As the Tigers prepare to face the Yankee in Lakeland today, here are some ramblings from the skipper's office.

Base running was a hot topic today. Leyland feels that the Tigers are not a very good base running team yet. Interestingly enough, Leyland has brought some base paths philosophy over from his days with the Cardinals. "When the Cardinals were in their wining years, they were the best base running team in baseball," he said. "We've brought some of that over here."

This spring, the focus has been on making the Tigers a better team on the bases. Not necessarily faster (that's not possible according to Leyland), but better. "When you don't have a lot of speed, you have to emphasize better base running," he said. "We've worked on secondary leads a lot down here."

One of the better base runners the Tigers have had in recent years is Kirk Gibson. My first year broadcasting here in Detroit, Gibby was my broadcast partner and he constantly talked about getting better secondary leads and how much of a difference it can make in ####-#### plays at the plate. Leyland agrees. "If Curtis Granderson and Sean Casey got the same lead off second base, Granderson probably scores on a single, but Casey would need to cheat a little with his secondary lead to score."

In my opinion, Gary Sheffield is the Tigers best base runner. Not the fastest, but the best. At age 38 last year, he stole 22 bases. A great example of how you don't need blinding speed to be a good base runner, just good instincts.

Leyland was asked who he felt were the best base runners he has seen in his career. His answer: "Andy Van Slyke and Larry Walker. They had the best instincts I've ever seen."