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Game story: Damon the difference in 5-3 Yankee win. »
August 28, 2007
NEW YORK -- Johnny Damon has had a pretty disappointing season for the Yankees -- and, in fact, may request a trade once it's over -- but tonight had to be the highlight of his year.
With the score tied 3-3 in the seventh, Damon -- who lost the starting center-field job to Melby Cabrera and has been fighting for playing time as a left fielder and DH -- dropped a two-run homer over the short porch in right field against his former team, giving New York a 5-3 win over the Red Sox in the first game of a three-game series that the Yankees have to sweep to maintain any reasonable hope of catching Boston in the A.L. East.
They now trail the Sox by seven games in the division race.
The Red Sox never led in the game, but twice came back to tie. After falling behind when the Yankees scored twice against Daisuke Matsuzaka in the first inning, the Sox got a home run from Manny Ramirez in the second inning and a long sacrifice fly by David Ortiz in the third to tie the score at 2-2. Derek Jeter put the Yankees ahead with a solo homer in the fifth, but Jason Varitek tied it with a leadoff home run in the seventh.
In the bottom of the seventh, Andy Phillips led off with a single to center and was replaced by Wilson Betemit at first base. Betemit was sacrificed to second by Cabrera, and Damon then popped a fly ball down the right-field line that fell into the first row of the right-field bleachers, just over the 314-foot mark, for a two-run homer.
Yankee rookie phenom Joba Chamberlain pitched a scoreless eighth despite allowing a hit and a walk, and Mariano Rivera closed it out with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Posted by Art Martone 
at 10:19 PM | Permalink
