Johnny Drama

Since everyone else has a take on the Johnny Damon drama, here's mine.

Now that he's left the Bronx, the first image that comes to mind when I think of Damon is his grand slam in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees. I still say that Ortiz' home run in the first inning was a bigger moment. Damon had just been thrown out at home prior to that home run and Yankee Stadium and Tim McCarver were going nuts. Mental images of Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown were still bouncing in my head when Ortiz connected. My thoughts immediately went from "Not again. Not again. I still haven't recovered from 2003. Oh, please, not again." to "Holy crap! We might actually win this." I remember screaming triumphantly when Damon went deep. Don't believe any Red Sox fan who *knew* at that moment they were going to win. Damon's grand slam helped us all breathe easier but like in any horror movie, we knew the villain wasn't completely dead and that ghosts of Grady Little precented overly premature celebrations.

My point is that images of Damon in pinstripes don't come to mind first since he left the pinstripes behind. Sure, I think of him crashing into the left field wall in Yankee Stadium and lying prone while Melky Cabrera scurries over to get to the ball and chuckle at the image, but I still think of his moments with the Red Sox first.

Would Damon have helped the Red Sox over the final few weeks? Sure. He likely would have been a marginal upgrade over Nava or McDonald in left field, and an insurance policy to help keep Bill Hall out of the outfield. He could bat at or near the top of the lineup, allowing Francona to move JD Drew back down in the lineup. He wears down pitchers and is still a threat to go deep now and then. But we're not talking about Albert Pujols here.

Personally, I'm not disappointed to see Damon invoke his no trade clause and stay in Detroit. I'm amused by how he did it.

His first priority was to make sure he'd have significant playing time wherever he spent the rest of the season, and that he wanted to play the outfield. Chalk that up to his competitive behavior? Sure. But he'll also be a free agent at the end of the year, so getting as much playing time as possible down the stretch is important in terms of getting a contract for next year. I love that playing time was the biggest factor. He publicly said that if the Tigers weren't going to play him, then he'd accept the trade to Boston. Only when the Tigers said that he'd see significant time did the fact that it was the Red Sox who had claimed him become a factor in the decision making process.

Damon felt slighted because he didn't think the Red Sox pursued him hard enough after the 2005 season ended. The Yankees offered him 30% more than the Red Sox and he took the money. That's a significant chunk of change and an obvious factor in his decision. But the Red Sox were the only other major offer he received, so obviously they felt he was pretty valuable. Plus, keep in mind that the Yankees offer was a "sign now or it's off the table" offer. The Red Sox probably wouldn't have countered the offer, but it's not like the Red Sox made no attempt to sign him. They figured what he was worth to the ballclub and were ready to go in another direction if he wanted more. At the time of the discussions, I cringed at the thought of a four year offer for Damon since I didn't think he'd be an effective center fielder by the end of that contract. The Red Sox, at the time, were already set in left field and designated hitter. I just envisioned that the last two years would be a challenge to find him playing time without being detrimental to the ballclub. I would have been happy to see the Red Sox offer a shorter contract for more money per year, but four years was too much. At the same time, I really felt that if the Red Sox didn't sign Damon that the Yankees would and I didn't want to see Damon in pinstripes.

Earlier in the 2005 season, Damon talked publicly about his impending free agency and said that he could never imagine himself in pinstripes, even though the Yankees might make it tough for him to say no. He'd been in Boston for four years. He understood the fan base well enough to know that if he left the Red Sox, he would get a standing ovation upon returning to Fenway in any uniform other than that of the Yankees. But I don't think he understood that all of his public discussion of his contract negotiations, all of his complaints about the Red Sox disrespect by offering him only forty million dollars, and all of his immediate sucking up to the Yankees fan base would result in the level of venom he received when he returned to Fenway as a Yankee.

I would have loved to see Damon get the warm welcome he deserved. The kind of reaction that Dave Roberts, Kevin Millar, Orlando Cabrera or Derek Lowe received as a visitor. But those reactions are reserved for non-Yankees.

What made the outrage that much stronger in the Red Sox fan base was that this was possibly the player who most typified the Red Sox from 2002-2005, the changing of the guard from Dirt Dogs to Idiots. I'm not sure if people remember how many Sox fans had Damon jerseys and t-shirts, but to fans who saw Damon as they're favorite player talking about how much he loved the Yankees organization and how he was happy to ditch the Idiot look and go for the clean cut Steinbrenner look, this was a betrayal. The t-shirts saying "Looks like Jesus, acts like Judas, throws like Mary" shirts made me chuckle. But the one that really laugh was one fan finding another use for his road Damon jersey, replacing the A in his name with a Sharpied E, removing the 1 and altering the 8 until it looked like a dollar sign.

Had Damon played in Fenway when the Tigers were in town, he would have gotten a warmer reception than he did in 2006. New York didn't initially embrace him, still seeing him as one of the Idiots. He was booed at a Rangers hockey game in New York shortly after signing his contract there. (Tip of the cap to Eric Wilbur on that.) But by handling the waiver wire situation the way he did, that reception will not be as warm in 2011 if he's still playing then. It won't be as bad as it was in 2006, but his statements and actions over the past couple days haven't exactly endeared him to Red Sox fans who booed him when he left.

