB MELVIN: Yeah, that's kind of crazy. I've never seen that before. Both teams have to be cognizant of that as far as your pitching in a five-game series.

A little less patient in a seven-game series, especially when you have five in a row. You're going to have to have a little bit more patience potentially. Just a little bit of a different dynamic as far as that goes.

It is nice to be able to line our pitching up and having two days off, one we get a full day off, and then workout.

But this lineup tends to tax your pitchers regardless. I'm just glad we didn't have to go to a fifth game where we had to use Darvish and then our bullpen again.

Q. Darvish just said that he was going to be ready for Game 5, and part of the thinking in the conversation he had was he was going to be mad if he didn't get Game 5. I'm wondering how that played out on your end.

BOB MELVIN: I don't know how to answer that. He was going to get Game 5, so he wouldn't have been mad.

Q. You got some great starting pitching and they did such a great job, especially Musgrove. Did you expect some of the pitchers to go deeper like him?

BOB MELVIN: You know, it just depends on how it plays out. We obviously monitor stuff. We're deep in the season. They have a lot of innings under their belt. We have a pretty good bullpen. Certainly take a look at how many times around a lineup that we expect somebody to be effective.

I don't think at this point in time we're just going in to push, yet there's more games, and five in a row potentially taxes your bullpen a little bit.

But I think it's just more game to game, how a particular game goes, and we'll look at what we need to do the next day.

Q. In talking about five and five, you mentioned the word "patience." I'm wondering, obviously we probably all thought the same thing in terms of pitching, but what's that going to actually look like maybe in the first two or three days of the series?

BOB MELVIN: Well, you know, you have two and then you have an off-day, so that's a little bit different. It's the latter part I was more referencing as far as how you have to go about that. That's kind of more regular season feel to it being five games in a row. Potentially five games in a row.

The first two are kind of going to dictate how the rest of them go. I think with the pitching matchups in the first two games, runs could be at a premium, and might have to look to do things a little bit differently.

And then as the series goes on a little bit longer, maybe you're a little bit more patient and maybe looking for a big inning or something like that.

But that's just off the top of my head trying to forecast where this goes.

Q. I asked some version of this question the other day, but it feels more applicable now with Manny and Bryce playing each other. What do you remember about the 2018-' 19 offseason, and do you think the results of that offseason are bearing fruit now this week?

BOB MELVIN: I don't remember a ton about it. I know that Manny came here, and he went there. They're two premier players that both teams revolve around. I think the impact that he's had there is similar to the impact that Manny has had here.

When you're looking at how you're pitching to lineups, those are the first two guys that pop out. You try to limit the damage to those guys. Sometimes that's easier said than done.

But I think there are a lot of similarities on the respect they get and how they've impacted these organizations from that point until now.

Q. With all your postseason experience, Arizona, Oakland, here now, have you changed the way you think or approach anything, whether it's workouts and off days and travel, in-game stuff, just as you've had more experience?

BOB MELVIN: Well, yeah, in Oakland a lot of them were one-game Wild Card games, so that's a little bit different. You want to try to keep the same type of pace. You understand this deep into the season, you also need to give them a little bit of a break.

I think it's about being ready from 7:00 to 10:00 or whatever time the games are. Cutting back a little bit, like we had a full day off yesterday, which I think we'll benefit from, work out today and go forward.

But you have to understand that these guys have been going at it for a long period of time here, and you have to be cognizant of that as much as you maybe throw at them before games.

Q. Both these teams have a fair share of star power. For whatever reason it took them until this point in the season to really hit their stride, a lot of desperate types of games late down the stretch, and now they've felt the energy of their home crowds. Do you sense some similarities in your paths here, and how could all that influence this series?

BOB MELVIN: Couldn't be more -- same for us. Everything that you said there is basically the same for us. Similar type teams, both got here the exact same way, having to play games that felt like postseason games at the end. Wasn't particularly easy. Both teams probably benefitted from that, that it was hard getting in, and both teams have played really well against teams that won divisions for the most part.

Mets didn't win their division, but they won 101 games. A lot of similarities across the board in these teams, not only in what rosters look like, rotation looks like, but certainly how we've played, as well.

Q. Wil Myers, his role from the time the season started, through the injuries, through the trades, has kind of evolved as this season has progressed. What's been his impact on this club, both on and off the field?

BOB MELVIN: He's always had a big impact here. It's just this year he missed a lot of games, so he wasn't around as much, as far as being on the field.

Will is a terrific athlete. If you're around him enough, he runs well, he throws well, he plays multiple positions, he's got power, and really the guy that's been here the longest. He's very impactful in the clubhouse. On the field, to be able to do different things this year I think has been inspiring for him to help the team out in different ways.

And I think that speaks to who he is as a player; that he doesn't get caught up too much in personal numbers. It's about how he can help the team, whether he's been pinch-hit for, he's never had a problem with that. Playing first base, playing the outfield, moving around. Sometimes that's difficult.

But he really enjoys that. He's a big personality on our team. Apparently in downtown after the games, too, from what I understand. They like him here in San Diego.

Q. I think maybe people tune into the series and marvel at what you're able to do without Fernando. I'm wondering what, over the course of the season, that obstacle, how you maneuvered around that and who has filled in and perhaps what has actually been beneficial from it.

A. Well, we had no choice. There had been a couple different letdowns based on the fact that we thought we were getting him back and then we didn't. We were looking forward to that as a team, that type of caliber of player, which is very rare that somebody has a skill set like that. Maybe overcome some disappointment as far as him not coming back. But certainly the trade has impacted kind of what our team looks like, bringing a couple more star player -- caliber type players, which enhanced our team as we went along.

But I think the team managed kind of the drama and some of the stuff that revolved around the Fernando situation and handled it really well. He handled it well as far as when he came back and spoke about it.

From that point on, we've just kind of moved on and kind of felt his support. I text with him kind of every other day or so, and he's very supportive right now. It's just something we've had to deal with.