CLEVELAND (AP) - Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland was with the team Friday night, just not in the dugout, as he began serving a three-game suspension.
"I'll be on the field until game time, then totally out of sight," Leyland said before the Tigers started a three-game series against the Cleveland Indians. "I'll have nothing to do with these three games in any shape or form."Major League Baseball announced the suspension Thursday, citing Leyland for "inappropriate conduct" in consecutive road games against the Texas Rangers earlier in the week. Leyland was ejected in the sixth inning Monday for disputing a hit-by-pitch call that went against the Tigers. He shouted at umpires as they left the field Tuesday following a 5-4 loss to the Rangers.
"I won't sit up in the press box because you set yourself up for attention," said Leyland, who also was fined an undisclosed amount.
"I'm a grown man. I accept my penalty and that's it. I won't talk anymore about it."
Hitting coach Lloyd McLendon ran the team in Leyland's absence.
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