Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland was driving to Kent State University to pick up his daughter when the phone rang.

It was Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski on the line, and the inflection of his voice immediately told Leyland that this wasn’t a, “Hey, how’s it going?” call.

“Are you sitting down?” Dombrowski asked Leyland.

“Well, I am sitting down,” Leyland responded, “because I’m driving a car.”

Dombrowski’s next fear was that Leyland might suddenly veer off into the ditch.

“I could tell from the tone of voice that something wasn’t right,” Leyland said.

“When he told me what it was, I was almost in disbelief.”

Tigers designated hitter Victor Martinez, author of a .330 batting average and 103 RBIs last season, the man who provided cover for American League batting champ Miguel Cabrera in the heart of the Detroit batting order, tore an ACL while working out.

In all likelihood, Martinez is done for the 2012 campaign.

Some might also say the same about Detroit’s pennant chances.

“We’ve got a big worry,” Cabrera acknowledged. “He’s one of the best hitters in our lineup.”

Leyland spent Wednesday night jotting down experimental batting orders minus Martinez.

“I wrote down several lineups already since this happened, but there’s also a blank spot in the lineup, because somebody’s going to DH,” Leyland admitted.

Launching their winter tour Thursday at Comerica Park, going forward, the Tigers admit they don’t know what they’re going to do.

“To be honest with you, this is so fresh, this injury, that we haven’t had time yet,” Leyland said. “I just don’t know how we’re going to fill this thing out, whether it be from within, or whether Dave’s going to go out and get somebody.”

Leyland knows a couple of things for sure.

“You can feel sorry for yourself until the cows come home, but the fact of the matter is, there’s no hesitation,” he said. “Victor’s not going to play, most likely for the entire year.”

Leyland also recognizes that whoever they get, it will be a downgrade.

“We’re not going to find a Victor Martinez,” Leyland said. “I can assure you of that. He’s not out there.

“This guy is one of the more professional hitters in all of baseball. He’s one of the best two-strike hitters in baseball. He’s one of the best RBI, non-home run guys in all of baseball.

“We’re not going to find him.”

They will find somebody, and for that somebody, this could be their chance at something big.

The sound that was heard immediately after the popping sound of Martinez’s ligament snapping?

It was opportunity knocking. In sports, one player’s misfortune is another player’s chance at greatness.

“That’s how major-league baseball works,” Tigers outfielder Delmon Young said. “Most of the guys who come up, it’s through an injury.

“There’s a lot of guys who’ve had extensive careers in major-league baseball who came up through someone else being hurt.”

The most famous injury replacement of all, Lou Gehrig, got his chance when Wally Pipp couldn’t answer the bell.

Gehrig played first base for the New York Yankees for the next 2,130 games in a row before illness caused him to give way.

Now, no one’s saying the Tigers are about to discover the next Gehrig, but for someone — it might be Brennan Boesch, it might be Don Kelly, it might be Ryan Raburn, it might be somebody no one’s even considered yet — this is their chance to stake their claim as a major-league regular.

Opportunity is knocking, and someone must answer its call.