Leyland keeps it simple

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Sometimes the formula for good entertainment is rather simple.

Jim Leyland talks.

Just give him a prompt – in Friday's instance, his staying current with the advances in medical technology – and rant he will.

"Being an old-timer, it's probably good I don't know too much, because I'm all (messed) up on the medical stuff," said Leyland, the 62-year-old manager of the Detroit Tigers. "People a whole lot smarter than me are doing what they think best. I marvel sometimes how we went from hot water to ice (on pitchers' arms). I know they're right. They studied it a lot more than I did. When did it go from every fourth day to fifth day?

"I'm totally confused on the medical part. But a lot of it comes down to precautionary measures because of long-term, huge investments, and I don't blame people."

The Tao of Leyland is an amalgamation of Buddhist monk and Bering Sea crab fisherman. He exudes calm and peace while blowing through cigarettes and dropping enough F-bombs to keep the FCC in business for a decade.

Like both, he is a man of little complication.

"I'm not a doctor," he said. "I'm a manager."

Only not in the most basic way. Natural inclination is to focus a goal – in his case, winning the World Series. Leyland refuses to do so, believing his means will lead to a just end.

"I don't ever put emphasis on winning," Leyland said. "I just don't believe in that. I put emphasis on utilizing your ability and playing hard for nine innings every night just like our ring says."

That's their American League championship ring, one the Tigers won just three years after losing 119 games. In his first season with Detroit last year, Leyland turned a collection of mismatched talent into a pennant winner. And this year, he said, he feels no different, no more or less pressure to win, no fixation on jinxes, nothing like that at all.

Sometimes the formula for winning just isn't that simple.