Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl
Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland finally can change his underwear.
The skipper told the Detroit Free Press that he wore the same pair of underwear during the team’s 12-game winning streak, which was snapped Thursday by the Oakland A’s.
“I’m superstitious,” he told the newspaper. He added: “We won. I’m not going to change them.”
And it doesn’t stop with his underwear. Leyland has been wearing the same socks, as well, despite one having a noticeable hole in the heel.
“I told Schmakel (Jim Schmakel, the Tigers’ clubhouse manager) that if somebody threw them out, that would be the end,” Leyland told the Detroit Free Press.
Thanks to their recent run, the Tigers have built a 13 1/2-game lead in the AL Central and have clinched at least a tie for the division title.
Leyland was willing to joke about his underwear but not about his team’s success. Even if much of it came at the expense of a division that has no other team above .500.
“It was three months ago, two months ago, that the Cleveland Indians were the talk of baseball. Everybody was saying they were pretty good. Now all of a sudden, because we beat them, they’re bad? That’s not fair. I’m not falling for that,” Leyland told The Detroit News. “The Central is the division we play in. Nobody is going to take anything away from my team. When they had to step it up, they stepped it up. Nobody can take that away from us. I’m not going to let anybody put a damper on what those guys have done.
“We have a pitcher out there with 23 wins. We have a guy with 40-some saves. We have three or four guys hitting .300. We have an All-Star catcher and other All-Stars. We’re OK.”
WRITTEN BY ASN & FULL STORY HERE