It's magic!

There was a great deal of gnashing of teeth among Detroit bloggers and media yesterday when the Tigers' lineup was announced. I took a spin around to see what they were saying, and people were ripping Leyland, which stunned me.

Neifi Perez in the No. 2 spot, Polanco in the 3 and Alexis Gomez in the 8?

Somehow, this madness worked to the tune of eight runs, with Gomez driving in 4.

"If I walk in there on Friday and see my name as the cleanup hitter, I'd expect to get a hit," reliever Todd Jones said last night.

I gave up on trying to figure out Leyland months ago and just trusted him. I'm surprised more people hadn't. He seems, at least for this year, to have an uncanny ability to gauge his players and cajole them into producing.

For example, with Gomez: "I told him it's a 5 o'clock game and that's when you hit most of your home runs (in BP), so I'm going to play you tonight." That bit probably went a long way toward relaxing Gomez.

Actually, the move made sense in that Gomez is a left-handed bat, and the Tigers needed one against Loaiza (who yielded a .319 BA to lefties this season).

The Perez move is more puzzling, but I believe Leyland picked Perez over Infante and Santiago because of his better range at SS and his experience. I'm guessing he batted him No. 2 because he didn't want to disrupt the rest of the lineup, which has been producing quite well. If he batted Perez in No. 9, which is where he probably belongs, then Inge has to move. I think the lineups have worked well with power at the bottom, especially with Granderson hitting well at the top. Perez probably hurts the lineup more in the 9 spot than in the 2. At least in the 2, he can bunt runners along and set the table.

Polanco in the 3 spot also made some sense despite his power. Nobody is hitting better right now. I'm sure Leyland was thinking: Granderson gets on, Perez moves him a base, Polly drives him home. Not bad thinking, when you think about it. (And how unbelievable was it to see Polly get an IBB so the A's could face Maggs?)

Verlander didn't pitch great, but good enough. The bullpen -- Grilli (Cheese), Rodney and Jones -- struck out 6 in a row before Jonesy gave up 3 singles and had to face Frank Thomas with the game on the line. Jonesy loves to make them exciting, but usually escapes.

Like magic.