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AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: TIGERS v RANGERS


October 11, 2011


Jim Leyland


DETROIT, MICHIGAN: Game Three

JIM LEYLAND: Let me start, first of all, I apologize for being late. The reason I was late is because I had to wait on a situation on one of our players.
I'm going to announce before we even get started that Delmon Young will not be able to able to play tonight. That's why I'm late. I apologize.

Q. With regards to the lineup, can you expand more on why Delmon can't play? And how much thought did you put into dropping Austin Jackson from the lead-off spot, and why did you leave him?
JIM LEYLAND: Delmon is obviously hurting too bad to play. That's the answer to that question. A simple one. There's no tricks at this time of year. I guess it's a legitimate question I'm sure people could answer.
But he did get some walks. He was on base a few times. His average is not good, obviously, but that's the way we are. That's what we do here, and that's the way we play here. He's going to lead off.
If he can get going, he can ignite us. Hopefully that will happen.

Q. What is your lineup?
JIM LEYLAND: I don't know my lineup. I had my lineup posted, but it's not going to be the same lineup. So when I get done with you guys -- Dirks is going to play, but I'm not sure exactly how the batting order will go.
I'm going to go back and look at that again. I'm sorry I don't have that for you at this time.

Q. Jim, was Delmon hurting during the game yesterday and then you had to check to see how he was today?
JIM LEYLAND: He was hurting in some instances, but not so bad that he couldn't swing pretty good and everything. Certainly he wasn't right. But he wasn't 100%.
It stiffened up. It's really sore today. I'm not going to go into any further detail. That's all I have for you. I'm not a doctor. He's hurting. I respect that. If Delmon Young is not in the lineup, believe me, he's hurting, because he loves to play. I'll leave it at that.

Q. Is this a day-to-day thing? Are you going to evaluate? Is there a chance --
JIM LEYLAND: You're wasting your time, fellows. I have no more information. I'm sorry. I don't mean to be rude. I don't know. I'm trying to explain that to you. He came in really stiff and sore today. It's a great question. Could he be ready for one of their left-handers in the next day or so? I don't really know how to answer that. I would rather not just get into that. I'm not a medical person. I don't know.

Q. Is Betemit a consideration for your lineup?
JIM LEYLAND: Tonight? No.

Q. With regards to Porcello tomorrow, because he pitched the other night, are you going to use him any differently tomorrow?
JIM LEYLAND: No, not at all. He'll be ready to go. He's really well rested. He's had some time off and he had some longer times between starts recently. He'll be raring and ready to go. He won't be any different than any other time.

Q. Jim, just with how many pitchers you used yesterday, anybody unavailable today as far as pitchers go?
JIM LEYLAND: No, I would say at this time of year, no. I think everybody will be okay.

Q. We heard so much about how bullpens shorten games, especially the way this series is going, your bullpen as well as theirs has been really effective. It seems like the game is even shorter than maybe what we normally expect. Is that the way you approach it too?
JIM LEYLAND: Yeah, I think so. I think that's a great point. I think both bullpens have done a great job. I hate to say this, this probably sounds terrible, it's been a great series so far. It just hasn't worked out in our favor at any point.
I think the key to this series thus far has obviously been the first inning. We had a chance to have a real good one, we didn't, and then they had a pretty good first inning.
It's been two great games. I don't look forward to it being any different. I look for a great game tonight. Hopefully a great game tonight, and hopefully we'll come out on the right side of it.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Jim.
JIM LEYLAND: Sure.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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