The team's center fielder and leadoff hitter says he gained about 15 pounds after an offseason of "drinking beer."

07:50 AM EST on Thursday, February 26, 2004

BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Johnny Damon's offseason conditioning program was rather unique.

He looked disdainfully at weights, drank beer, chased cars and kept his distance from hair clippers and razors.

So yesterday, standing in the Boston Red Sox' clubhouse on a rainy day that put a serious crimp in new manager Terry Francona's first full-squad workout, Damon acknowledged that he gained about 15 pounds, boosting his weight to 220.

"I gained weight the right way -- drinking beer," he said with a smile.

The center fielder was in a jovial mood. And he didn't exactly have the clean-shaven look that is required of, say, a New York Yankee clubhouse. His bushy head of long hair, which came close to touching his shoulders, was accented by a full beard.

Risking charges of blasphemy, he

remarked how he looked like Jesus Christ or Grizzly Adams, while a media member thought he more closely resembled Charles Manson.

It was difficult to know when Damon was joking in his first spring meeting with the media.

For instance, when Damon, who stole 30 bases last year, was asked if he had lost any speed because of the extra weight, he had a story to tell.

"I live on a street (in the Orlando area) where the speed limit is 25 miles an hour and the police enforce it. At night I'd wait out there and when a car came by I would race the car home, so I think I can go at least 25 miles an hour. I scared some of the people, seeing a caveman racing after cars," said Damon with a laugh.

One thing that wasn't a laughing matter, though, was the concussion he suffered in the seventh inning of the deciding Game 5 of the American League Division Series in Oakland.

Damon, charging in from his spot in center field and collided with second baseman Damian Jackson as they tried to track down a blooper hit by Jermaine Dye. Damon was carted off the field in an ambulance after the play.

The injury kept him out of the first time game of the American League Championship Series against New York, but he played in the final five games. He got three hits in his first game back, two of which never left the infield, but ended up hitting .200 (4 for 20) for the series.

It was a testament to his willingness to play hurt that he played after suffering the concussion. But he wasn't himself. And, while it may have cost the Red Sox a chance to make it to the World Series, it definitely caused him pain in the offseason in the form of daily migraine headaches.

In Game 7, Boston had the Yankees on the ropes. The Red Sox had a 4-0 lead with one out and the bases filled in the fourth inning. But Damon killed the rally and a chance to put away the Yanks, grounding a pitch from reliever Mike Mussina to shortstop Derek Jeter for an inning-ending double play.

New York eventually pulled even at 5-5 in the eighth and won the game, 6-5, in the 11th, bouncing Boston from the playoffs.

Damon thinks if he had been healthy that at-bat and the series would have turned out differently.

"If you noticed in the (ALCS) every ball I hit was either foul down the third-base line or (in fair play) to the left of second base," said Damon. "I pull the ball more than people think. But I didn't have the strength. My left arm was black and blue from the IV they put in me when I was in the ambulance (in Oakland). It was like someone had taken a baseball bat and pounded my arm.

"But I knew I had to play," said Damon. "Looking back I don't know how I even put on a uniform I was so banged up. I felt I was still able to come in and help. If I had been healthy I could have played better. I didn't have the adrenaline. When you don't have that you can't jump, you're a little slow. You're not the Superman you thought you were. I don't remember too much of the playoffs."

Once the playoffs were over, Damon rested. The migraines, which he said he suffered from every day around 2 o'clock, lasted about a month-and-a-half.

He thought about his season, which was average (.273, 12 home runs, 67 RBI) considering so many others in the lineup had career years. He was happy, though, with his patience at the plate that helped force pitchers to throw more pitches, tiring out sooner, even if his teammates took more advantage of the fatigue factor than he did. And now he's in camp, rested, hairy and ready to go.

"This is my time to get in shape," said Damon, who turned 30 in November. "I swung the bat and did a few pushups here and there. My body is 100 percent." He likes the Sox' chances.

"We have the best team out there, hands down," said Damon. "We have the best chemistry, best team, best pitching. We have to be optimistic."

The team looks good on paper, but how will Damon end up looking in the team photo? Will his hairy look stay? The Sox' brass doesn't seem to care.

"I don't care what he looks like as long as he gets on base," said Francona.

"I was just lazy and let them go," said Damon of his hair and beard. General manager "Theo (Epstein) told me I could keep it. We don't want to compare ourselves to the Yankees. We'll do everything opposite of what they do."

And this year, Damon, the man who said he chased cars in the offseason, is hoping it will be the Yankees chasing the Red Sox in the American League East standings.