Tigers vs Yankees Game 5: Jim Leyland Smart to Refuse Justin Verlander in Relief

Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander has never, in his six-year career in MLB, pitched out of the bullpen. Game 5 of the 2011 American League Division Series at Yankee Stadium is hardly a good time for him to try.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland has already made it clear that he will not use the 2011 Cy Young favorite in relief, preferring instead to rely on the arms that got his team to the top of the AL Central and the brink of the ALCS. Said Leyland of his choice:

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It was not a hard decision for me. One thing you have to remember, he went a little longer than CC (Sabathia) the other night. He was also throwing 100 miles an hour in the eighth inning. He's thrown a lot of pitches under stressful circumstances. Justin Verlander coming out of the bullpen tonight might make for a better story. But I don't think it's a common-sense thing to do long-term, to be honest with you.

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This, in response to the news that Yankees manager Joe Girardi would make Sabathia, who also has never pitched in relief, available to throw out of the bullpen for the Bronx Bombers if need be. Leyland, instead, insisted that "(Max) Scherzer is my Sabathia tonight."

The ideal situation, for either manager, would be to avoid having to use either ace tonight altogether. For the Yankees, that would mean handing the ball off to Rafael Soriano, Dave Robertson and, of course, Mariano Rivera.

For the Tigers, it's the tight-rope-walking trio of Phil Coke, Joaquin Benoit and Jose Valverde (of the "not going back to New York" guarantee).

Realistically, that's the way to go. Neither manager wants to put his best starting pitcher into a situation in which he is not already familiar, especially not in a spot as crucial as the deciding game of a Division Series.

That's not to suggest that Verlander or Sabathia would necessarily fail if called upon out of the bullpen. Who knows? Maybe these two would be just as good coming out of the 'pen in the later stages of a game as they have been from the first pitch on.

And, to his credit, Verlander has lobbied Leyland to let him pitch, to the point of testing the 66-year-old manager's steely resolve.

But now is not the time for Leyland to test his own resolve, or even Verlander's. As tremendous a competitor as Verlander is, pitching in the postseason is different enough of an animal in and of itself.

The last thing either manager needs do at this juncture is disrupt the roles to which all of his pitchers, Verlander included, have become accustomed to over the course of a grueling, 162-game schedule—especially when competing in the pressure cooker of the playoffs already messes with pitchers' heads and performances so often.