Bob Melvin
Bob Melvin
Robert Paul Melvinis an American professional baseball catcher, coach, and manager. He is currently the manager of the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth28 October 1961
CityPalo Alto, CA
refuse
I've never said anything disparaging about Wally Backman and I refuse to do so now.
certainly experience gain guys handle looking talking watching
We wouldn't have him here if we didn't think he could handle it. Just talking to him and looking at him, he certainly doesn't look like an 18-year-old. He can gain a lot of experience just talking with these guys and watching how they play the game.
brought everybody patient talked
Everybody talked about, when we brought Russ in here, he will get out of his own jams but you have to be patient with him and he did today,
certainly lift whether
Certainly he's a force. Whether or not he's in the lineup, he'll make you think about what you're going to do. ... I think emotionally it could be a big lift for them.
confidence mean
It doesn't mean I don't have any confidence in Shawn, because I do.
kept
He's a four-pitch pitcher. He mixes it up well, and he kept us off-balance.
career pitch walk
His whole career is he'll walk some guys, but he makes the big pitch to get out of the inning.
battle fight fighting given gotten guy opportunity position situation spring talented trying
He's going to battle just like he has every year. Nothing's been given to him ever. This organization has always been in a position where we're trying to win. He's never had the opportunity to play every day and he's had to fight for everything's he's gotten and this spring it's going to be the same way. He's going to be fighting for his at-bats and to make a team. He's a very talented guy and usually you don't have a guy that talented in a situation like that.
best confidence guys seems
He just seems like a different guy. You can see that he's got a lot more confidence in himself. . . . We're going to take the best arms, the best guys we see fit.
admit happen pitching start tough weigh
He got off to a tough start. And having that big contract, pitching at home, can sometimes weigh on you. I don't think he'd admit that, but you really want to start things right, especially being back home, with a new team. And that didn't happen for him.
amount ball diving gave throws
He gave us what we needed. The ball was diving probably more so than we've seen, with the amount of strikeouts that you saw. I've said many times, there are sinkers, and then there's what he throws up there.
When we got up there in big situations, ... we weren't very good.
certainly meant middle minimize
What he's meant to us and what he does in the middle of games, you certainly can't minimize that.
baseball our-lives
We're playing for our lives now.