TORONTO – On a night when Nick Johnson won a game for the Yankees with a homer to right field, Joe Torre admitted the left-handed hitting rookie won’t be out of a long funk until he sprays line drives to left field.
“I would much rather see him hit line drives the other way,” Torre said after Johnson’s ninth-inning solo homer off Cliff Politte lifted the Yankees to a 7-6 victory in front of 27,197 at Sky Dome.
“He hasn’t hit enough balls the other way. That will help him get to where he should be.
“It’s not that easy and he understands that,” Torre said. “He works on it during batting practice, but it’s tough to get up there during a game and think about things like that. You have enough problems thinking about a pitcher making a pitch. Some of his bolts are to left-center field, that’s his spot. When he hits line drives to left-center, I think you will see a hitter who is starting to come around.”
Johnson’s homer was just one of several positive vibes being thrown out by the Yankees. In his first appearance since giving up six runs in the ninth inning Sunday, Mariano Rivera worked a perfect ninth and posted his 23rd save in 27 chances.
Jason Giambi clubbed a three-run homer in the seventh when the Yankees erased a 4-1 deficit. Alfonso Soriano went 3-for-5 and homered. He and Giambi are tied for the team lead with 24.
Steve Karsay wasn’t great but he got out of a first-and-second, no-out jam in the eighth by feeding Shannon Stewart a double-play ball.
On the down side Jeff Weaver’s second start as a Yankee wasn’t much better than his first. In six innings he gave up four runs and five hits. On July 7 against the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium Weaver went seven innings and surrendered six runs and six hits.
Hitting in a lineup loaded with stars, Johnson has been able to sneak in under the radar with a .239 batting average, 12 homers and 43 RBIs.
Touted as a pure hitter throughout his minor league career, Johnson was supposed to use all fields, hit for a higher average and draw a ton of walks.
“That’s not good,” Johnson said of his .239 average.
But his homer off a 2-2 middle of the plate fastball was good enough to send the Yankees home from a six-game trip through Cleveland and Canada with a 3-3 record. It also allowed them to stay three games in front of the Red Sox in the AL East.
“I told him it’s OK to smile,” Torre said of Johnson.
Johnson, who rarely lets you know what he is thinking, agreed.
“To hit a ball like that and win a game, it feels good,” Johnson said.
Rivera felt good to get a chance to download the sour taste left by the worst outing of his career.
“I was anxious [Monday] but there was nothing I could do,” Rivera said. “It’s definitely important [to get into a game]. You want to help the team win.”
Giambi’s blast off Scott Cassidy put the Yankees ahead 6-4, but Mike Stanton, Karsay and some artificial-turf voodoo combined to enable the Blue Jays to tie the score, 6-6, in the seventh.
Stanton walked Stewart on four pitches, gave up a one-out single to Vernon Wells and watched helplessly as Chris Woodward’s chopper to short turned into an infield single.
Torre went for Karsay and he got pinch-hitter Josh Phelps to hit a curveball on the ground to the right side that scooted past Soriano for a two-run single.
“Turf hit,” Karsay said. “If that’s on grass it’s a double play ball but you have to play in your environment.”