Hey, did you hear Jim Leyland got mad?

It's too late for me to write about the Leyland tirade, isn't it? I kind of presume that everyone reading this blog reads most of the same blogs I read. So you've already read the other takes from Eno, Knobler, T-Fos, and Billfer, right? And then there's Big Al's Leyland-Fife comparison. Didn't miss that, did you? Of course you didn't.

Good choice by me to post something about the Pistons watching the clock until the playoffs begin, rather than the "Get your heads out of your @$$es!" outburst we've been waiting for ever since Leyland took the Tigers job, by the way.

When I first heard about this on the radio, I thought it was too early in the season to go ballistic, and Leyland could be on his way to a Dick Vermeil-esque burnout. On the other hand, Monday's "on a jet plane" loss to Cleveland was exactly the right time for it. Leyland was dead-on: Settling for a split, for "just enough," has been the last decade-plus of Detroit Tigers baseball. And those days have to be over if any progress is to be made.

After reading stories by Tom Gage and Danny Knobler today, however, it seems apparent that Leyland needed this as much as the players. He had to make sure he still had the fire. He needed to see if he could still storm into a clubhouse and send players scurrying into their lockers. Could he still bring the hammer? Now we all know the answer is emphatically yes.

But Leyland himself says it's "forgotten," so I won't push it. I don't want him yelling at me. I'm a very sensitive man. My lower lip might quiver. Because of the cigarette breath, that is, not the actual yelling.

▪▪ If you ever wondered what Leyland would look like had he been the manager of the Sunnydale baseball team on 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer,' check out what my main (wo)man Sam(ela) gave us at Roar of the Tigers.

▪▪ Did you read this? Jason Beck posted a funny story about another Leyland tirade back in his Florida days, where he went into the locker room not once, but three different times to chew out the players.

▪▪ At The Detroit Tigers Weblog, Billfer is concerned about Justin Verlander's pitch count last night in Oakland. (Tiger Tales raises the same concern.) Maybe Leyland was taking out his remaining residual anger on poor Justin by leaving him out there for 121 pitches (at least one of which was clocked at 101 mph).

▪▪ You think Pittsburgh Pirates GM Dave Littlefield is sick of answering questions about Chris Shelton by now? Littlefield makes two different mea culpas to MLB.com (via Jason Beck) and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (via Buster Olney).

▪▪ Are my eyes telling me the truth? The Tigers actually on TV tonight? Of course, it's a West Coast game, so I don't know if I'll be staying up to watch it. Maybe if I take a nap after posting this...