Johnny Damon tripled in the Indians 6-3 win over the Rangers on Friday night. That gives Johnny at least one triple in 18 consecutive seasons. He drove in two runs late to give the Indians a comfortable cushion and record his 108th triple. That’s an average of six three-baggers a season.
Texas lost three in a row, and are coming back to the pack a little bit.
It appears that Johnny Damon will join the Indians as a part-time outfielder. I’m very much surprised Damon lasted on the market this long. He did have a falloff in his OBP last season, but it was his first year below .350 since 2003. If he can get it back to .340, he’ll be a useful player. Just hitting against RHP should help as well.
Dan Duquette was asked if he would sign Johnny Damon:
“I don’t think so. I already signed Johnny Damon when he was 28.”
With Damon and Roy Oswalt, I wonder which side is being less realistic in contract expectations?
Joe Posnanski writes an interesting column on Johnny Damon reaching 3000 hits and likely making the Hall oh Fame. There is one definition of the Hall I sometimes use: It’s for the famous players. If Damon reaches 3000 hits, he’ll be very famous. Let’s face it, Bert Blyleven wasn’t famous enough until bloggers started to make the case for his stellar career. Damon had big hits in big games, and won championships with the Red Sox and Yankees. The 3000 hit club will just be the icing on his fame.
At Baseball Analytics, I look at Johnny Damon’s ability to hit for power against left-handed pitchers in 2011.
Johnny Damon gets the first hit for the Rays in the bottom of the second inning, a two-run homer to put Tampa Bay on top of Texas 2-0. That’s his 10th post-season home run.
Update: Matt Joyce drives in Kelly Shopach with two out, and the Rays go up 3-0.
Update: That’s it for the Rays but they take some pressure off their rookie pitcher with a decent lead.
Johnny Damon hits a three run homer in the bottom of the eighth, and the Rays take a 6-2 lead over the Blue Jays into the top of the ninth. Three more outs and they will find themselves 1 1/2 games out of the wild card. If that happens, they could tie the Red Sox tomorrow.
Damon just keeps getting big hits.
Update: The Rays win 6-2.
Johnny Damon produces a nice double entendre:
A man who knows a little something about unlikely comebacks, Johnny Damon, was asked how the Red Sox might be reacting after getting swept by the Rays this weekend.
“Hopefully they can feel us coming,” Damon said.
Meanwhile, David Ortiz notices the penguin on the telly:
“Hell, yeah, you’ve got to panic,” David Ortiz said.
It’s going to be a fun 2 1/2 weeks.
Johnny Damon had an eventful day:
Damon lost a grand slam to a video review in the seventh inning, then hit a game-ending home run in the ninth that lifted the Rays over the Seattle Mariners 8-7 Sunday.
“It feels good,” Damon said. “It was a great team effort, again.”
This will no doubt loom large in his legend.
Eric Seidman at FanGraphs argues that Johnny Damon should not make the Hall of Fame if he reaches 3000 hits. Eric makes a good statistical case, but he also makes the emotional case:
If he gets to that plateau, either his induction into the Hall of Fame becomes automatic, or the milestone itself is cheapened. Given that he would be the 30th person ever to achieve what is considered to be a holy grail of baseball accomplishments, the former scenario seems much more likely than the latter. Yet, Damon has never felt like a Hall of Fame player. He has barely even felt like a superstar. How is it possible that someone with a high probability of getting 3,000+ hits in his career, who won’t have played 25+ seasons like, say, Nolan Ryan or Jamie Moyer, has had such a relatively forgettable career?
This is almost the reverse Blyleven. Bert never felt like a Hall of Famer, but when you looked at his body of work, it was clear he was a great pitcher. Blyleven never reached the big milestones, however. The big milestone should force voters to look at Johnny’s body of work. They will note that he was healthy and consistent. They will also note a number of big moments in his career, especially int he post season. Looking at his regular season numbers in isolation, however, one concludes that Damon simply aged well. Aging well should not be a criteria for election.
Francisco Liriano hit Johnny Damon twice, and Damon did not come out for his third plate appearance:
Damon was hit on the back in the first inning and appeared fine, but was hit on the right hand or wrist his second time and appeared to be bothered by it while he was on the bases.
