Tigers fatigued but Verlander in right spot
Justin Verlander #35 of the Detroit Tigers pitches in the third inning while playing the Minnesota Twins at Comerica Park. (Aug. 16, 2011) Credit: Getty Images
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Jim Leyland said his team just might have been suffering from a hangover.
No, not that kind.
"I think there's emotional hangovers, not the hangovers maybe you guys think there may be," the droll Tigers manager said here late Friday afternoon. "More emotional and draining hangovers than anything else."
Emotional from a 3-2 victory over the Yankees on Thursday night at the Stadium that advanced the Tigers into the ALCS, which starts Saturday night, against the defending AL champion Rangers.
Leyland called Thursday's game among the most gratifying of his career and admitted Friday the team might be feeling some carry-over.
"Well, I think we're still winding down," he said before his team's workout. "We probably wouldn't even be here today if it wasn't mandatory, to be honest with you. I probably would have given a day off. We didn't get to the hotel till 20 to 6, 5:30 this morning. People got confused on the time, so they were calling me at 8. I had only been in bed for half an hour. That wasn't too good. This is a responsibility and we're out here to try to take care of you guys. You do move on."
Justin Verlander, not used out of the bullpen in Game 5 against the Yankees, will start Game 1, and Leyland continued his propensity for delivering straightforward answers in his news conferences, giving his rotation for the rest of the series. Rick Porcello will start Game 2, followed by Doug Fister in Game 3, Max Scherzer in Game 4 and, if Game 5 is necessary, Verlander again. If the series goes to a sixth and a seventh game, the Tigers will start Porcello, then Fister.
Lefthander C.J. Wilson, a free agent-to-be who will draw the interest of quite a few teams this offseason -- including the Yankees -- will start Game 1 for the Rangers, followed by lefty Derek Holland, Rangers manager Ron Washington said.
Righthander Colby Lewis will start Game 3, with lefthander Matt Harrison going in Game 4.
"There's no secrets this time of the year," Leyland said. "Once in a while, if you don't know who you are playing or something, you might have to hold off. There's no sense of holding it off. I'll give it to you guys and you don't have to bug me the rest of the time. It makes it easier for me and it makes it easier for you."
Besides fatigue, one concern for the Tigers is the condition of Delmon Young, whose availability for Game 1 is in doubt after he left Game 5 against the Yankees, against whom he hit three homers, with a mild left oblique strain.
As for the Rangers, who were here last season and beat the Yankees before losing to the Giants in the World Series, "They're matter-of-fact," Washington said.
"That's all I can say about them," he said. "They're going to go out there and they're going to leave it all out there. I don't think we can predict what's going to happen, but I can predict one thing. You should see some very good baseball between two very good baseball clubs."
