Leyland Gets His Talking Done Man-To-Man

Jim Leyland isn't very big on team meetings, but he's very big on meetings with team members.

"I'm a manager who doesn't like meetings," he said. "I think this is a team that doesn't like them either."

So Leyland worked some of his clubhouse Sunday before Detroit defeated Oakland 3-0 to keep moving toward its next goal, finishing ahead of Texas and/or New York so as to get home-field advantage for at least one round of the American League postseason.

"I've already talked to Victor (Martinez)," Leyland said. He said he told him, 'We gotta keep it going, keep pumped up, get home-field advantage.'"

Leyland said he would talk to Miguel Cabrera, to his other team members to get his point across.

"I will say the same thing to (Duane) Below as I'm saying to Victor. I will go around the outfield (during batting practice). Make my point. Stakes are big. This is what you play for. You don't want to leave any stoned unturned."

It appears entering Tuesday's game at Kansas City that Detroit will open either at the AL East champion or host the wild-card team, which also will be from the AL East.

The wild card is turning into a race between Boston and Tampa Bay.

"We've accomplished one leg of the journey, but that's all we've done," Leyland said. "When we hadn't clinched it, I kept saying that we had accomplished one thing: Getting to September and playing for something.

"Then we accomplished the next goal of getting in. You can't go anywhere else if you don't get the first leg done. You're going home. Now you put that aside and set your sights on the next goal of getting home-field advantage. If we can do that, the next one is the division series.

"There's always motivation for the next part of the journey. But it doesn't get better than this. If you're afraid of playing in the postseason, you probably shouldn't work hard enough to get in. That's what we live for. To me, we don't have any better chance or any lesser chance than anybody else. That's the way I look at it. We have a shot. But you have take it in steps."

Leyland wants that extra home game, he said, for Detroit's fans as much as his team.

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