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MLB WORLD SERIES: CARDINALS v TIGERS

October 20, 2006

Jim Leyland

DETROIT, MICHIGAN: Workout Day

Q. Could you talk about managing with the DH and without the DH now that you'll be going back and forth here?
JIM LEYLAND: Yeah, we're a little concerned about that because I think this is one situation where the National League could have a little edge when you go to their park, for obvious reasons. Our pitchers don't do much hitting or bunting all year and they do. And we happen to be playing a team that's very good at it. Their pitchers are all good hitters, and they all can bunt and slug bunt. That's a little bit of a concern.
But those are the rules and this is the World Series, so we'll handle that accordingly.

Q. Are you ready to announce your rotation?
JIM LEYLAND: Yes, Verlander is going to pitch the first game, Kenny Rogers is going to pitch Game 2, Nate Robertson Game 3 and Bonderman Game 4.
Before anybody wants an explanation about it, basically we wanted Kenny to pitch two games at home, 2 and 6, if it goes, obviously, that far. So that's why that decision was made. And we were waiting on obviously who was going to be our opponent. It would have been different.

Q. There's been a little bit written about your relationship with Tony La Russa. Could you tell me how it feels to have to manage against him and if there was any conversation after last night's victory with the Cardinals?
JIM LEYLAND: With all due respect, I'm going to say this at the beginning of the World Series and hopefully end it, I'm not going to talk about Tony La Russa and myself this series at all. This is about the Cardinal players and the Tiger players. And I appreciate that, but that's something totally different than what's going on. We're two teams in the World Series, and I'm going to talk about the Tiger players. I know some Cardinal players, obviously, that certainly feel like I'm friends with, so I know a little bit, have the utmost respect for everybody, obviously including Tony, but I'm not going to make that a story during the World Series, because I don't think that should be a story. This story should be about the players. And that's what it's going to be about from my end.

Q. You've talked a little bit about the past, your experience with the Cardinals as a scout. How much has that helped you in your career at the point it was, and how much you enjoyed that time?
JIM LEYLAND: Yes, I did. This is a tremendous organization. I think you're seeing two teams that have great history behind their organization. It's a wonderful World Series set up in my opinion. The atmosphere in St. Louis is going to be second to none. Contrary to what some people might think, it's going to be unbelievable. I worked for Walt Jocketty for six years, and it was six of the best years of my life. I told somebody this morning, I said the Cardinals treated me like gold, they just didn't pay me much gold, I can tell you that. (Laughter.)

Q. Considering coming into the season people didn't expect you to be playing in the World Series, and the postseason how you struggled down the postseason stretch. Now that you're here and you're favorites, does that change anything for your team playing as favorites rather than underdogs?
JIM LEYLAND: When you look at it, you can throw the favorite stuff out. We're not going to get lulled to sleep with the favorite stuff. In my opinion this team played so long without Pujols, Edmonds, Eckstein, Mulder was out. This is a team that would have won 96, 97 games. They're all healthy, with the exception of Mulder, and so we're not going to get trapped.
This is a team, by the way, let me remind everybody, that's been in the World Series two out of the last three years. So that's not going to be an issue. We have great respect for the Cardinals, and believe me, I know a lot about the St. Louis Cardinal organization, their manager and how they go about their business. They'll be ready to play, and they're the best representative from the National League. You can argue all you want, but they've earned their way here, and they're a tremendous ballclub.

Q. You've seen a lot of pitchers rise to the occasion in your career. Where does Kenny's performances in the postseason fit in there, and what's he brought to the team beyond pitching?
JIM LEYLAND: He just got on a mission in this playoff, it's been unbelievable up to this point. As I said earlier on in the other two series, you worry that sometimes getting too pumped up can work against you, and sometimes it works for you. In both cases it's worked for him. And I hope it continues through the World Series.
I think a lot of people still don't understand that we got Kenny Rogers here because we think he's an outstanding pitcher. At the time we signed Kenny Rogers last winter, he was 59 games over .500. We didn't bring him here to baby-sit. Any bonus we get from him is great. He's worked great with Chuck Hernandez. He hasn't overstepped his territory, and tried to be the pitching coach. He's made valuable suggestions, I'm sure, but like I said the main thing is that Kenny Rogers has won ballgames for us, and that's why we signed him.

Q. Jim, you guys played the Cardinals during interleague, what can you take away from that series, if anything?
JIM LEYLAND: Nothing. That doesn't mean anything. You play I don't know how many series during the course of the season, and when you get to the World Series you can throw all that stuff out the window. If we'd have got swept, it wouldn't have meant anything to me at this point, the fact that we swept them means nothing to me at this point.
They've got three hot pitchers right now that are starting for them. Their bullpen has done a tremendous job, with the exception of one game. This is a real good team.

