In the 2004 ALCS series against the New York Yankees, with the Red Sox down three games to none, center fielder Johnny Damon (photo at right) played a crucial role in the Sox eventual victory: he scored the winning run in game five and hit two home runs, one a grand slam, in game seven, and helped fire up the team in greatest comeback in ALCS history.
But this year, with the Sox trailing a dominant Cleveland Indians team 3-1 in the ALCS, Sox coach Terry Francona kept Damon off the field. “I'm not going to play him” Francona said. “We'll win without him.” And he was right.
And Francona didn’t play him in the first game of the World Series against the Colorado Rockies either, which the Sox won without their onetime star by a crushing 13-1 score. “We don’t need him anymore,” Francona said, confidently.
“Johnny’s just not the same as he used to be,” said David Ortiz, another hero of the Sox 2004 season. “He used to be very close to all of us. Now he’s more distant.”
“He used to be the heart of this team," said Manny Ramirez, another teammate. "Now it’s like he’s not even a part of the team. He's become a stranger.”
“Damon will not play for us in the Series,” said an angry Terry Francona in an exclusive interview with The Wolf Report. “In fact, I’d be very surprised to see him on the roster at all next year. The guy he’s become doesn’t belong with a team like the Sox; he belongs with a team like the Yankees”
Thanks to Libby and Danny Santella for permission to use the photo.
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