Damon also loses some credit, in my eyes, for being a suck up. (Again thanks to Eric Wilbur's blog for this tidbit, link below.) As of this morning, his web site talked about his time with Boston and Detroit, but not his time in New York. Then, magically, it was updated later in the day to include his time in New York. He uses the media to try to endear himself to one fan base then another but doesn't seem to get that handling himself that way and then complaining about how one fan base sees him makes him look like a phony. Maybe he picked up tips on managing his image from A-Rod. Who knows.
http://www.boston.com/sports/columnists/wilbur/2010/08/last_rites.html

I wish Damon well, hope that he gets a contract somewhere other than with the Yankees, stops whining about how the Red Sox fan base and management hurt and disrespected him and enjoys the rest of his career. If I ever get the chance to meet him, I'll thank him for 2004 and would love to have him autograph a picture of his grand slam. In the meantime, I'm hoping guys like Nava and Kalish can help the Red Sox get to the postseason.

Go, Sox!

Leading Up To Game 7

I've been having running mails back and forth with a good buddy and huge Lakers fan. For some reason, I wanted to post my pre-game thoughts. Yeah, I'm insane. Anyway, here goes.

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I hate to sound like a pessimist or front-runner, but the only way I see the Celtics winning is if both Gasol and Odom have bad games. Short of that, I expect the Lakers to win going away tonight. I'm still hopeful and trying to stay positive, but the Game 6 blowout with Perkins going down feels like a punch to the gut and I'm waiting for the uppercut to the chin.

Let's hope for a good game and that the focus after the game is on the players of the winning team. If the Lakers win, congrats to them and the Celtics have every right to hold their heads up. A lot of people expected them to lose in the first round, including myself. If the Celtics win, congrats to them for running the D-Wade, LeBron, Dwight Howard, Kobe gauntlet and the Lakers have every right to hold their heads up. I hope there's minimal talk about either team or its players being labelled chokers, not showing up, not being able to win the big one, etc.

Biggest question for the Lakers: How will Bynum's knee hold up? If he can play effectively, that's a huge plus for the Lakers, especially with Perkins out. None of the Celtics bigs can match his athleticism. Even if he can't jump, he can outrebound any big the Celtics put on him. If he can play reasonably effectively, that makes things much easier for Gasol.

Biggest key for the Lakers: A big game from Gasol. If Gasol can score at least reasonably effectively and put Wallace and/or Garnett in foul trouble, this might be a blowout for the Lakers. A smart game from Artest on both ends of the floor would also go a long way toward helping the Lakers repeat.

X-factor 1 for the Lakers: Lamar Odom. If Bynum can't play effectively, it's up to Odom to help the Lakers take advantage of Perkins' absence. If Bynum can play, an even mildly effective Odom could still cause major headaches for the Celtics from a match-up perspective. I'd at least try putting Fisher, Kobe, Odom, Gasol and Bynum on the floor at the same time and force the Celtics to either play Davis, Wallace and Garnett at the same time or put Pierce on Odom. Going big like that seems like a no brainer to me. If the Celtics go big, they have to sit Rondo, Pierce or Allen. That's one less scorer unless they sit Rondo. If they sit Rondo, the Celtics can't run in transition as effectively and there's more work for Pierce or Allen bringing up the ball, especially if Fisher and/or Kobe pressure the ball. Plus, no matter what the Lakers decide, the Celtics can't use Tony Allen on Kobe unless they're willing to make things tougher on their other offensive players.

X-factor 2 for the Lakers: Kobe. I see Kobe as the second X-factor since he may see an absolutely dominating performance in a Game 7 against the Celtics as a way to cement his legacy. Simply winning should be enough for him but it may not be. The smart play is to try see if the Lakers can use the matchups to their advantage, racking up points and/or fouls, and having having the offense revolve around Kobe a little less. I may be way off base but I think there's at least a decent chance that he'll try to do more than he needs to. Then again, he's Kobe Bryant, and if he's on then that might work just as well for the Lakers as exploiting matchups.

Biggest question for Celtics: How will they defend the Lakers bigs? If they can't do a decent job against the Lakers bigs, they're looking at a less than jovial flight home.

Biggest keys for the Celtics: A big game from either Pierce or Ray Allen and a smarter game from Rondo. The Celtics need one of their scorers to step up and they need Rondo to do a much better job running the offense. He made too many lazy and/or ill-advised passes on drives and attempted too many wild shots on drives, trying to get enough English on the ball to use the glass from bad angles.

X-factor 1 for the Celtics: Rasheed Wallace. This is exactly the type of situation they signed him for, looking for him to help out when they need him in a big game. Can he play solid defense, rebound and help a little on offense for thirty five minutes?

X-factor 2 for the Celtics: Scalabrine. And yes, I'm completely serious. I don't think the Celtics can expect to go with just Garnett, Wallace and Davis as their bigs. Shelden Williams was absolutely atrocious in Game 6. I have more faith in Scalabrine than Williams. He's not as athletic as any of the Lakers bigs and couldn't shut any one of them down if they're on their game, but he plays smarter defense than he's usually given credit for and might be effective for a small stretch here or there, especially if Kobe's in hero mode. Scalabrine must be beyond rusty, but he also has more offensive upside than Williams if he can knock down a three. Frightening thought, Scalabrine being a potential X-factor for the Celtics.