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MLB WORLD SERIES: CARDINALS v TIGERS

October 23, 2006

Jim Leyland

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI: Workout Day

Q. A lot is always made of the American League manager coming over and managing the World Series in a National League ballpark, but you've been managing pretty much only in the National League. Can you talk about managing in the American League, and coming back to that for the World Series for three games.
JIM LEYLAND: It's always a little bit different. I managed 14 years in the National League, but I hope I'm not rusty. A little more involved. The American League is a little bit different. You've got to be a little more exact sometimes when you get your pitcher out and in the National League sometimes that decision is made for you, if you get behind in the game, obviously you've got to pinch-hit.
So in some ways it's a little bit tougher, but there's more to do in the National League than the American League. But the one thing, sometimes in the National League the decision is made for you, in the American League you have to be precise and remove your pitcher from the game.

Q. What did you know about Craig Monroe heading into the year, and what has impressed you most about him?
JIM LEYLAND: I knew that he was a talented player that we hoped was about to be on the brink of being a real good player. And that's turned out to be -- he's grown leaps and bounds. And he's become one of our better pressure players. When I took the job I looked at all the numbers from the seventh inning on with regards to what he did last year and the year before. He was not one of our better players. And this year -- and it goes to show you when players mature sometimes and they start to reach their capabilities, he's been absolutely one of our best.
So he's grown leaps and bounds.

Q. What do you see in the guy of Chris Carpenter, who has been the ace of the Cardinal staff and who your team will face tomorrow?
JIM LEYLAND: Obviously he's one of the best pitchers in baseball. He's a Cy Young winner. I have the utmost respect for him. I spent a few seasons with him in Spring Training, and watching him go about his business. And to come back and Walt Jocketty did a great job signing him. He signed him and he was still hurt. They waited for him to let him rehab. They waited like a year for him, and it paid off for them. It was a great job by Walt Jocketty.
And Chris Carpenter is at the head of the class. He's an outstanding young man. He's a tremendous pitcher and tremendous competitor, and obviously we'll have our hands full.

Q. Would you be able yet to tell us who is going to hit third tomorrow and also maybe what the batting order will be?
JIM LEYLAND: I don't know yet. I've been throwing that around between Polanco and Casey. I'm not exactly sure which way I'm going to go just yet. I think Polanco is 2 for 7 off Carpenter, and Casey is 6 for 14. Casey hadn't played too much, but he did get a couple of games in.
So I'm not sure how my lineup is going to look just yet.

Q. Jim, I know when you were working with the Cardinals they talk to you a lot about the guys you saw and get your opinion like they did with Abe Nunez. I'm wondering if Jeff Suppan was one of those guys they talked to you about as far as what they saw before you signed him as a free agent, and could you share your opinion on him, as well?
JIM LEYLAND: I was always a Jeff Suppan fan, because I scouted him when he was in Pittsburgh, so I got to see him a lot. And I'm not going to jump on that bandwagon and take credit for it. I know Walt was a big fan of Jeff Suppan. I saw him pitch in Pittsburgh and Walt asked me about him and I certainly gave my recommendation. And it's obvious that he's done a tremendous job for them. He's got a real knack for staying away from the fat part of the bat. He knows how to pitch and he makes his pitches. We've got our hands full the next couple of days. He's a total professional.
You can watch his eyes on TV. I watched the Met game the other night and he's just so locked in. He's got his plan and he's one of those guys that's very capable for the most part of throwing the ball where he wants to. You hope you get him on a night when his control is not as good. But normally it's real good. So you just hope that you get him on one of those nights where he's not putting the ball exactly where he wants to. But he changes speed, he doesn't double up much, he uses both sides of the plate. He's a real good pitcher.

