Weather crimps Tigers' plans to iron out pitching

Mar 12, 2010 - 7:58 PM LAKELAND, Fla.(AP) -- Tiger manager Jim Leyland might complain about the weather if he thought it would do any good.

"It's not OK, but it's OK," Leyland said after Friday's exhibition game against the Philadelphia Phillies was rained out. "You can't do anything about it so you just do the best you can.

"Obviously we've got a lot of work to do. I think the next 10 days or so are going to be critical for us in the pitching area. It's actually OK for some guys to get a little blow, but other guys it's not."

Jeremy Bonderman and Nate Robertson, candidates for open spots in Detroit's pitching rotation, had been scheduled to pitch Friday. They will pitch instead in Saturday's split-squad game here against the New York Yankees.

"The plan is to have Bonderman, Robertson and (Dontrelle) Willis, not necessarily in that order, pitch three innings apiece here, and (Max) Scherzer will pitch in the road," Leyland said. "So we'll have all four of those guys pitching and that's good." Scherzer and Ryan Perry will be among the pitchers traveling to Port St. Lucie to face the New York Mets.

Willis, who was originally scheduled to start Saturday's game, didn't give up a run in his first two spring appearances, striking out four in four innings.

"I'm just having fun. I know everybody says that and it's a cliche, but I'm really enjoying every day," he said. "If I'm on, I know I can be a help to this team, I know I can be a help for any team. I'm not worried about whether I'm going to be starting or relieving; I just want to go out there and get some quality outs."

Leyland has said his top priority is filling out the rotation behind Justin Verlander, Rick Porcello and Scherzer, the newly acquired right-hander who has had two rough outings so far.

Leyland addressed his pitchers Friday morning after the game was canceled, telling them he was wavering between thinking the Tigers had too much pitching and not enough. "We definitely have enough talent, I don't mean that, but you keep waiting for somebody to step up or something to jump out at you," he said. "You wait for somebody to make your decision real easy. It'll be an interesting two or three weeks."