The Rays lead the Twins 4-2 in the bottom of the fourth. Damon did not score either time he was hit.
The Tampa Bay Rays did not homer against the Cardinals Sunday afternoon, but eight of their twelve hits went for extra bases as they defeated St. Louis 8-3. Johnny Damon missed the cycle by a homer as he scored once and drove in four runs. The seven doubles bring their total to 162 on the season, second to the Red Sox in the American League.
Congratulations to Johnny Damon on collecting his 500th double! No one every talks of a double milestone as being Hall of Fame worthy, but 500 doubles isn’t bad. He’s the 53rd player to reach that milestone.
The Rays lead the Marlins 4-1 in the bottom of the fourth.
Johnny Damon goes deep in his first at bat at Fenway with the Rays, and Tampa Bay jumps out to a 1-0 lead on Boston. If the Rays hold true to form, that will be the only run of the game. 🙂
Update: The Rays score six runs in the second inning. This is only the second time this season they scored more than two runs in a game. Daisuke Matsuzaka allowed seven hits and two home runs so far. Instead of being wild, hitters are just pounding him.
At Baseball Analytics, I examine Johnny Damon‘s drop in power last season.
According to this tweet from Jon Heyman, the Rays signed both Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez:
#damon gets $5.25 mil from #rays plus 750 grand in attendance bonuses, manny gets $2 mil from rays. #doubleplay
Wow, that’s quite a platoon! Trips to Boston are going to be extra fun this year for Tampa Bay.
Of course, I suspect both will play most days. Manny would likely be the designated hitter, with Damon filling out the outfield if B.J. Upton or Desmond Jennings don’t live up to expectations. This gives Tampa two players who do a great job of getting on base and a lot more flexibility if they want to platoon at DH or leftfield.
Johnny Damon decided to stay with the Detroit Tigers rather than approve a trade to the Boston Red Sox:
Damon said before Tuesday night’s game against Kansas City that he turned down the move.
“I love Detroit,” he told reporters.
I suppose the Red Sox could go after Manny Ramirez instead. That would make the team a little more fun to watch.
Johnny Damon is leaning toward staying in Detroit:
Looking a bit choked up, he told the media (as recorded off Fox Sports Detroit) after the game tonight:
“My heart tells me that I’m a Tiger, and the fans really showed me their love tonight. … The fans want me here. The players want me here. That’s kind of where I’m leaning toward right now.”
All that Boston booing may have turned out to be counter productive.
It appears that going to Boston is up to Johnny Damon.
His contract includes a clause that gives him veto power over trades to all but eight teams. Because the Red Sox aren’t one of those clubs, he can block any move.
That leads me to believe a deal is in place.
I’ve been asked a couple of times if the Red Sox will claim Manny Ramirez if he goes on waivers. I don’t think so, since their breakup was so nasty. The Red Sox appeared to have claimed Johnny Damon, however. If they take Manny, too, that would really be kicking the team back to 2004. Maybe Schilling’s available for a game!
Update: Damon is in tonight’s Tiger’s lineup.
The Detroit Tigers got off to an early lead, blew that, then blew by the White Sox to win 13-8. Five of the Detroit runs came on four homers and they added a triple and three doubles as half of their 16 hits go for extra bases. Detroit’s 5-1 lead turned into a 7-5 deficit until they scored eight runs over the last three innings. Johnny Damon picked up the triple, the 98th of his career. He’s close to joining a very select club of players who have hit 100 triples since the schedule first expanded to 162 games in 1961.
With the Twins winning, Chicago falls three back of Minnesota.
The Detroit Tigers keep their lead over the Twins with a 7-5 win over the Orioles in 11 innings. Baltimore blew a 4-1 and 5-3 lead as the Orioles bullpen allowed six runs after Jake Arrieta allowed just one over 6 1/3 innings. Johnny Damon hit a two-run shot in the bottom of the 11th to walk the Tigers off the field. Damon is only slugging .411 this season, but he’s doing a good job setting the table with a .363 OBP.
