Hitting The Jackpot

CARLOS GUILLEN is so superstitious that he won't reveal his superstitions, other than to say that he keeps lucky dice in his locker at Comerica Park and never removes the orange-and-blue titanium necklace he has worn through his charmed 2006 season. "I can't tell my secrets," Guillen, the Tigers shortstop, said with a wry smile on Sunday night, after going 3 for 3 in Detroit's 3--1 win over the Cardinals in Game 2 of the World Series. "I don't want my luck to run out."

The Tigers had all the luck when they made the little-noticed 2004 trade that brought them Guillen from Seattle in exchange for reserve shortstop Ramon Santiago (now back with the Tigers) and Juan Gonzalez--not that Juan Gonzalez, the two-time AL MVP, but an obscure righthander who remains buried in the minors. Though it had initially targeted Rich Aurilia--who eventually signed with the Mariners--during that off-season, the Tigers' front office insists that they had been high on Guillen, too. "We got [Carlos] when he was 28," says assistant G.M. Al Avila, "when he was just entering his prime years. We thought he could be a guy who was about to take that next step. What he's doing now isn't a big surprise. It's exactly what we were hoping for."

Guillen is a patient, gap-to-gap hitter in a lineup heavy with free swingers who pull the ball. This season, in addition to leading AL shortstops in slugging (.519) and all shortstops in OPS (.920), Guillen, who hit .320, became the first player since 1901 to increase his batting average for a sixth consecutive season. And despite a 3-for-16 hiccup in the Tigers' sweep of the A's in the AL Championship Series, the soft-spoken, sleepy-eyed 31-year-old switch-hitter was batting .432 with seven extra-base hits through Detroit's first 10 postseason games; in the first two games of the World Series alone, he was 5 for 7, including a single, a double and a triple on Sunday. "People don't know him [in the U.S.], but back home he's a star," says teammate and fellow Venezuelan Magglio Ordo�ez. "Hopefully that will change, because he doesn't get enough respect here."

Through nine big league seasons Guillen has been unlucky with injuries. Though he appeared in a career-high 153 games this year, he played much of the season in pain. "He's got hamstring, knee and back injuries that are just killing him," says centerfielder Curtis Granderson. "He walks around the clubhouse with all these pads on, all bandaged up, like he's coming from battle. He's doesn't quit, and he doesn't complain."

And, as obsessed as he is with good-luck charms, he leaves little on the field to chance. "Carlos always is the most prepared guy out there," says backup catcher Vance Wilson. "Whether it's because of all the video he watches or all the information he gets from constantly asking guys stuff, he always knows where to position himself on the field, and he knows what to expect from pitchers when he's at the plate."

Says manager Jim Leyland, "He's probably the smartest player on our ball club--and the top candidate to go on to a managerial career, if he chooses." That's one more secret Guillen hasn't revealed.