Q. I know you've talked about the Cardinal way, the way they do things, and what that meant to you. Can you give us some examples of what impressed you about that Cardinal way?
JIM LEYLAND: Well, they're very detailed in Spring Training. Obviously their manager is very good at what he does. Everything is detailed and the players go along with it. Their Spring Training is probably the best one I've ever been to. They don't waste any time. They're always doing something with a purpose. I noticed that when I coached for Tony in Chicago, and I tried to pick up on it. I don't think we do it quite as good as they do. It was a great lesson for me. They just have a way of going about their business that's the right way to go about it.
I want to take this shot today, because I'm tired of hearing about what a favorite we are, and how the Cardinals -- they're happy with their one win. Let me tell you something about the Cardinals, you have been writing for the last several years, they've got one of the greatest, and some people think the best defensive third baseman of all time. They've got the best young player in all of baseball. They've got an eight- or nine-time Gold Glove center fielder, a great player. They've got a Cy Young pitching tomorrow night. They've got the All-America baseball player at shortstop. This is a great team. I don't really think the Cardinals -- I'm sure they're happy about it. But I don't think they've gotten the credit they deserve. When you start talking about the Cards, you better look closely. They also have probably the best young catcher in baseball. I'm not sure we're favorites.

Q. I know it's customary before the advent of interleague play to go into a ballpark you haven't seen before, but is there anything that you need to address with the team or anything you're looking to see, having so few guys who have played in this ballpark?
JIM LEYLAND: I'm really glad we're getting to work out today. I think there is something to it. We're not going to gain a lot from this work-out. We'll get a feel of the outfield or where to play. We'll take some balls down the line, and see how they ricochet. It's kind of a cram course, to be honest with you. It's nice to get a day to work out, to see how the ball carries, and what part it carries, what part it doesn't. And obviously the weather conditions may be different tomorrow. But you get a little bit of a feel for it. And it's gorgeous, it's very well done.

Q. I believe Pudge is 0 for his last 20, what do you see in his last at-bats?
JIM LEYLAND: We released him earlier today (laughter.)

Q. Did he take it well?
JIM LEYLAND: No, I think that -- I look for Pudge to still have a good series. I think Pudge by nature is such a fierce competitor, that I think he's put himself in a trap where he's trying to do too much. He wants it so bad and it's hard to criticize a player for that. So I'm going to talk to him today about just going back to being Pudge, not try to do too much, and he's such a fierce competitor, and when you have those kind of guys, sometimes the tendency is to try to do too much.
I think in Kenny Rogers' case I think the adrenaline has helped him, in Pudge's case that over adrenaline has hurt him so far. I speak about that all the time. Some guys that stuff is good for, and other guys they get too tensed up trying to do too much and it backfires on them.

Q. Getting back to Craig Monroe, you've been batting him two a lot lately, and he's not your typical No. 2 hitter. What do you see the reason to put him in there?
JIM LEYLAND: I've got to credit my opponent in the World Series for that, because we've talked over the years a lot of times about slipping somebody up there with some pop in the No. 2 hole. That was one of Tony's big things. So I coached for him and I listened pretty good and I've used that several times this year, doing that and it's worked out pretty good for us. So I have to thank my former skipper for that, he's the one that helped me with that.

Q. There are a lot of people today still trying to sift through the Kenny Rogers situation. The manager of the other team tells the umpires that some of his players believe that something suspicious has been done to the ball. Do you regard that as simple gamesmanship, especially in the case of somebody that's your best pitcher. Do you look at that as something to besmirch his reputation and hurt his success?
JIM LEYLAND: I'm not going to chew yesterday's breakfast. I had the Pujols situation the first day when you guys had a field day. And there was a situation yesterday that I guess was a little controversial. I'm not going to chew yesterday's breakfast and I'm not going to comment on it.

Q. Tomorrow will make two weeks since the last time Nate Robertson has pitched. What does he have to do to avoid the long layoff, something that affected Verlander, it seemed?
JIM LEYLAND: That's a great question, and I wish I had the answer. I don't know what we're going to get. We could get a fastball with a little bit more velocity than normal, but maybe not as good control, or we could run into a situation like we did with Verlander, which was a shock to me; the fastball was not there, which really totally surprised me, shocked me.
So I guess it's just each individual. I don't know what to expect from Nate tomorrow night, I really don't. I think I'm going to get a good performance, but you really never know for sure. But I will say this, too, we have had some simulated action. He wasn't involved in it particularly, but we have had some of that. And we've had extra bullpen sessions with these guys, to try to keep them as sharp as possible. But in all fairness, there's nothing like game conditions. I really don't know what to expect.

End of FastScripts...

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