Could Bowa be Mets' next bench coach?

Tigers manager Jim Leyland had much on his mind in the long hours before Game 5 of the American League Division Series Thursday night, but he still kept up with the buzz around baseball. In a casual conversation with a reporter about Mets manager Terry Collins, who used to be one of Leyland's coaches in Pittsburgh, Leyland mentioned that he heard a report that Larry Bowa had been mentioned as a possible bench coach for the Mets.

"He would be great," Leyland said of former Yankees coach Bowa, now an analyst with MLB Network. "He's a really good baseball man. And they were together in California."

It turns out that Leyland helped set that up. Collins had just taken the managerial job with the Angels in 1996 and had called Leyland about some unrelated matter. According to the book, "I Still Hate to Lose," by Barry Bloom, Leyland told Collins that he ought to hire Bowa because he was as good a third-base coach as there was in the National League. Collins took his old boss' advice, and the Angels began the turnaround that led to their 2002 championship.