Two second place teams battle in Detroit and the Yankees and Sergio Mitre face the Tigers and Dontrelle Willis. The most compelling story in the game, however, comes from the top of the Tigers lineup. Former Yankees Austin Jackson and Johnny Damon have combined to help Detroit 1-2 hitters to a .403 OBP, the best among MLB tablesetters by 22 points. The Yankees are tied for 10th at .345. Keep your eye on Alex Rodrgiuez, as his next home run breaks a tie with Frank Robinson for seventh place on the all-time list and leaves only those with 600 homers ahead of A-Rod. There will also be a tribute to Ernie Harwell before the game.
The Mets and Nationals try to break their tie for second place in the NL East as Luis Atilano takes on John Maine. Atilano is 2-0, but his 10 walks with just six strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings of work bodes ill for his future. Maine’s 5.97 ERA is mostly attributable to his high slugging percentage allowed (.496), especially with men on base (.519).
Finally, the Dodgers and Diamondbacks battle for fourth place in the NL West as Chad Billingsley takes on Rodrigo Lopez. It’s not clear to me why Chad is giving up so many hits this season. His strikeout rate is fine, as is his home run rate. His line drive rate is good, too. It seems like the Dodgers defense is hurting him. UZR rates them as the worst in the NL. Lopez is doing a great job limiting walks, but those pitches in the strike zone are getting hammered for home runs as he’s allowed six so far in 37.0 innings.
Enjoy!
Johnny Damon ends the Angels-Tigers game with a solo home run in bottom of the ninth, giving Detroit a 3-2 victory. It was Johnny’s first home run of the season, after hitting 24 in 2009. With three hits on the day, he missed the cycle by a triple.
Both Scott Kazmir and Jeremy Bonderman allowed a low number of runs, but both pitched, “bend, don’t break,” games. Kazmir went six innings, allowing two runs, one earned. He walked four and gave up five hits. Bonderman allowed ten hits in six innings, but didn’t walk a batter, and also allowed two runs, one earned. I suspect most days when those two put on that many base runners, they’ll allow a lot more runs.
The Detroit Tigers overcame an early deficit to defeat the Angels 10-6. The Tigers have two former Yankees properties setting the table for their sluggers, Austin Jackson and Johnny Damon. Jackson went 5 for 5 tonight, all singles, raising his OBP to .422. Damon reached base four times with three hits and a walk, missing the cycle by a home run. They scored four of the Tigers runs.
Brennan Boesch hit his first major league home run, and it was a grand slam. That gives him seven RBI in six games.
Austin Jackson and Johnny Damon each hit well for the Tigers today as they defeated the Seattle Mariners 4-2. They combined for five hits and two walks, each scoring a run. Both sport OBPs around .390, making them one of the top table setting combinations in baseball. With Phil Coke holding a 2.57 ERA after 2/3 of a scoreless inning in the game, the Granderson trade and the Yankees not meeting Damon’s contract terms worked out very well for the Tigers. Even Matt Scherzer, who wasn’t a Yankee put was part of the deal, pitched well today and holds a 2.12 ERA. Not a bad bounty for Dave Dombrowski.
By signing Johnny Damon, the Tigers avoid having two rookies bat 1-2 in the order. This should give Austin Jackson a chance to develop in the less pressured ninth spot, and serve as as second leadoff man. After Damon leaves after this season, Jackson can slide into the #1 spot.
Johnny Damon agrees to an $8 million contract with the Detroit Tigers.
The 36-year-old Damon hit .286 with 24 homers for the New York Yankees last season. He likely would bat leadoff for the Tigers, filling the void left when Detroit dealt Curtis Granderson to the Yankees.
Damon also gives Detroit a left-handed bat it needs and a veteran in the outfield, where his savvy is an asset and his arm a liability.
Among the other teams who had expressed serious interest in Damon were the White Sox, Rays and Braves. The White Sox had withdrawn their offer on Friday, a decision first reported by ESPNChicago.com.
The Tigers seem to be turning a bit into the Yankees of the 1980s. They have some good, young players, but tend to surround them with aging veterans who were good once. Damon will likely live up to the money Detroit is paying him, but given that no one else was that hot to sign Johnny, I get the feeling the Tigers over payed.
The White Sox withdrew their offer to Johnny Damon. I guess they weren’t that close. Another piece of leverage goes down the tubes for Johnny. I wonder if the Tigers are going to cut their offer now?
The Kabuki that is the Johnny Damon negotiations continue. Please just let me know when he actually signs somewhere.