"There was a time early in the season when he thought I was doing a few things, but it was all false," Damon said yesterday as the Red Sox outlasted the Cardinals, 4-3, before a sellout crowd of 8,239 at Roger Dean Stadium.
"I found out from him that I might have been partying too much," Damon said. "I was like, 'No, I'm out eating food or I'm hanging out with my girlfriend or some teammates, but by no means was I ever unable to play.' "
Damon has developed an image as a free spirit, and he has not been shy about talking about leading an active social life. He has joked often about his postgame drinking, even telling a national television audience on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" last year that the pain of a tough loss to the Angels that night could be cured by "our friend, Jack Daniels."
But the jokes apparently were lost on Little, who played Damon in only 145 games. Damon has not appeared in fewer games since his rookie year in 1995.
"Never one time last year was I incapacitated where I was so drunk that I didn't know what was going on," Damon said. "I'm smarter than that. I've been around. I've seen the toll it takes on guys. I'll go out and have a drink, but never was I to the point where it affected my game."
He wants new skipper Terry Francona to know that.
"My goal is to play a lot more games," Damon said, "and avoid getting run over out there."
The latter reference was to Damian Jackson racing into center field in Game 5 of the American League Division Series in Oakland and colliding so violently with him that Damon was rushed away in an ambulance and experienced severe headaches daily for about six weeks after the season. Damon believes he has physically recovered from the injury but may need a little time to overcome the psychological effects of the trauma.
"I'm going to be cautious," he said. "If there's any ball in between [him and another player], I'm going to be looking out because there's no way I can take a hit, not right now."
