Bob Melvin Quotations

It wouldn't surprise me if he had a career year this year.

We're kind of in that difficult line, where you still feel like you're in it. You still go out there and try to win every game, yet you have to look periodically at these other guys. It's not a real comfortable place to be, yet that's where we are and guys are going to get some days off from time to time.

He stayed up the middle with a couple, which is good to see, ... Sometimes he gets a little too pull happy, with the added power he has.

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,

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.

I've never said anything disparaging about Wally Backman and I refuse to do so now.

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.

Whether he plays, pinch-hits, whatever, he's certainly going to be a force. Emotionally, it can be a big lift for them. . . . I don't know if it will change (the playoff race) or not, but I know they're excited about getting him back.

When we got up there in big situations, ... we weren't very good.

What he's meant to us and what he does in the middle of games, you certainly can't minimize that.