There wasn’t a lot of surprise that Tigers manager Jim Leyland began to get a little testy with repeated questions in spring training about his defense, which everyone was patiently waiting to display itself as being as porous as they’d expected.

To borrow Leyland’s parlance, repeated questions about the defense is ‘beating a dead horse.’ Even if you're asking about a good play, there's not a lot of upside in the discussion.

“There’s no sense talking to it because it’s a no-win situation for a manger. We’re not playing Miguel Cabrera at third and Prince Fielder at first for their defense. That’s not why we’ve got them there. We got them there because of those big bats,” the manager said.

“That’s not why they’re on the corners. They’re power guys on the corners that work on both sides of the ball. And, they’re working their (butts) off. I really believe that Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera’s work in spring training have helped them. There’s no question about that. They worked hard. And, it’s paying off. I’ve said all along that I think Miguel Cabrera has great hands and a great arm.”

Nobody in the Tigers organization has ever espoused the theory that three of the four primary infielders — Cabrera, Fielder and Ryan Raburn — are going to win Gold Gloves.

All Leyland asks of them is they make plays on the balls hit to them.

So far, they have.

Coming in to Thursday’s games, the Tigers were the team in MLB with the fewest errors (one).