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AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: TIGERS v RANGERS

October 8, 2011

Jim Leyland

ARLINGTON, TEXAS: Game One

THE MODERATOR: First question for Jim Leyland.

Q. Jim, many of us know you were Kirk Gibson's first manager in professional baseball. Now that his first full season as a manager is over, what would you like to say about the job he did this year?
JIM LEYLAND: Well, he was unbelievable. I thought he managed an unbelievable game yesterday. It was a great game. I got back in time to watch some of it here. I got back to watch the end of it. He had everybody in the right place. He pulled a safety squeeze. It looked like it was going to be a huge play for him, which it was. But tremendous. But it doesn't surprise me. He was always a real bright guy about many can he fierce competitor. I saw Upton go into second base late in the game. It looked like Gibby all over again.
They can be very proud. They had a great year, first year manager. Unbelievable job.

Q. After all that Magglio went through this season, what does it mean for you to see him rebound and be in the game and productive here?
JIM LEYLAND: Magglio has been a professional hitter for a long time. A great hitter. Nothing he does surprises me. I actually put him behind Martinez tonight for a little more protection.
I hit Cabrera third tonight. Which I haven't done, obviously with Delmon Young out of the lineup, it changes things for us. I had to change it a little bit. And I feel very comfortable with Magglio in that spot.

Q. Jim, with Delmon out, can you expand upon what your plans B, as you mentioned yesterday, are now?
JIM LEYLAND: With Delmon out it changes things. It obviously hurts a little bit, because he's a right-handed hitter and we're going to see three left-handed pitchers plus they have good left-handed stuff in the bullpen.
I don't worry about stuff like that. That's the one thing good about our team. We just keep going on. That's what you have to do, and to be honest with you, that's why you play all your guys all year long, so they're ready for these situations.
Without putting any pressure on anybody, Inge and Raburn and guys like that are going to be very important in this series. But that's why you play them all all year long. That's why -- I think the public sometimes has a tendency to think that when you play your regulars every day, they win every game.
It doesn't work like that. That's why you use your whole roster. Raburn and Inge will be up for the challenge. Does it hurt without Delmon? Sure. Are we going to miss him? Sure. But we'll go on.
THE MODERATOR: Do you want to give us your lineup for today?
JIM LEYLAND: Tonight it will be Jackson, Raburn, Cabrera, Martinez, OrdoÃ±ez, Avila, Peralta, Santiago and Inge.

Q. Jim, so what happened between yesterday and today? This is the first of two questions.
JIM LEYLAND: I'm blaming all you guys for what happened. You can write it down. He was taking BP and he was swinging real good, and then he had to go to the media session to me it was all you guys and sit around. When he got out of the media session, it was hard for him to raise his arm.
So I'm putting it all on you guys. I'm blaming you guys. That's what happened. He was swinging pretty good. It stiffened up. I'm being facetious, obviously. It stiffened up on him. We had him checked out. We had an MRI. Doesn't show anything real significant, but I learned a long time ago when the word oblique is mentioned, I get nervous, because that's one of those where, you know, it might be all right.
I've never seen an oblique all right in a day or two. It's never happened as long as I've been managing. I think everybody tries to stay positive. The trainers, the medical people. But when you mention oblique, I get nervous.
And the reason -- I think this is a good time to say it, because I don't think a lot of fans and maybe some of you don't understand, I don't know, but we might have kept him on hoping for maybe Game 4 or 5 or something.
But what happens is all of a sudden you used him and he couldn't go and you had to take him off, then he's not available for the next series. You cannot do that.
This way, not having him on the roster at the beginning of this series, if he would be ready and if we were fortunate to move on, he could be activated for the World Series. If you get that out there that will be good. I get a lot of slack about that, because they don't understand the rule.

Q. Secondly, you flip-flopped Scherzer and Porcello.
JIM LEYLAND: We did. I apologize for that. That was really going to be my rotation, but I spent a lot of time with Scherzer yesterday. He felt great. I was really worried because he pitched the one game against them obviously and pitched in relief, which he hadn't done.
That's a little bit of a different scenario. I didn't think there was any way he would feel as good as he did, but he does. Obviously because of that, that's the way I have to go. That's the way I want to go.
I didn't think we were going to be able to do that, to be honest with you, but he convinced me yesterday. And Max, he's up front with everything. He would never mislead me in any, way, shape and form.
Number one, he doesn't want to hurt himself. Number two, he doesn't want to hurt the team. He's raring and ready to go and healthy. That's why that was done. I apologize for that. I was probably a little bit -- jumped the gun a little bit probably in giving you the rotation. You guys can't wait, so I thought I might as well give you something.

