Wednesday, May 21, 2008

What Was That Quote Again, Mr. Damon?

The Yankees crashed and burned against the Orioles, 12-2 at Yankee Stadium last night. I caught the early-inning ugliness (or was that beauty?) last night on TV, and especially the fly ball that Johnny Damon totally butchered last night that led to more runs in the second inning. Not even the return of Alex Rodriguez, who hit an irrelevant home run to avoid the shutout, made any difference. (Why does the return of Slappy, who the press is making out to be some savior riding in on a white horse, remind me of Roger Clemens in June 2007? How did that "savior" turn out again?)

Larry Brooks had this interesting piece in his New York Post column today:

Johnny Damon, who staggered under and dropped a fly ball in the second inning after missing a liner in the first, is having his second straight bad season, and with one more year to go on his $13M per contract, appears as bad a position-player signing as Brian Cashman has ever made.

It made me think of a quote from his father that he made right after Judas left the Red Sox and signed over with the Dark Side. Here it is:

"Mark it down, it's going to be another Babe Ruth," Damon's father, Jimmy Damon, told the New York Daily News this spring. "They sent Johnny off just like they sent off Babe Ruth. It's going to be another big, big mistake. They made the biggest mistake of their lives." (USA Today, April 25, 2006)

The son's not the only "idiot" in that family.

Yep, not re-signing Damon to an absolutely odious long term contract is a move I'm sure Red Sox brass regret they made, and I'm sure they think that every time Jacoby Ellsbury steals a base or Coco Crisp makes a highlight-reel catch in center.

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