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AL DIVISION SERIES: TIGERS v ATHLETICSOctober 8, 2013Bob MelvinDETROIT, MICHIGAN: Game Four Detroit – 8 THE MODERATOR: Questions for Oakland manager, Bob Melvin. Q. Two things. First, who will pitch Thursday and why? BOB MELVIN: I haven't decided yet. Q. Also in the seventh inning with Doolittle against Jackson rather Otero, was any part of that the fact that Jackson has been having a tough time lately? BOB MELVIN: What do you mean? Q. If you had gone to the right‑hander, Leyland might have been able to pitch. BOB MELVIN: Doolittle is our guy, I just brought him in the eighth inning the other day against all right‑handed hitters. He's our guy. Q. So when the inning starts‑‑ BOB MELVIN: It's his inning. Q. What was your view of the disputed homer and what did the crew chief say? BOB MELVIN: It looked like and Reddick's reaction was that he thought he could have potentially caught it. The explanation was it was over the yellow line and it wasn't fan interference even though I guess a fan touched it. Q. We all know the baseball line about a "bloop" and a "blast." When you see Fielder's hit drop‑in in the inning, do your instincts start to say this might be a tough inning? BOB MELVIN: No, because I thought he threw a good pitch to him, it just blooped in. I thought he had been pitching well to that point. Q. Can you speak to the disruption that Coco Crisp causes in a ballgame and how he gets you guys sparked? BOB MELVIN: He's our ignitor, no doubt about it. He can hit, he steals bases, he gets on base, he takes the pitcher's attention off the pinch‑hitter a lot of times and he's had an awfully good year. He is our engine. Q. Bob, what do you think happened with the bullpen tonight? This was the first game where it wasn't very effective? BOB MELVIN: Right. Well, as far as with Doolittle, Martinez just hits a ball out of the ballpark, and the next run comes on, ahead of Jackson, makes a good pitch. He ends up getting a bloop that knocks in a run. And after that, we just weren't very good after that. We put a lot of faith in our bullpen. One of the reason that we are where we are is because of our bullpen, it just didn't happen tonight. Q. Are you going to announce a starter for tonight or wait until tomorrow? BOB MELVIN: Yeah, we haven't decided anything yet. Q. Without getting into any exact specifics, if they had brought Drew Smyly in there with the bases loaded, you have pinch‑hit a lot this year. Is it fair to assume that there might be‑‑ BOB MELVIN: Could be, yep. Q. When you're facing a guy who for the whole year has been a starter in a relief role, is there anything different about the approach against that guy either because he's not used to the role or because he might have extra adrenaline to fight? BOB MELVIN: Not really. Good pitchers like that they've been used in situations like that before. The approach is the same. I think for his mindset, coming out of the bullpen, maybe you have to be more precise right away, but I couldn't speak to what he was thinking. But our approach is the same. Q. It's always the question in these games or in these series, good pitching tends to shutdown good hitting and certainly that was the case through the early going.  But you have been waiting, Bob, for their bats to explode a little bit. Was that more the story in your estimation today? BOB MELVIN: Well, early on, we were pitching well. Again, it was after they scored the three runs, you know. When Daniel came out, we had one of our best relievers in the game, they scored runs. The home run from Victor Martinez is a good piece of hitting going the other way on a cool night. But we're not expecting anything, we're expecting to go out there and perform and get outs and win games. Q. Is there any sense that with the 3‑0 lead here in the middle of the game that basically you let one get away in a clinching situation? BOB MELVIN: No. Look, they have a good offensive club. You gotta finish it out for nine innings. Just because we had the lead doesn't mean you're going to win the game. Q. And how about the eighth inning situation with the bases loaded. That seemed to be a turning point and the pitch that Reddick swung at. BOB MELVIN: Yeah, we couldn't get anything across, he makes two good change‑up pitches to the left‑handers and then Callaspo hit a bullet and he just ended up hitting right at Jackson who got a really good jump to get that ball. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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