Big Unit Ready To Take Big Bite Out Of Big Apple Team

Now the New York Yankees have done it. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

Lou Piniella had no plans to use Randy Johnson as Seattle’s starting pitcher tonight in the third game of the playoff series against the Yankees. The Mariners’ manager had every intention of saving Johnson for Saturday’s game, which would have been soon enough for the Yankees to see baseball’s most fearsome pitcher.

When a person has a toothache, he doesn’t necessarily run to the dentist right away. A visit to the dentist can be worse than a toothache. So he puts it off as long as he can.

Having avoided facing Johnson in the series opener because he had to pitch the playoff game that got the Mariners to the postseason for the first time, the Yankees should have left well enough alone. They should have delayed their visit to the Mariners’ dentist as long as they could. All they had to do was lose the second game, and Johnson stays in the dugout and off the mound.

But nooooooooo, the Yankees had to win the second game, and the Mariners can’t afford to lose another game.

Open wide.

“This guy’s got great stuff, the most dominating stuff in baseball,” Don Mattingly said Thursday.

Johnson, the 6-foot-10 left-hander, was at his dominating best against the California Angels last Monday, retiring the first 17 batters and pitching a three-hitter while striking out 12. It was that performance that catapulted the division-champion Mariners into the playoffs against the wild-card Yankees, but it was also that game that changed the complexion of the series.

“We were all pretty happy when they had that extra game to play and had to use him,” Mike Stanley, the Yankees’ catcher, said. “Not to slight the other guys, but that’s a big advantage not having the top pitcher in the league going at you twice.”

If Johnson had been able to start and win the first game, the Yankees, at best, would be 1-1 with Johnson in position to wield the drill a second time. That would have made it mandatory for the Yankees to win he other two games in the Kingdome.

If Johnson had been able to start, he himself said, referring to the pitching order, “it puts people in a more comfortable position than where I think we’ve been. I would have liked to have been the guy, but it didn’t work out that way.”

“At this point, it looks pretty huge,” said David Cone, winning pitcher in Game 1. “That playoff game could be the difference. But if he comes back and beats us Friday night, that’s a momentum swing for them, and this series could change in a hurry.”

Piniella, looking to give Johnson an extra day of rest, had been willing to gamble that the Yankees might win the third game against Tim Belcher and take a 2-1 lead. But Johnson has pitched only slightly less effectively this season working with three days’ rest instead of the customary four or more.

The playoff victory over the California Angels was the sixth game he had pitched with abbreviated rest. He has won four and lost none, compiling a 2.78 earned run average and a strikeout ratio of 11.7 per nine innings. In his other 24 starts, Johnson had a 2.40 ERA and a 12.5 strikeout ratio.

His teammates easily noticed that Johnson turned up his performance a notch against the Angels. Can he do it again?

“Do I have any choice?” Johnson said, answering a question with a question early Thursday morning.

But, he said, “It’s not a pressure game by any means, but it’s a game if we don’t win, obviously we’re done. Some people look at that as pressure. I don’t. I just have to rise to the occasion and pitch well. What’s the worst that’s going to happen if I don’t? Is everybody going to hate me if I lose? If this was a perfect world, I would’ve pitched against Cone. That would’ve been a good battle. But that’s the way it goes.”

As he was in the first game, Johnson was a mere spectator in the second game. That role wasn’t as rewarding as pitching, but he liked it nevertheless, even though the Yankees won.

“For a person who’s never been in the playoffs,” he said, “I think that was everything I anticipated - great plays, home runs, great pitching, a lot of theatrics. I enjoyed it. I was down at the end of the dugout near where Lou was. He goes, ‘This is pretty exciting.’ It was extremely exciting. That play with Fernandez and Velarde, where they did the shuttle pass; the Wade Boggs play at third base. That’s exciting stuff.”

Johnson would have been even more excited if the Mariners had tied the series in the Wednesday night game that ended Thursday morning.

“I think it would have been good for my arm,” he said, “but at this point it doesn’t matter. I’m going to be pitching on adrenaline so we’ll see what happens.”

The Yankees should be thankful that’s all he’s pitching on. They may want to try playing on Novocain.