MLB

Johnny ends slump in winter weather

What, Joe Girardi worry about Johnny Damon?

“I probably do a little bit less,” said the manager, after being asked whether time passed more easily while waiting for a turnaround from a player who has been in the postseason eight Octobers than for a kid going through his first or second.

“You have to remember Johnny is an extremely talented player as well. You don’t expect that to carry over.”

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Damon had just one hit and one walk against the Twins, hitting .083. He has had good series and bad series in the 11 in which he has competed, compiling a mediocre .251 postseason batting average.

But even when Damon largely failed, like hitting .171 against the Yankees in 2004, he still succeeded, hitting the first-inning grand slam in Game 7 at Yankee Stadium that effectively ended the Red Sox curse.

His seven homers and 21 postseason RBIs speak to Damon’s production and so did a solid 2009 (24 homers, 82 RBI a .365 on base percentage) in a contract year that promises more marketability for a player turning 36 on Nov. 5.

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In left field, Damon is being chased by Father Time. But in a players’ career, the bat goes after the glove. So he figured some hits were just a matter of time unless, of course, the Yankees ran out of it before their No. 2 hitter could bridge a gap between Derek Jeter and the devastating lineup middle that carried the Yankees through the ALDS.

“Sometimes in this game you need to have some luck, but you also have to go out and work hard and try to figure out what went wrong,” Damon said. “I also understand this game and the playoffs. We won so I wasn’t too terribly upset, but knew I had to get some work in. For us to be successful, I need to get my bat going.”

The Yankees continued to be successful in last night’s 4-1 Game 1 win at the Stadium and indeed, Damon got his bat going. His bloop single in the first, dropping just inside the left-field line, chased Derek Jeter to third, and Damon followed Jeter to the plate when shortstop Erick Aybar watched Hideki Matsui’s pop-up drop to earth.

In the fifth, Damon’s double to left-center over a shallow Angels outfield put him in position to score easily on Hideki Matsui’s double.

CC Sabathia did the rest, but this time Damon, who made a diving catch on Bobby Abreu’s sinking liner in the sixth, did more than a little something too. Thanks largely to the advice of batting coach Kevin Long, who urged Damon to keep his head straight, and not just figuratively.

“Mostly trying to keep my head still,” he said. “It seemed that Game 3 against [Carl] Pavano, I was jumping out.”

Last night Damon stayed back, risking turning into a popsicle on a night where movement seemed vital for survival. But it worked.

“I commend Johnny,” Girardi said. “Tuesday he came out when we had the simulated game and got five or six at bats and hit the ball extremely well. Maybe that helped him get going.”

John Lackey, against whom Damon came in as a .333 lifetime hitter, may have come in handy, too, constantly getting behind hitters. Lackey is one of the best, however, and on a cold night, Damon somehow warmed up.

jay.greenberg@nypost.com