Tigers owner Ilitch congratulates team after win

Tigers owner Ilitch congratulates team after win
By Chris Vannini and Jason Beck / MLB.com | 06/12/11 6:00 PM ET

DETROIT -- The Tigers had a surprise visitor after Saturday's game when owner Mike Ilitch stopped by the home clubhouse.

It was a brief, impromptu visit, lasting a few minutes in the moments after the 8-1 win over the Mariners. There was apparently no planned motive to it, other than congratulations.

"I think the guys were all thrilled when Mr. Ilitch came in last night," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said Sunday morning. "That was a total shock. I thought that gave the guys a shot in the arm. That was kind of out of the clear blue. Guys were pumped up.

"Last night was a nice treat. He came in and said hello to everybody. He was fired up. I thought it was great. It was nice to see him happy like that. He deserves it."

Chris Vannini is an associate reporter for MLB.com. Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Reactions to Tigers’ share of division lead
BECK'S BLOG
Posted on June 12, 2011 at 2:22 am

How much stock do the Tigers put in moving into a virtual tie atop the AL Central in June? Depends on who you ask.

• Alex Avila: “It’s nice to get there. It definitely means something, because that’s what we’re working towards. We want to win as many games as possible and be in first place [at season's end]. That’s the goal. But at this point, that’s not something we’re focused on. We’re trying to win the game that day.”
  
• Brennan Boesch: “It feels good. It’s a long way to go obviously, but the Indians were playing such good baseball early on that it just shows that this team, when we put our heads down and play hard, that we can be a force to be reckoned with and it feels good to be there right now.”
  
• Max Scherzer: “Yeah, it feels good, but we’ve got [about] 100 games left. That’s a lot of games. A lot of things can happen. But you’ve got to love the talent on this team. You’ve got to love what our offense is doing, love what our pitching staff’s doing. We’re in a real good position, and we’re starting to really come on strong. I definitely like our team.”
  
• Austin Jackson: “It definitely is [a sense of satisfaction], but we’ve still got a long way to go. We understand that. We just need to keep playing good baseball and just take care of what we can take care of.”