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AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: TIGERS v RANGERS

October 8, 2011

Jim Leyland

ARLINGTON, TEXAS: Game One

Texas Rangers Â– 3
Detroit Tigers - 2

THE MODERATOR: Who has the first question for Jim tonight?

Q. Jim, with the rain delay, at what point did you decide that Verlander wasn't going to be going out there?
JIM LEYLAND: When the original one hit he was actually coming back out. When the second one came about, that was a no-brainer. I think that this was a little bit of a weird night, obviously, with the rain the way it was.
I thought Peter Woodfork from the Commissioner's Office he did a tremendous job keeping this thing going staying on top of it. He really did. I thought the umpires did a good job. Both teams did a great job. It was a good ballgame. The Verlander was a no-brainer.

Q. Jim, how weird was it that you lost Verlander to rain in the first Game 1s of both series? And then secondly, what happens now with Porcello in Game 4?
JIM LEYLAND: Well, I guess it's a little weird Verlander was involved in both these rain situations. And truthfully, we're going to go back when I get done with you guys and figure out what we'll do now with the pitching.
We really haven't had time. We were trying to win the ballgame. We got ourselves back into it. The first inning was probably a huge key. We loaded the bases, and C.J. made a great pitch on Magglio, cut a fastball in and got him to ground it to third.
That was obviously a huge inning. The ninth inning we always talk about, but tonight's game might have been the -- the first inning was a huge inning for us.

Q. Two things, on Verlander, did you find that he was a little bit jumpy as you've said in the past during some rough starts? And the other question is were you feeling the loss already tonight of Young from that lineup?
JIM LEYLAND: Number one, on the Verlander situation, I thought tonight that his control was not good. His control was not very good. He didn't really have his curveball going for strikes. He had a tough time with it. I think probably trying to overthrow it a little bit.
No, obviously, sure, you're going to feel Young's absence in the lineup. But I was hoping that Raburn would get on somehow, because hitting Cabrera third tonight could have worked out pretty darn good if Raburn gets on.
Sure, we missed that bat in there. There's no question about it. No excuses. I thought it was a great game, particularly under the conditions, a lot of excitement. Their fans all pumped up. It was a great ballgame. I thought both bullpens -- both bullpens, there's is going to get a little more attention tonight, obviously, and rightfully so.
But I thought both bullpens did a terrific job. It turned out to be really a very, very good ballgame.

Q. Jim, I think the Rangers' top four hitters went 1 for 14 tonight. They still -- they have that depth in the lineup, I guess, that they can scratch out runs even from the bottom of the order.
JIM LEYLAND: Oh, yeah. They're the defending American League champions. This is a very good team from top to bottom. Murphy came through the one inning for them, which was big. No question about it.
And we feel like we're capable of doing that as well. That's what a team is all about. Sometimes when the big guys don't do it, other people pick them up. Like I said, it was an excellent baseball game, particularly under the conditions.
Certainly nobody did anything wrong. These are situations -- they are can't-win situations. You can't win. The rain stuff and people trying to make decisions and the radar and everything.
You know what, I thought everybody did a fantastic job. We got beat in what I would call a very, very good ballgame. And probably the first inning for us was the key. We had a chance to get on the board right away with the bases loaded. We had another opportunity with Victor hitting in a good situation. You give their pitchers credit. We didn't come out of it with anything.

Q. Forgive me, you said you don't know yet how to use Verlander and Porcello will affect your rotation in the next several days?
JIM LEYLAND: That's correct. Like I said, when we get done with you fellows, we're going to go down and look at it. We started to map a couple of things out during the one rain delay.
But we don't have anything for you at this time. Certainly there's no tricks. We're not trying to hide anything. We just haven't figured it all out. As soon as we do, we'll have Brian get it out on the wire. If it's too late to get it out tonight, we'll get it out as quickly as possible. We're not trying to hold anything back. There's no secrets. We're trying to figure out where to go with this now.

Q. Without belaboring the point on that, Porcello threw 22 pitches. Is there still a possibility he could pitch in that game? And if not, would you bring back Verlander after throwing 82 tonight on three days rest? I know what you're thinking --
JIM LEYLAND: I'm trying to be patient. And I think I just explained it. We're going to go down and talk about it. I'm sorry I don't have an answer for you. If somebody wants to give me the answer, you can recommend something and I'll look at it when I go down in the office and take a peek at it.
You can talk to me until you're blue in the face about the rotation. I don't have anything for you. I repeat that. I don't have anything. As soon as I get it, I'll give it to you.

Q. What are you seeing from Avila and how tough maybe that fifth inning at-bat with the rain delay coming back out, how tough was that?
JIM LEYLAND: They made a good move. They brought in a left-hander. That's a tough situation. We told him to be patient. Gonzalez has got great stuff. Once in a while he can get wild. He threw ball one. It was probably ball two. That's easier said than done. You're geared up, probably geared up for a fastball after the breaking ball. I'm not sure exactly whether it was a strike or not. It was a good move on their part. He executed and he got the out.
That's not easy to come out after the rain delay and walk up there with the bases loaded and they bring in a new pitcher, a lefty. He won the battle tonight. I have no problem with that. That's a tough situation for anybody.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Jim.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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