Q. I apologize if this question has been asked, but after the first win over the Yankees, you said something to the effect now people get to see what kind of team we are. We deserve to be here. You're the favorite in the World Series, when some people thought you shouldn't have even been there?
JIM LEYLAND: You have to accept things for what they are. You can't control what people think. And obviously we were kind of a dud toward the end of the season, and we broke the hearts of these people up here, because we didn't win the division. The Cardinals, everybody is talking about they struggled toward the end of the season. The last time the Yankees won the World Series, they loss 16 out of the last 19.
We're for real. We deserve to be here. We're here. I think we've proved that, just as the Cardinals have. I'm very proud of our ballclub. And it's a little bit of a longer series, like the last one, a potential seven-game series, which is different than the Division Series; it's a bit of a marathon again. Tony and I talked this morning, and I saw his comments last night and I echo those same sentiments. Whoever plays the best will win, it's that simple.

Q. What was it like watching that game last night just from -- any baseball fan is going to get caught up in a game like that, what was it like when the home run went out?
JIM LEYLAND: It was the few times in my life where I watched another game with two other teams playing that my heart was racing, and that's not really normal for me. I thought that was one of the best baseball games I've seen in a long, long time. And I might add, under maybe not nasty conditions, but irritating conditions. So it was just a great performance by both teams for a Game 7, it doesn't get much better than that. To be honest with you, it reminded a little bit of our Game 7 in 1997, the Marlins and the Indians. It was a great, great baseball game.

Q. Do you have any update on Zumaya and Casey or whether they'll be available?
JIM LEYLAND: Zumaya is totally ready to go, and Casey will most likely DH tomorrow. That's something I'm thinking about. And he will play in St. Louis as it appears right now, unless there's some type of setback today. And don't etch it in stone, but it looks like he's going to be ready to go.

Q. This is been a postseason that has defied form just about everywhere, to almost every series, and I'm just wondering if you would agree with that and if you have any explanation for it?
JIM LEYLAND: No, I really don't. I would probably agree with you, it's been a little bit weird. You see Oakland get the three-game sweep, and we get a four-game sweep. It's been crazy. And then the Mets and the Cardinals go to Game 7. It's been a wonderful postseason, and it's been tremendous for baseball. I was reading a lot about that in the paper today, the average attendance and all the teams, it's just been great. And hopefully this series will not be a letdown for anybody. Hopefully the fans all over the country will enjoy this World Series.

Q. You spent a lot of time helping out your son's teams and back to the grass roots thing of baseball. Did that change your perspective, to take a step back to that level and see things?
JIM LEYLAND: I think what it did is it made me realize that watching my son play made me more nervous than managing in the Major Leagues. I don't know if that's why I came back for sure or not. But it's kind of hard to believe that a year ago I was throwing batting practice to a bunch of 13 years old on some kind of field that looked nothing like Comerica Park, I can tell you that right now. It's all part of life.
It was a great experience, and if I wasn't managing next week and had to go back to that again that would be fine, too. But it was fun.

Q. Just a little bit more on the starting rotation. What is it about Justin Verlander, a rookie, that gives you confidence to start him in the World Series?
JIM LEYLAND: We think he's an excellent choice because he obviously has real good stuff. You never know what any pitcher, theirs or ours, is going to take out there on a given night. We think he's well rested. We think he obviously has good physical equipment. And we think he's a good choice and we also felt that, like I said, one of the big things here was we wanted Kenny to pitch Game 2 and 6.

Q. Can you talk about, so many of us have focused on this remarkable turnaround for a team that had loss so many games, and I know you weren't here the last bunch of years. Can you talk about the ability of a team to turn just three years ago, 119 losses into a World Series appearance, what it says about this team, what it says about baseball?
JIM LEYLAND: Well, sometimes it takes time for players to start believing in themselves. Obviously there's some talent on this club or we wouldn't be here. We were fortunate in the acquisitions we made. We were very fortunate in the sense that we took a shot on a couple of older fellows in Jones and Rogers, that have been so valuable. And a couple of young guys like Verlander and Zumaya, but the nucleus and the base was here with Guillen and Pudge and Ordonez and Bonderman and Robertson and Maroth and people like that that were about to take another step forward. A lot of times we try to cram a one- or two-year player, and try to make him a six- or seven-year player. You can't do that. Sometimes you have to go through these things before you're ready to take that next step. And fortunately it was our time. And it actually came quicker than I thought it would.

Q. I was wondering, do you think there's anybody that has an advantage for Game 1 and 2 and the Cardinals coming in on a big high.
Do you think it's an advantage to have the rest or not with the Cardinals having just played?
JIM LEYLAND: You know what, I don't know the answer to that. I think you can -- I try not to really talk too much about it, because I think you can set yourself up either way. I think you can make yourself believe that maybe we're going to be a little stale, and I think if you want to make yourself believe, that our injuries have healed up a little bit, our pitchers are rested, we're really going to be fresh. I don't think either one of those is going to be a factor in this series, whether we had enough rest, too much rest, the perfect amount, I don't think that's going to be a factor, but I don't know that.

Q. During the ALCS you used a lot of different guys at DH, do you prefer that, kind of rotating guys through that or would you rather just have one specific guy?
JIM LEYLAND: Well, I think a lot of it depends on who the pitcher is. Obviously we don't have Jim Thome, so we used a bunch of different guys. And you try to match up with what you feel may work that particular day against their particular pitcher. So I don't know that we have a set one, although Casey may be in there for the first couple of games because of the injury situation.

End of FastScripts...

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