Tigers' Damon keeps proving them wrong

The situation has started to become routine for Johnny Damon. His return to a city he once played hard for is greeted by cheers. He steps out of the batter's box, tips his helmet, then reminds everybody why they liked him in the first place.

Now on his fifth major-league team, Damon repeated the custom at Yankee Stadium last night and went 0-for-3 with two walks in the 3-1 Detroit victory.

Before his first at-bat, he doffed his helmet to appreciative fans, blew his wife a kiss and pumped his fist against his heart, pointing into the Yankees dugout to show "mad love" for his former teammates.

"It was great to come here and get cheered," Damon said. "This place was obviously tremendous to me. But what I'll always remember, besides winning a championship, is all the curtain calls after you hit a big homer. The fans really let you feel the love."

But Javier Vazquez didn't feel a lot of love, as the 36-year-old Damon engaged him in his trademark at-bat battles. In three plate appearances, he saw 24 of Vazquez's 106 pitches, helping to knock Vazquez out of the game after just four innings and showing that Damon's not done just yet.

And that's something he's been proving for a while.

After four years and a world championship in Boston, the Red Sox had questions about his defensive prowess and ability as he began to age and let him walk. After four years and a world championship in New York, the Yankees had the same concerns.

"I think all of them knew that I can still play, but it would have to be only on their terms," he said. "I feel like when you're a free agent in this game, it's got to be on the terms of both sides . . . Obviously, I'm getting up there in age, they always start to worry about durability and all that stuff. That's what Boston worried about me, also. And I just keep going out there and finding it."

And while he's "found it" in a .276 average and 30 doubles, 2010 has been a mixed bag overall.

Without the short rightfield porch of Yankee Stadium, he has been limited to seven home runs this year, and his runs scored and RBIs are down. Additionally, he's viewed primarily as a designated hitter now, spending 62 of his 100 games at DH.

But Tigers manager Jim Leyland said that Damon's appeal goes beyond the numbers.

"Johnny's got a charisma about him, there's no question about that," Leyland said. "He's got an air around him. He's good for any team, the track record shows that."

He was certainly good for the 2009 Yankees, hitting .282 with 24 home runs en route to his second World Series.

But Damon said that same World Series that established him in Yankees lore with the Game 4 "double steal" also proved to be a double-edged sword.

"Because we won, teams want to focus on getting better and the Yankees felt that they were getting better without me," Damon said.

"Are they better? Well they look pretty good right now."

With Ken Davidoff