See Nick Johnson. See the pitch.
See Nick Johnson see the pitch. See Nick Johnson take the pitch. See Nick Johnson go to first base. Or to the dugout.
Repeat cycle.
Over and over and over again.
The legend of his batting eye precedes Johnson. But before reaching base five times in five tries in the Yankees’ 7-5 victory over the Orioles yesterday afternoon in The Bronx, the designated hitter had been walking back to the dugout far more than he had been walking to first, or running anywhere.
Because in his previous 14 games, Johnson had reached base 17 times in 52 plate appearances, drawing 13 bases-on-balls and getting hit once while going 3-for-38 with 12 strikeouts. Added up it kind of explains why the second spot in the lineup occupied by Johnson has been a hole, 11th in the AL in on-base percentage and tied for 10th in runs scored. This was one season after it was a whole different matter with Johnny Damon and Co. leading the league in runs scored and second in the AL in on-base percentage.
Damon was a personality, easy to read. Johnson, not so much, not even by his manager.
“Nick is about as even-keeled as it gets, and sometimes those guys are harder to read,” Joe Girardi said when asked how Johnson had responded to his slump. “But he seems to be handling it pretty well because I don’t think he would continue to walk if he wasn’t.”
Johnson remained patient and walked twice yesterday to boost his total to an AL-leading 24, pending games played last night. But he also smacked a solo home run into the right field second deck in the first inning, his first HR in 45 at bats, and belted a double to center in the sixth inning. He also delivered an infield single in the eighth to lift his average to .171 and his on-base pct. to .396.
‘It’s been a grind and a battle,” Johnson said. “But I’ve kept working in the [batting] cage to get confidence there and I’ve been talking with [hitting coach] Kevin Long to come up with a plan.”
The plan, as Johnson explained it, was to, “Go out there, leave my work in the cage, to try and have a clear head and focus on the ball.”
Johnson’s five at-bats accounted for 19 pitches after he entered the game seventh in the AL in pitches per at bat, 4.43 per game. He was third in thee NL last year with Washington in that category, accounting for 4.38 pitches per plate appearance. Who knows how many he will peruse this weekend in Fenway when the 100-year-old war resumes with the Red Sox, and that’s just 100 years to play one game.
There’s no clock in baseball even if umpire Joe West and network executives who recoil at losing their 11:00 news shows wish one could be imposed on the Yankees and Red Sox. One can be certain that the folks at major league baseball will pay close attention to the pace of these next three games, but as Girardi said yesterday, neither team is likely to be intimidated into abandoning its approach.
“I think it will be business as usual for us,” the manager said. “[The length of our games] is talked about a lot but the guys are there to win games, not get finished in 2½ hours.
“My expectation is that the player will play hard, be selective and do the things they need to do to win games, and I’m sure it’s the same on their side.”
That of course implies that Johnson, who has gone down looking on 14 of his 22 strikeouts, will take as many pitches as necessary in order to pick one he likes. Or not.
“I’m not trying to think too much,” Johnson said. “I’m just keeping it as simple as possible, just to see the ball.”
See Nick Johnson. See the ball. See Nick Johnson see the ball.
And sometimes even swing at it, just like yesterday.