Facing two quick outs before him, Yankee left fielder Johnny Damon took matters into his own hands during the top of the 9th in game 5 of the 2009 World Series tonight. Damon smacked a base hit and then took off for second on the first pitch of Mark Teixeira. Knowing the Phillies put a huge left handed shift on for Teixeira, and seeing 3B Pedro Feliz take the throw at second…Damon popped up from his slide and outran Feliz to the 3rd base bag.
If Damon’s quick mindedness hadn’t had such a rattling effect on the five-cent-headed Brad Lidge, would he have plunked Teixeira just one pitch later? After that, Lidge served up a meatball that A-Rod jumped all over like it was a fading starlet looking to hold on to the briefest glimpse of sweet, sweet notoriety.
When New York eventually wins the World Series, probably Game 6 in Yankee Stadium, Johnny Damon’s heads-up baserunning in Game 4 will be looked upon as the momentum shifting event.
