Tampa, Fla. – Shawn Chacon sat by his locker five hours before his first pitch and explained the difference between being a Yankee and a Rockie.
“There are a lot more fans in the spring,” Chacon said, “and of course there’s all this.”
He motioned to the media that nearly outnumbered the players.
As if on cue, the Yankees justified the reporters’ presence with a stream of news that featured catcher Jorge Posada breaking his nose playing catch, Gary Sheffield denying he used human growth hormone, Johnny Damon facing his former team for the first time and Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona hissing over a mini-beanball war that claimed Mike Lowell and Derek Jeter.
Against this backdrop, Damon collided with his former Red Sox. A sellout crowd, which included fans who paid as much as $100 for scalped tickets, greeted Damon with a mixture of cheers and boos. Damon scored the Yankees’ second run, but was showered with “Traitor!” calls when he struck out against Mike Timlin in the sixth inning.
“The (Yankees’) clubhouse has been great,” Damon said. “Any clubhouse compared to the Red Sox clubhouse is going to seem tame, but we’re having a good time here. We know what the job at hand is.”
