TAMPA — The replacement gets on base more than the previous DH. He runs like damp cement, but still better than the other guy.
He can play a position, something cranky knees didn’t allow the former. Finally, thanks to a foot adjustment and hacking in Yankee Stadium, the new face is likely to establish a career high in home runs.
So why are many Yankee fans still pining for Hideki Matsui to be the World Series champions’ DH instead of seeing him handling the same job 3,000 miles from The Bronx in Anaheim?
Because Matsui oozed class from every pore, swung a productive bat, and because the last image of him was hoisting the World Series MVP trophy in early November after he batted .615 (8-for-13) with three homers and eight RBIs in six games.
Yet, when you compare Nick Johnson to Matsui and use the all-popular “tools” to evaluate, Johnson wins.
Now all he has to do is produce like Matsui, and those same fans who wanted Matsui over Johnson will be converts.
Johnson, who doesn’t over-think many situations, isn’t looking at being Matsui’s replacement. But as Matsui’s teammate in 2003, Johnson recalls the attributes Yankees fans adored.
“I remember he was a great player who got a lot of big hits,” Johnson said of Matsui, who batted .292 with 140 homers, 597 RBIs and an on-base percentage of .370 in seven Yankee seasons. “He was the same guy every day. He was very good.”
And now he is gone, leaving the oft-injured Johnson (nine trips to the DL since 2000) to fill a void that is real.
“I miss Matsui — he has always been one of my favorite teammates,” Derek Jeter said. “He plays hard and doesn’t make excuses. He has a lot of pride in what he does.”
The Yankees, afraid the 35-year-old Matsui’s two surgically repaired knees wouldn’t hold up even as a DH, never made an offer to Matsui, who signed a one-year deal worth $6 million with the Angels.
Johnson, 31, never has been a regular DH. Nor has he ever used the lower half of his body to hit. So, as he gets used to the down time between at-bats, Johnson also is working on pivoting his back foot instead if letting it slide inward.
When the latter happened, Johnson came off balls and had no power. Now, with the help of hitting coach Kevin Long, Johnson is driving balls to right field.
“I wouldn’t say it’s second nature, but the more I do it, the more comfortable I will feel with it,” Johnson said.
Johnson hit a career-high 23 homers in 2004 for the Nationals. With more power and hitting in the jet stream to right in Yankee Stadium, matching Matsui’s 28 homers of a year ago isn’t out of the question.
“He is gaining on it,” Long said of Johnson becoming more comfortable with the foot change. “The percentage of where we want it is at 60 percent.”