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A sometimes-irreverent look at Detroit's Boys of Summer, the Tigers, as they try to return to the top of the American League Central.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Leyland: Don't make a mountain out of the molehill that was Verlander's bad start



For Tigers manager Jim Leyland, you could make a ton out of Justin Verlander's five-inning struggle against the Indians Saturday night, where he walked in a run for just the third time in his career.

Or you could take it for what it is, and move on.

As he said after the game, he didn't think it was "an alarm."

The message was no different 12 hours later.

"Last night, what I saw is pretty simple: He didn’t command his fastball," Leyland said Sunday morning.

"So when you’re as good as he is, you’ve got some other weapons to go to, to get through the game. That’s what he obviously did.

"His demise last night was lack of command of his fastball. Plain and simple as A, B, C."

Will Verlander watch video of the start, unlike his normal practice? Will he do anything special?

"You always hear conversation when somebody doesn’t do good. You know what I mean? Because he was dropping his arm, or because he was rushing something ..." Leyland said.

"The point is, he just didn’t have a good game. And instead of sitting here, trying to figure out 1,000 different reasons why Justin Verlander didn’t have a good game, just turn the page. He didn’t have a good game. He did not command his fastball. Just as simple as A, B, C. There’s no secrets to it. He did not throw his fastball for strikes.

"He don’t walk guys in. You don’t see him walk a run in very often.

"That simple. He did not have a good game. That’s OK. That’s allowed.

"A lot of times, when a guy swings at a pitch, makes an out, he didn’t do anything wrong. He just made an out."

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