Verlander Ready To Roll, But Leyland Puts On The brakes
After Justin Verlander won his 18th game a couple of evenings ago, he ducked into Jim Leyland's office.
"I can pitch Sunday," he told his manager.
Thanks, the manager replied, but no thanks.
Sunday is Verlander's fifth day, the day he would normally be working.
Because of Thursday's day off, though, Leyland is electing to give all his starters an extra of rest beginning with Friday night's game with Cleveland.
Some managers would look at the series between the two division rivals and figure it wouldn't hurt to have Verlander pitch the series finale.
"We felt like we probably had to pick a couple of spots with the amount of innings he has thrown," Leyland said. "I think what you do is use common sense. He's pitched a lot and you have to pick your spots and try to help him a little bit.
"I've got to look out for his welfare. And this makes a lot of sense."
Verlander leads in wins, innings and strikeouts. He's logged 45 straight starts of 100 or more pitches.
Plus, the way Leyland has it mapped out, he's going to work Detroit's last two series in September against Cleveland anyway.
And Tampa Bay, where Verlander starts Monday, is no guaranteed victory. The Tigers have four games against the Rays to begin the week.
In the end, it didn't add up for Leyland to mess with his rotation.
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