''It's going to be nuts," says Yankees manager Joe Torre. ''All the attention will be on Johnny Damon. I don't know if there'll be any left over for Mike Myers. But Johnny was a cult figure up there, and for all he did up there for four years, not to mention Game 7 here a couple of years ago, he should be cheered. I know a lot of people resent him because he chose us, but I think the cheers will outweigh the boos."
We shall see about that, but whether people choose to salute him for past services when he is first introduced, or give him the old bazoo for having defected to the Evil Empire, they should be advised that he comes back to Boston in pretty much the same state as when he was last seen in Boston. He has found his way on base in nine of his last 11 plate appearances, and he appears to have found his batting stroke.
Saturday he had two homers to right field (the second an upper-decker), a single, and a walk, scoring a career-high five runs (he also reached on an error) as the Yankees crunched Toronto, 17-6. Yesterday he had a bunt single, a line-drive single to left, and a ground-rule double to left as the Yankees won again, 4-1. He also stole a base and scored his 22d run of the season, which means he is well on his way to scoring in excess of 100 runs for the ninth consecutive year.
''He's using the whole field again," says Torre. ''That's what made him so difficult to pitch to when we played against him. He'll take what you give him, and then every once in a while he's laying in the weeds on you."
''I had it in spring training," Damon said. ''Then I lost it for four or five days. I think it may have had something to do with the days off we had. But I'm where I need to be right now."
The same surely can be said for Jason Giambi, who is setting himself up for a monster season. Giambi hit his ninth homer yesterday, and he arrives at Fenway as the American League leader in runs batted in (27), walks (25), slugging (.852), and on-base percentage (.554), which means, of course, that he also leads in OPS (1.407).
''He's just seeing the ball so well," says Torre. ''And it's great."
