Joel Zumaya is some 1,200 miles away, beginning another rehab assignment in Lakeland, Fla. But the star-crossed right hander remains very much on Jim Leyland’s mind.
        The Tigers not only want him, they need him. Zumaya could be the missing piece in Leyland’s plans for the seventh, eighth and ninth innings.
        “He’ll be a welcome addition when he comes back,” Leyland admitted. “That’s a little gap that we really need filled right now.”
        Zumaya threw an inning against the Class A Tampa Yankees Saturday night. He walked the first two batters he faced and yielded two runs.
        But the results were of no consequence. So long as Zumaya continues to throw pain-free, the Tigers will consider that progress.         “To me, there is no setback for Joel Zumaya as long as he’s healthy,” the manager declared.
        “We’re going to do this right, we’re not going to rush it,” Leyland cautioned again Sunday.
        “We don’t want Zumaya coming back up here, getting shut down again, and going back on the disabled list.
        “We’re going to do it smart. We’re going to do it right. There are no guarantees in this, but we’re going to try to make sure, once he comes back, he stays.”
        Zumaya will probably pitch another game or two in Lakeland before moving up the minor league ladder to Double-A Erie or Triple-A Toledo on his way to Detroit.
        “That all depends on his health, on how he’s feeling, how he’s doing,” Leyland projected.
        Although Zumaya was feeling under the weather on Saturday night, his pitches were still clocked at between 94 and 97 mph.
        “I’m not worried about his velocity,” Leyland insisted.
        “He’s got to be able to throw 97, 98 mph when he needs to, but he’s got to get his breaking ball over the plate, too,” Leyland said. “These are big league hitters. You can’t just throw fastballs by them, even if they are 98 mph.
        “Nobody knows for sure if his velocity will ever be the same,” the manager admitted. “But, as long as he’s got his good curve ball, Zumaya at 93, 94, 95 mph will be fine.”
        Leyland also had words of praise for reluctant reliever Nate Robertson’s performance out of the bullpen on Saturday, when he pitched two perfect innings against the Rangers, to get the Tigers to the eighth inning.
        That allowed Leyland to employ Bobby Seay, Ryan Perry and closer Fernando Rodney the way he wanted to use them -- not because he had to.
        “We all know what the situation is, but what Nate did was as good as somebody giving us five innings as a starter,” Leyland declared.
        What affect will that outing have on Robertson’s attitude toward his presence in the  bullpen?
        “We’ll see,” Leyland said. “Hopefully, it was encouraging for him. Because it was also one of the keys to us winning the ballgame.
        “You won’t win unless your bullpen is good,” Leyland added. “That’s just the way it is.
        “We’ve got to figure some things out from seven to nine,” he admitted.
        And Leyland won’t have his bullpen set up the way he wants it until he gets Zumaya back -- which probably won’t be before  next month, at the earliest.