Leyland shows a magic touch
Choice of Gomez earns big rewards
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Jim Leyland's use of Alexis Gomez as designated hitter raised a few eyebrows last night.
It was like one of those old Joe Morgan hunches that paid off big dividends.
``I just thought it might be a decent matchup," the Tigers manager said of using Gomez, who went 2 for 4 with a home run and four RBIs to pace Detroit to an 8-5 win over Oakland last night.
``He's got big-time power. Unfortunately, he showed most of it in batting practice. But in fact, I guess, I can kid about it now. I told him that it's a 5 p.m. [Pacific] game and that's when [during batting practice] you hit your most home runs normally, so I'm going to play you tonight. He came through pretty big."
Gomez came up with Kansas City in 2002, was released, and hooked on with the Tigers organization in 2005. He had hit only one major league homer, June 27 against the Astros.
``Today they gave me the biggest chance of my life," said Gomez, an outfielder by trade who hails from Dejabon, Dominican Republic. ``I think I do my best for the team. I've been in the situation that I go up [to the majors] and down [to the minors], but I never put my head down. I said I'll be ready when you need me."
A new star is born in most postseasons. The Tigers have been looking for a bat since Dmitri Young was released.
The whole day was fun for Gomez. ``I find out today in the hotel room at the workout. He told me I maybe going to play DH, and I said, `OK, I'll be ready,' " he said.
His four RBIs set a Tiger record for an LCS game, and matched the second-highest postseason total for a first-time player, with the Reds' Ted Kluszewski (Oct. 1, 1959) and the Mets' Edgardo Alfonzo (Oct. 5, 1999).
Casey, who came up lame while running out a ground ball to shortstop in the sixth inning of Game 1 Wednesday, suffered a tear, according to Leyland, of a ``muscle around the bigger muscle" of his left calf.
Leyland said he asked the trainer, ``If it was a burn, would it be first, second, or third degree? And he said, second. He's obviously not eligible to play. He's eligible, but he's not going to play. The trainers, I think, are hoping for a miracle when they say possibly by the end of this series. But I think that's probably not going to happen. So, I think we'll just have to do with what we have."
Right now that means using Carlos Guillen, the Tigers' starting shortstop, at first base, and last night Leyland plugged in Neifi Perez at shortstop.
Guillen, who may need to move to another position next season because his shortstop skills have lessened, said the difference between positions is the angles of the balls that are hit.
Guillen booted a ball hit by Jason Kendall in the eighth inning of the Tigers' 5-1 win in Game 1. Guillen said, ``I knew it was going to be trouble as soon as he hit it because the ball was moving everywhere. Unfortunately, we didn't make the play, but we turned a double play.
``I don't feel it's too hard. Shortstop is hard. When you can play shortstop, you can play anywhere."
Maybe. But Guillen didn't show it on the play he flubbed. Casey has also been the Tigers' No. 3 hitter, but Leyland said he's not going to cry about it, considering ``the A's are missing their whole double-play combo [Bobby Crosby and Mark Ellis]."
Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com. 
