Yanks Waiting for Damon to Also Have a Turnaround

turnaround n. 突然好轉

Johnny Damon and Kevin Long were roommates at Class AA Wichita in 1995. Damon hit .343 and was called up to the Kansas City Royal that summer. He has been in the majors ever since.


In that time, Damon said, he has probably endured many hitless streaks. But his average has rarely looked as feeble as it does now, .233, after the Yankees' 3-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays in a mundane matinee at Yankee Stadium yesterday. Damon is 0 for 17 in his last five games.

feeble a. 拙劣無效的，站不著腳的
mundane a. 世俗的
matinee n. 日場

“I can tell you one thing: I've never seen him work so hard,” said Long, who is now the Yankees' hitting coach. “He's probably taken more swings in the last 10 days than I've seen him take when I've ever been around him.

“He's working at it. He's concerned. We want to turn this thing around as quick as possible. He knows we've got a bunch of guys swinging the bats well right now, and he'd like to join the party.”

There was not much to celebrate in the Bronx yesterday. The Yankees scored twice in the first inning and Toronto scored three times against Chien-Ming Wang in the seventh. Neither team advanced a runner to third in any other inning.

The Yankees missed a chance for a sweep, but they still won the series, three games to one, for their fourth series victory in a row. “If we continue to win series, then we’re in pretty good shape,” Manager Joe Torre said.

Even in losing, Damon showed a glimpse of why the Yankees gave him a four-year, $52 million contract before last season. He worked an eight-pitch walk against Dustin McGowan to lead off the bottom of the first. When he reached on an error in the fifth, a wild pickoff throw moved him into scoring position.

Damon has not lost his strike zone judgment, and he is still a threat to run. The back, calf and rib cage injuries that bothered him in the first half are gone, he said. Damon is simply slumping, and he says he is not sure why.

calf n. 小腿
rib n. 肋骨
cage v. 把...囚禁起來
slump v. (健康等)下降

“My swing feels great, I'm feeling comfortable at the plate,” he said. “Unfortunately, I'm just not getting the job done, and I definitely need to. This team is so much better when I get going.”

Keeping his weight back will, in theory, give Damon more time to see pitches and make it easier to use his legs to drive the ball. Long and the bench coach, Don Mattingly, have seen results before games.

“Donnie and I both saw it in B.P.,” Long said. “We said, Wow, the ball's jumping; he's hitting the ball out of the park. He just needs one good game and he'll be right back on track. I truly believe that, because physically he's in pretty good shape.”

Although Damon spoke hopefully last weekend of someday playing for Tampa Bay, he still seems comfortable with the Yankees and has mostly maintained his sunny outlook. The team is winning despite his struggles, and, he said, “There are much worse things in life than hitting .235.”

But it is frustrating, he acknowledged, to be unable to drive pitches the way he did just last season, when he had a .482 slugging percentage with a career-high 24 home runs. This season, Damon has a .323 slugging percentage and five homers.

frustratine a. 令人灰心的

After walking in the first and scoring on Bobby Abreu’s two-run double, Damon struck out, reached on an error and flied to right. The flyout, against Casey Janssen to lead off the eighth, was especially discouraging.

“I had a pitch that last year probably would have been in the upper deck,” Damon said. “I was just a tad too late on it. I'm not sure how hard the pitch was, 90 miles per hour. Normally, that ball is very easy to hit for me.”

tad n. 一點點，些微

As a team, the Yankees managed only five hits — one more than Toronto had in the seventh against Wang. After Matt Stairs doubled to lead off the seventh and Vernon Wells followed with an infield hit, Frank Thomas drove in a run with a ground out off Wang’s left ankle. Wang said he was not affected, and catcher Wil Nieves said his sinker to the next hitter, Aaron Hill, was in the right spot.

drive v. 用力擊球

But Hill smashed it to center for a game-tying triple, and Gregg Zaun followed with a bouncer up the middle for the go-ahead run.

smash v. 擊潰

When reporters gathered around Damon after the game, he did not question why he would be a story line. But he also does not question his ability.

“I still feel like I'm the guy that people worry about,” Damon said, meaning other teams, not his own.