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AL DIVISION SERIES: TIGERS v ATHLETICSOctober 10, 2012Bob MelvinOAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: Game Four Oakland A's – 4 Q. 15th time this season you guys have walked off. Has it stopped amazing you yet? BOB MELVIN: Well, what it's done is give us a sense that we're never out of it until the last out. We've been in plenty of situations where this has popped up, but probably no more than tonight. I mean, they got their closer on the mound and the game was going in their direction. But as I've said often, we have some very intense at‑bats late in the games, especially here at home and every one of them to an extent in the last inning. Q. When Smith hit the single to tie the game I noticed the reaction in the dugout going crazy and you were still stoic. I just wonder sometimes, you can't allow yourself maybe to get ahead of the game and start celebrating? BOB MELVIN: Yeah, there's a lot of things that you're thinking about that can pop up. You have to remain calm and gather your thoughts and figure out what's the best course of direction to go and just standing there was the best course of direction to go and let the guys take over and swing the bats. Q. Coco's had a couple of the walk‑off hits, and you said in the past about how good he is, how you're excited to see him in that situation. How come? BOB MELVIN: Well, you know what? You look at ‑‑ I look at his match‑ups every day and I see the pitching that he hits. And he hits closers and he hits good pitching. He always puts a great at‑bat. We don't need a homer right there, all we need is a hit. That's the third time he's come up with a hit in walk‑off fashion. I don't think there's anybody we feel better about. There's certainly guys we feel good about, but I don't think there's anybody we feel better about in that situation than Coco. Q. Your guys knew that their back end bullpen had had the occasional oil leak. Is that part of the psyche at all in the dugout? BOB MELVIN: We're confident no matter who we play late in the game. Their guys have a good track record. I don't think anybody is thinking whoever has had some struggles this year. But we're trying to focus on what we can do and try to be prepared at every at‑bat, more so than anything. Q. Regardless of stats and matchups going into the 9th inning, was there ever a doubt in your mind that you guys weren't going to win this game? BOB MELVIN: You know what? We've done it too many times down this road to feel like we weren't going to win. And then we get the first guy on and we feel like here we go again. That's a contagious feeling in our dugout. And Donaldson gets the double and the momentum and the crowd got into it again. We just don't feel like it's going to end for us. So that was the feeling in the dugout during the 9th inning. Q. It's easier to talk about it now that you've won, but when Stephen got thrown out at third, did he go on his own or did Mike send him? BOB MELVIN: No, he went on his own. He thought he could make it. Stephen can be a cautious baserunner, so he really felt like where the ball was when he turned around and looked, he felt like he could get it. And he knows more than anybody, with nobody out that you have to be able to make it. He just thought he could make it. It wasn't Gallego sending him, he just ran. Q. You've had all these miracles in the last couple of weeks. But you go to the 9th and you haven't done much. You're facing their closer, what are you thinking? Are you thinking can we do it or is there a confidence? BOB MELVIN: No, there's a confidence. We've done it so many times that there's always going to be that confidence until we make the last out. Again, what we were talking about earlier is the first guy gets on, now Donaldson doubles, now the crowds' into a frenzy and they're into it big time. We didn't feel like once there was a couple of guys on that we were going to be denied. Once Coco gets up there, I think everybody was very confident that he was going to come through as he has so many times. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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