Q. Jim, what has Victor Martinez meant to you guys in the clubhouse? And in terms of his play, how has he settled into being a DH after so many years of being primarily a catcher?
JIM LEYLAND: I think the fact he hit .330 has made him a lot better in the clubhouse. It seems to work that way. He's been absolutely tremendous. And I really give him a lot of credit, because I think a lot of guys at some point have an issue with just DH-ing. And I think that Dave Dombrowski and I think our people John Westhoff and Al Avila, they made it pretty clear that's what he would be doing most of the time. I think he's accepted that, and I think he's set into that role tremendously. So it's not an issue.
With some guys, well, I want to DH, but -- I don't mind DH-ing but I would rather do this. We don't have that problem with Victor. Victor has been a total team guy from day one. It's really worked out well.

Q. How do you feel that this rotation you're taking into this series ranks among teams that you've taken to the postseason before?
JIM LEYLAND: Well, I never compare any teams or any players or any pitching staffs. I feel very comfortable. This is what we've got. We're not going to change anything, obviously. This is the pitching staff that we've had all year long, and I think that's one of the things we've been very fortunate.
I've always said it's not always the best pitching staff to win, sometimes it's the healthiest. We've been able to keep our five guys out there pretty much all year long. That's very rare to be honest with you.
I have all the confidence in the world. They are going to face a tremendous offense. We're going to face the American League champions.
It's not very often that you beat the New York Yankees in Game 5, and you haven't even played the American League Champions yet. So we know what this is all about. We know what's at stake here, and we know how good to team is.
Believe me, we have the utmost respect for them. We're going to play it out and see what happens.

Q. Jim, you and Wash have seemingly pushed the right buttons all season long.
JIM LEYLAND: You haven't been in Detroit, have you?

Q. Personnel aside, what's it like kind of the enjoyment of managing against a guy like that even with contrasting styles? How much do you enjoy managing against a guy like that with contrasting styles?
JIM LEYLAND: Well, it doesn't make any difference. I manage my team. I really never worry about what the other manager does. Obviously, I have the utmost respect for anybody that manages a Major League Baseball team because I know what the job is and I know what a difficult job it is.
So I thought I managed against an outstanding manager in New York a few nights ago, and I'm going to be managing against an outstanding manager in this series.
Ron Washington is tremendous. He is a motivational guy. He knows what it's all about. In my opinion, Ron Washington is the guy that changed things around down here. I may be all wet, because I don't know what goes on here. But I know him, and he's all about doing things right. He's about winning. He's about holding people accountable. He's been unbelievable. He's done a fantastic job.
Most of the time, and in this series as well, it's probably not going to come down to Ron Washington or Jim Leyland. It will come down to, like it always does, to the players.
So that's what this game is about. So like I said, Ron is a friend of mine. I took him as my coach when I managed the All-Star Game a few years ago. He was my first selection. I thought it would be a good experience for him. I thought he deserved it, and I thought it would be good for him to be involved in something like that, and I don't think he ever forgot that.
We're friends. We're not enemies tonight. We're friends that are managing against each other.

Q. What are the particular challenges that these left-handed starters present to you that the Rangers have?
JIM LEYLAND: They're all real good. They're really good. They got a guy in the bullpen that didn't make the rotation and beat us three times. That shows you how good this team is. They're pretty darn good.
Like I said, we're very respectful of that. But I don't want to be sitting here slighting my team. We're pretty good too. I said that in New York and I say it again. And I know the Texas Rangers respect us, and I know the Texas Rangers know we respect them. That's just the way it is. We're down to the final four. You're supposed to be pretty good to be in the final four. We're pretty good and they're pretty good.

Q. Jim, you were adamant earlier in the year when you guys had problems in the three spot in the batting order about not using Cabrera at No. 3, but you used him now. Why do you feel you need to make the change?
JIM LEYLAND: Most of my time here we had Magglio OrdoÃ±ez hitting in that spot. He's an over .300 career hitter. I knew he was going to be on base a lot for him. It's a little bit different with Magglio now. In Delmon, I felt comfortable in that spot. There's a good chance Delmon Young would be on base or somebody in the first inning. This changes our whole lineup. I think this gives us more protection. It's not something if Delmon Young was here he would be hitting third. Cabrera would not be hitting third. Delmon Young would be. Because of that have injury, that changes our lineup quite a bit, and I got Raburn hitting second.
That's not the greatest scenario in the world, but it's a scenario that I like, particularly in this ballpark. Ball carries here pretty good. You get a guy with power up there in that 2-hole like Raburn, and it makes a little sense. It's not a move I would have made, but you have to make adjustments.
And sometimes you have to make them on the fly. I went home last night and I thought about this all night long. I made up two or three different lineups. This is the one time I may have to slip Cabrera in the 3-hole. I did that. People can talk about it.
Some people want me to hit him there forever. I like him coming up in the first inning with somebody on. Hopefully Jackson or Raburn will be on.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks for coming in.

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