Tigers remember Leyland's brief mound visits

DETROIT -- When former Tigers manager Jim Leyland paid a visit to the mound, he was typically succinct.

As reliever Phil Coke recalls, sometimes the meeting would be as brief as, "How ya doing? All right."

Catcher Alex Avila agreed, saying sometimes Leyland would stroll out from the dugout to say only four or five words.

Both Coke and Avila said they were never able to predict whether a visit from Leyland would end in a pitching change. With time, though, Avila was able to tell the hook was coming by the situation.

"Even if he had a guy warming, I knew when he was thinking about leaving him in or not," Avila said. "But then again, that's just playing under him, knowing him and knowing the situation."