Smoke and fire

DETROIT -- There's no computer on his desk. Jim Leyland doesn't spend a lot of time looking at spreadsheets and percentages. He is not a numbers cruncher and he probably wouldn't last long in a room with Bill James, Billy Beane, and Theo Epstein. He'd be gone even quicker if they were gathered in a non-smoking room. Leyland's got to have his Marlboros.

The manager of the Detroit Tigers goes by what his eyes tell him -- and those eyes have seen a lot of baseball since he left Perrysburg, Ohio, with a shaving kit and a catcher's mask in 1964.

Like Earl Weaver, Leyland never made it to the big leagues as a ballplayer. He never hit higher than .243 and never made it to Triple A. But now he's managing in the World Series for the second time in 10 years and he's more popular in Motown than Aretha or Eminem. There are billboards in Detroit urging Leyland to run for governor of Michigan.

Not likely. There's nothing political about Leyland. He wasn't afraid to stand up to Barry Bonds when he managed the Pirates and he's not worried about hurting players' feelings when he makes decisions with the 2006 Tigers. He doesn't have a Francona bone in his body. He's a manager, not a baby sitter. If Manny Ramírez quit on him, he'd call him out. Or he'd quit himself.

He did quit major league baseball after a dismal one-year stint (72-90) with the Colorado Rockies in 1999. Just went home. It was only two seasons after he'd won a World Series with the Florida Marlins, but he couldn't get enthused about big-league ball any longer and he wasn't getting it done for the Rockies. So he went home and watched his son play ball.

"It's hard for me to believe, but a year ago at this time I was throwing batting practice to a bunch of 13-year-olds," he said yesterday, on the eve of the World Series, which has returned a pulse to downtrodden downtown Detroit.

He's a little uncomfortable in the eye of the storm. Earlier in the week, when the Tigers were waiting for the Cardinals and Mets to finish their National League Championship Series, Leyland said, "I don't photograph very well. I'm tired of everybody saying I'm craggy, Marlboro man and all that [expletive]. My wife thinks I'm good-looking. When I look in the mirror, I think I look a lot younger than in my pictures [he's 61]. You guys are doing a horse-[expletive] job."

Leyland was born in Toledo, Ohio, which is literally a minor league branch of the Detroit Tigers. When the moribund Tigers were looking for a man to bring them back from the abyss (12 consecutive losing seasons, including a 119-loss campaign in 2003), general manager Dave Dombrowski called Leyland, who had not managed a game this century. Leyland drove to his interview from his Pennsylvania home. He was hired. And now he's back in the World Series and the well-rested Tigers are favored to beat Tony La Russa's exhausted Cardinals.

La Russa brought Leyland to the big leagues with the White Sox in 1982. La Russa was in his third full season with the ChiSox and he hired the chain-smokin', cleat-wearing, skinny guy who'd been a lifer with the Tiger organization (seven as a player, 11 as a manager in the minors). Leyland's stint with the White Sox led to his first big-league managerial gig with the Pirates. When Leyland left the Rockies after the 1999 season, he went back to work for La Russa, serving as an advance scout for the Cardinals for six seasons.

Reporters tried to get Leyland to talk about La Russa yesterday, a few hours after the Cardinals had earned the right to face Detroit in the Series, but Leyland wouldn't have it.

"This story should be about the players," he said, refusing an opportunity to wax poetic about his relationship with La Russa.

As for his St. Louis experience, he said, "The Cardinals treated me like gold, they just didn't pay me much gold."

He's had the golden touch throughout this postseason. Rookie pitchers in big games? No problem. Alexis Gomez as DH? The guy hit a homer and knocked in four runs. Pulling a starter in the middle of a count? Tough toenails. This isn't about tiptoeing around egos of big-league ballplayers.

In Game 2 of the Division Series in New York, Leyland bolted out of the dugout in mid-count (1 and 1) to pull Justin Verlander in favor of lefthander Jamie Walker. Naturally, the move worked and the Tigers won, 4-3. That's the win that started their seven-game streak they hope to extend tonight when Verlander gets the ball in the first game of the World Series. Leyland wants white-hot veteran Kenny Rogers for Games 2 and 6.

Players of all ages have responded to the old-school skipper. That was the 41-year-old Rogers carrying Leyland off the field on his shoulder after the Tigers slayed the mighty Yankees. It was a high school moment on a big-league stage, rare in this cynical century.

"We're for real," Leyland said yesterday. "We deserve to be here."

Leyland managed in the National League for 14 seasons, so playing in St. Louis without a designated hitter is not going to confuse him. His Tigers swept the Cardinals in three games in June, outscoring the Redbirds, 21-13. Naturally, he says that means nothing. Same with his team's winning streak and the American League's eight-game winning streak (White Sox, 4-0, over the Astros last season and You Know Who sweeping the Cards in '04) in the World Series.

Leyland's brother, Tom, is a Catholic priest. His wife, Katie, is well versed in Red Sox lore. His teenage daughter, Kellie, toured Boston College when the Tigers played at Fenway in August and Leyland might be at The Heights for parents weekend in a few years. But right now there's a World Series to be won for a town that deserves something good.

At this hour, Jim Leyland and the 2006 Tigers are the best story in baseball.

Dan Shaughnessy's e-mail address is dshaughnessy@globe.com.