Damon free agent
Damon won't dwell on past or look to future
By Amalie Benjamin, Globe Staff | October 8, 2005
His voice was husky, emotions choked from tears that didn't fall. He knows he might be saying goodbye.
Goodbye with two strikeouts, two more chances to extend a dying season, two weak flails at pitches that found nothing but the catcher's mitt.
It's not the way Johnny Damon wanted to go out. And, remember, he might not be leaving at all. But Damon -- like Bill Mueller, Kevin Millar, and Mike Timlin -- had a contract that expired with by Edgar Renteria's ground out, sealing a 5-3 loss to the White Sox in the finale of their American League Division Series.
''That's really something I don't want to think about right now," Damon said. ''You play the whole season with these guys, you enjoy every single moment. I hope I'm back. Hopefully we'll get a pretty good offer. I fell in love with Boston. Hopefully I'll be here for a long time. But that's something [general manager] Theo [Epstein] and the ownership and me and [agent Scott Boras] have to talk about, hopefully sometime in the near future."
It was a quiet exit, the sweep clouding Damon's four years in Boston, his first strikeout -- the one that left the bases loaded in the sixth -- an ignominious way to leave a city that he had embraced and had embraced him.
He stood at his locker after the game, wave upon wave of reporters flooding past, knowing that his future is uncertain. Damon, with his long locks and often scraggly beard, was the face of these Red Sox for the past three years. He was the chief Idiot and, along with David Wells this year, the most likely to say something controversial.
He might be back. He might be gone. And he's not alone.
Dotted throughout the clubhouse after the game were faces who could soon be changing uniforms, players who mostly refused to speculate on the future minutes after the game.
''You wish they could have brought everybody back from last year," Millar said. ''That didn't happen this year. I don't know what they're going to do. They've got a lot of decisions to make. That's why they work upstairs and we just play. If some of us aren't here, we'll go help somebody else. If we're all here, we'll try to do it again."
Few players, least of all Damon, were considering his next postseason run. This one was too fresh, too sudden. He still had one at-bat floating through his mind, one that he acknowledged with regret.
It was his biggest moment, his lasting memory, that fateful sixth inning, the one in which he got the last crack at reliever Orlando Hernandez. The bases were loaded with no outs, bringing up pinch hitter Jason Varitek (pop out to first), Tony Graffanino (pop out to shortstop) and then Damon.
''I was ready to hit a pitch," Damon said. ''There was a lot of tilt to that slider. He got a lot of guys check-swinging. He picked the right pitch at the right time."
His bat barely crossed the plane of the plate when umpire Mark Wegner ruled it a swing and a strikeout.
It was an inning that had started off with Manny Ramirez's second home run of the game, followed by a Trot Nixon single and two walks. It was Boston best chance to break things open.
Damon might be back. The man who was instrumental in Boston's run to the postseason, including challenging for the batting title until injuries caused a late-season slump that derailed his quest, might be back. He might walk into spring training in Fort Myers, Fla., in just a few months. He might be accompanied by Mueller, Millar, and Timlin. Anything's possible.
If not, he's said his goodbyes, inglorious as they were.
''I think it's been awesome," Damon said. ''The way our players love the city, how the city loved us, how they enjoyed us, different characters. Millar coming over and shouting across the clubhouse, us going out there and having fun. We may not have been as good on a certain night, if we stunk, most of us just raised our hand and said it was us. It was a group of guys who enjoyed each other, a group of guys who would love to play forever with each other. You don't have those teams too often."
By Amalie Benjamin, Globe Staff | October 8, 2005
His voice was husky, emotions choked from tears that didn't fall. He knows he might be saying goodbye.
Goodbye with two strikeouts, two more chances to extend a dying season, two weak flails at pitches that found nothing but the catcher's mitt.
It's not the way Johnny Damon wanted to go out. And, remember, he might not be leaving at all. But Damon -- like Bill Mueller, Kevin Millar, and Mike Timlin -- had a contract that expired with by Edgar Renteria's ground out, sealing a 5-3 loss to the White Sox in the finale of their American League Division Series.
''That's really something I don't want to think about right now," Damon said. ''You play the whole season with these guys, you enjoy every single moment. I hope I'm back. Hopefully we'll get a pretty good offer. I fell in love with Boston. Hopefully I'll be here for a long time. But that's something [general manager] Theo [Epstein] and the ownership and me and [agent Scott Boras] have to talk about, hopefully sometime in the near future."
It was a quiet exit, the sweep clouding Damon's four years in Boston, his first strikeout -- the one that left the bases loaded in the sixth -- an ignominious way to leave a city that he had embraced and had embraced him.
He stood at his locker after the game, wave upon wave of reporters flooding past, knowing that his future is uncertain. Damon, with his long locks and often scraggly beard, was the face of these Red Sox for the past three years. He was the chief Idiot and, along with David Wells this year, the most likely to say something controversial.
He might be back. He might be gone. And he's not alone.
Dotted throughout the clubhouse after the game were faces who could soon be changing uniforms, players who mostly refused to speculate on the future minutes after the game.
''You wish they could have brought everybody back from last year," Millar said. ''That didn't happen this year. I don't know what they're going to do. They've got a lot of decisions to make. That's why they work upstairs and we just play. If some of us aren't here, we'll go help somebody else. If we're all here, we'll try to do it again."
Few players, least of all Damon, were considering his next postseason run. This one was too fresh, too sudden. He still had one at-bat floating through his mind, one that he acknowledged with regret.
It was his biggest moment, his lasting memory, that fateful sixth inning, the one in which he got the last crack at reliever Orlando Hernandez. The bases were loaded with no outs, bringing up pinch hitter Jason Varitek (pop out to first), Tony Graffanino (pop out to shortstop) and then Damon.
''I was ready to hit a pitch," Damon said. ''There was a lot of tilt to that slider. He got a lot of guys check-swinging. He picked the right pitch at the right time."
His bat barely crossed the plane of the plate when umpire Mark Wegner ruled it a swing and a strikeout.
It was an inning that had started off with Manny Ramirez's second home run of the game, followed by a Trot Nixon single and two walks. It was Boston best chance to break things open.
Damon might be back. The man who was instrumental in Boston's run to the postseason, including challenging for the batting title until injuries caused a late-season slump that derailed his quest, might be back. He might walk into spring training in Fort Myers, Fla., in just a few months. He might be accompanied by Mueller, Millar, and Timlin. Anything's possible.
If not, he's said his goodbyes, inglorious as they were.
''I think it's been awesome," Damon said. ''The way our players love the city, how the city loved us, how they enjoyed us, different characters. Millar coming over and shouting across the clubhouse, us going out there and having fun. We may not have been as good on a certain night, if we stunk, most of us just raised our hand and said it was us. It was a group of guys who enjoyed each other, a group of guys who would love to play forever with each other. You don't have those teams too often."
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