Leyland Gets Away With Gamble Of Removing A Catcher

It doesn't matter what the book of world records says, Jim Leyland now has the mark for holding one's breath.

Leyland didn't exhale from the moment he put Casper Wells in to pinch-run for Victor Martinez in the seventh inning Thursday until Jose Valverde struck out Nick Swisher for the third out of the ninth inning of Detroit's 6-3 victory over the Yankees.

The reason Leyland took a deep breath and held it? Running for Martinez took his starting catcher out of the game, meaning he had to put Alex Avila in to catch the eighth and ninth, and meaning he was left with no bone fide catcher to insert should something have happened to Avila.

It didn't, but it could have. Which was why there had to be some tiny thought of retaining Omir Santos for just such situations as this.

Martinez, behind the plate in his second game since coming off the disabled list, singled up the middle to open the seventh inning of a 2-2 game. Magglio Ordonez, swinging better of late, drew a walk, and Leyland drew a deep breath and put Wells in to run for the far slower Martinez at second.

Ryan Raburn got hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Brandon Inge broke the tie with a sacrifice fly. A two-out throwing error by Yankees shortstop Eduardo Nunez, his second bad throw of the game, gave Detroit two more runs and gave Leyland some thought about breathing again.

But the manager knows he could have put himself in a bind and gave second-guessers a field day had something happened to Avila -- not that he gives two hoots.

Leyland's stated third-string catcher was Don Kelly, the starting center fielder, but here's a sneaky hunch catcher-turned-third baseman Brandon Inge would have volunteered to go behind the plate for an emergency inning or two with a victory in the balance.

Leaving himself open for disaster is not something Leyland wants to do, but he said early this spring he would do whatever he felt was necessary to give his team the best chance to win a game.

When a team's second catcher is its first designated hitter, it limits the late-game options on occasion.

In the National League, teams can afford to carry a third catcher who might only get 60 at-bats. With pitchers batting, NL managers have five players on their benches.

In the American League, managers have just four extra players at their disposal. Taking one out of play, effectively leaving them with just three reserves, is something AL managers just can't afford to do.

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