Yankees left fielder Johnny Damon leaves Game 6 because of strained right calf
Associated Press
11/05/09 12:55 AM PST
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| New York Yankees' Johnny Damon, left, and Joba Chamberlain celebrate after Game 6 of the Major League Baseball World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009, in New York. The Yankees won 7-3. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) (AP) |
NEW YORK — Johnny Damon limped across home plate with the Yankees fourth run of the night — in what may be his final act with New York.
Damon strained his right calf in the third inning of the Yankees' 7-3 World Series-clinching win over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6 on Wednesday night and was taken out of the game.
"I've got plenty of time for it to heal now," said Damon, who turned 36 as the postgame celebration went into Thursday.
Damon was in the final year of a four-year contract with the Yankees and the team will likely only want to bring back Damon or Hideki Matsui, the Series MVP whose four-year deal is also up.
Damon walked with one out in the third and scored from second base on Matsui's two-run single. Damon appeared to be favoring his leg as he ran down the third-base line and crossed the plate standing up to give the Yankees a 4-1 lead over Philadelphia.
Jerry Hairston Jr. took Damon's place in left field for the fourth inning.
Manager Joe Girardi told Fox during a fourth-inning interview that Damon "felt his calf a little bit" on Matsui's foul ball down the right-field line earlier in the at-bat, "and when he scored it got worse."
Damon struck out in his first at-bat.
