Lou Piniella’s comments were taped to the door leading from the Tigers’ cramped locker room to their dugout at Minnesota’s Metrodome on Monday -- there for each and every player to see and read on his way out to the field.
        “The White Sox should win that division by half-a-dozen games or more, if you want to know the truth,” the outspoken manager of the Chicago Cubs was quoted as saying over the weekend.
        “They have just about everything that you need. They have power. They have a good defensive team on the field and they have a heckuva bullpen. They have good starters.”
        No one would say who taped Piniella’s pronouncement to the door, but his words obviously ticked some of the Tigers off.
        Jim Leyland’s response?
        “I don’t have time to worry about other teams and other divisions,” the Tigers’ manager said tersely. “I’ve got my hands full with what I’m doing here.”
        Rest assured, if the Tigers should somehow end up in the World Series against the Cubs, come October, Piniella’s words will come back to haunt him.
        Who says ballplayers and managers don’t pay attention to what is written in the newspaper?