OAKLAND, Calif. -- When second baseman Placido Polanco went down with a shoulder injury for the Detroit Tigers in August, they went out and acquired Neifi Perez as a replacement.

Now Detroit is counting on Perez to fill a different role.

The utility player started at shortstop for Game Two of the A.L. Championship Series last night against the Oakland Athletics when regular shortstop Carlos Guillen had to move to first base to replace the injured Sean Casey. Perez also moved into the No. 2 hole with Polanco taking Casey's spot as the third hitter in Detroit's lineup against Esteban Loaiza. "Obviously when you lose you No. 3 hitter it changes a lot of things," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. "So you try to get as versatile a lineup as you possibly can, thinking that you may have to do some other things. (Perez) can bunt, he can hit and run, he can do some things."

Perez was acquired from the Chicago Cubs on Aug. 20, and struggled in his short time in Detroit. He hit .200 in 21 games, with no homers and five RBI.

He walked just three times in 65 at-bats, leaving him with a .235 on-base percentage -- not exactly what teams usually look for in their No. 2 hitter. But Leyland still likes what Perez gives the team.

"He's liable to swing at one one foot over his head and he's liable to swing at one two feet for a triple," Leyland said. "The thing I love with Neifi Perez is energy. He plays with a passion. He loves to play. He's a smart player."

Casey's future uncertain

Casey has a partial tear in a muscle in his left calf and could miss the rest of the series.

Casey injured himself in the sixth inning of Detroit's win in the series opener and underwent an MRI exam yesterday that showed the small tear.

"The trainers are hoping for a miracle when they say possible by the end of this series," Leyland said yesterday. "But I think that's probably not going to happen. So I think we'll just have to do with what we have."

General manager Dave Dombrowski was more optimistic, saying there was "a good possibility" Casey could return late in this series and an even better chance he'd be able to play if Detroit made it to the World Series.

The injury could be a costly one for Detroit, which does not have another true first baseman on its ALCS roster after not activating Chris Shelton. Guillen played eight games at first base in the regular season this year -- his first major-league action there in his career. He also has played first base in the World Baseball Classic and in winter ball in Venezuela.

"To me it's easy," he said. "I don't feel it's too hard. Shortstop is hard. When you play shortstop, you can play everywhere."

Guillen made his first error at first base Tuesday on Jason Kendall 's spinning grounder in the seventh. He made up for it a batter later by starting a 3-6-1 double play.

"What happens is you just improvise when you get in situations like this," Leyland said. "We'll do what we have to do. Is it an ideal situation? No it's not. But I remind everybody that the Oakland A's lost their double play combination so we're certainly not looking for any sympathy, nor do we expect any."

Oakland is playing without injured shortstop Bobby Crosby and second baseman Mark Ellis in the ALCS.

Casey batted .245 with five homers and 30 RBI in 53 games after being acquired in a trade from Pittsburgh. He is 7-for-20 with four RBI in the postseason.

Cafe E'Lo

Luckily, the coffee was already lukewarm. Esteban Loaiza 's now infamous coffee incident with Milton Bradley during his division series start last week at Minnesota was a hot -- no pun intended -- topic heading into last night's Game Two.

Bradley tossed his batting gloves onto a dugout shelf in the Metrodome, knocking a cup of coffee onto the pitcher.

Loaiza had on three layers and another uniform at the ready, so he quickly changed.

"That right there, I think I wore it -- you could say I wore it," Loaiza said laughing. "It was just one of the things that I didn't know how to react but just to stay focused and stay in my plan of going out there and not paying attention to that."

Plus, the coffee never got on his skin -- and he wasn't burned because the drink wasn't too hot.

"Just a quick reaction, go back in, take the clothes off, and put another one on and get ready for the game," he said.