Yankees' Damon proving tough out for Phillies
Photo credit: AP Photo | New York Yankees' Johnny Damon breaks his bat as he hits an RBI ground out to first during the fifth inning of Game 5 of the World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies.
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World Series Game 5: Phillies 8, Yankees 6
Less than 24 hours after the one-man double-steal now known as Damon's Dash put the Yankees in position to steal the Game 4 victory, the maker of that heads-up play poked some fun at his victims.
As Johnny Damon took his lead off second base with two outs in the ninth inning of Game 5 and the Yankees trailing by two, he turned to Phillies third baseman Pedro Feliz, smiled and pointed at third.
"I was telling Feliz he can still play the shift on Tex and I can just walk to third because my run doesn't mean anything," Damon recalled Tuesday. "But he wasn't buying it."
Unlike the previous night, Damon never advanced any farther than second, as Phillies righthander Ryan Madson struck out Mark Teixeira to close the Phillies' 8-6 Game 5 win.
Overshadowed by the Yankees' loss, however, was the fact that Damon once again got himself on base with two outs in the ninth, thus extending the game and giving one of the Yankees' big bats a chance to do something.
Damon has six hits in his last nine at-bats, none bigger than his ninth-inning, two-out singles on consecutive nights. Without the first of those singles, maybe the Yankees come home trailing this best-of-seven series 3-2 as opposed to being ahead right now.
What was most impressive was how Damon came through, fighting his way through tough at-bats.
In Game 4, Damon won a nine-pitch battle with Phillies closer Brad Lidge in which he fouled off five pitches before hitting a single to leftfield. The next night, he fouled off two 0-and-2 pitches from Madson, worked the count to 2-and-2 and then singled to centerfield.
"I'm just trying to keep the game going," Damon said of his mind-set in those at-bats. "I'm trying to keep the chances alive. I've been trying to battle my entire career, try to have great at-bats. Sometimes it happens and sometimes you look silly. You're trying to be as good as you can in the moment."
Damon's act is nothing new to Pedro Martinez, the Phillies' Game 6 starter Wednesday night and Damon's former Red Sox teammate. "I'm in some ways glad I got to face him to realize how uncomfortable the other guys were feeling when he played with me," Martinez said Tuesday. "He's a tough out. He's going to give you a battle and he's not going to get unraveled for anything."
Damon is 8-for-23 in the World Series with two doubles, four RBIs and three stolen bases, which is a far cry from his 1-for-12 performance in the Division Series against the Twins.
An impending free agent, Damon likes playing 81 home games at Yankee Stadium in part because of the lack of foul territory. "When I was with Oakland, it was a tough year because those balls I fouled off were still in the field of play," Damon said, referring to when he hit .256 in 2001. "It was hurting me in that ballpark. But in Boston and here in New York with short foul territory, it definitely helps me out."
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