No Doubt, Johnson’s Back In Form

It is months before the writers who vote begin filling in their ballots, but Cy Young Award candidates got company Monday.

In a young season in which Roger Clemens, Jimmy Key, Mike Mussina and Mariano Rivera have emerged as candidates for the American League’s most prestigious pitching award, the “Big Unit” tossed his Seattle cap into the field.

Randy Johnson’s two-hit, complete-game shut-out was another dominant performance - a 3-0 victory in which he started strong and then fought through a potential ninth-inning rally to beat the Toronto Blue Jays at the Kingdome.

“A few guys in our league have had great starts,” manager Lou Piniella said. “Randy basically needed twice the time we had to give him in spring training, so he wasn’t himself until a month or so into the season.

“I guarantee you this, come the end of the season, when you’re looking at that handful of pitchers who are the best in the game, Randy’s name will be right there.”

Johnson got the only run he needed in the first inning when Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 25th home run over the center field fence - a 421-foot bolt that got him to 25 homers faster than anyone in major league history except Babe Ruth.

Ruth hit 25 in 55 games in 1928. Griffey hit his in the Mariners’ 56th game - although Griffey has played in only 55 of those.

And rookie outfielder Jose Cruz Jr. finally got his first major league hit, then followed it with another to ignite a small rally in the sixth. And three games into his callup, Cruz already knew better than to steal the spotlight from the staff ace.

“Playing behind Randy tonight was one of the highlights of my career,” Cruz said.

Certainly, Piniella and his team know the value of a healthy Johnson. On a staff still feeling it’s way along the season, Johnson is the foundation on which the Mariners postseason hopes have been built.

“You need a win, there’s a guy in the Toronto clubhouse - Clemens - and a couple of guys in Atlanta that you might go to,” Piniella said. “But Randy Johnson is there with anybody. He has great stuff, but his strength might be in his competitive nature. The great ones have it, that ability to reach down within themselves and push through things.”

Now 8-1 with a 2.68 earned run average and a league-leading 105 strikeouts, Johnson wasn’t just strong early, he was perfect. Through five innings, the Blue Jays didn’t have a hit - or a baserunner.

“I never think about that,” said Johnson on the seventh anniversary of his one career no-hitter.

Coming off a 15-strikeout performance, Johnson got through the first eight innings on 110 pitches. For some, that would have been enough for the night.

“He wanted to go back out there,” Piniella said. “We’ve brought him along slowly, letting him pitch six innings, then seven, then eight. He wanted this one.”

Johnson opened the ninth inning by walking the first two men he faced.

“I lost my focus a little bit when I walked a couple guys, but I was able to regroup and come back,” Johnson said.

Facing the tying run with each pitch, Johnson retired Jacob Brumfield, Joe Carter and Ed Sprague in order and capped his first complete game since Aug. 28, 1995.

“I know he was tired,” Piniella said. “But he’s an ace. There aren’t many pitchers you leave out there in that situation, and we had Bobby (Ayala) ready.”

“I do enjoy finishing what I’ve started,” Johnson said. “I feel like tonight, I really did my job. I threw nine innings, and that’s what it’s all about.”

As for Piniella, he pointed out that his team’s two-game winning streak had come in games in which they’d scored a total of seven runs.

“We’re becoming a pitching-dominated team,” he said, winking. “Of course, you can’t use Randy to judge this staff. He’s in a league of his own.”

Notes

Former Seattle pitcher Erik Hanson is on the disabled list with the Blue Jays, but has had a grand seat for each of Toronto ace Roger Clemens’ victories in a 10-0 start. How effective has Clemens been? “In probably seven of those games, the other team didn’t have a chance after the first inning,” Hanson said. “I’ve never seen him this good.” … In his last six games, reserve catcher John Marzano is hitting .333, and in his seven starts Seattle is 4-3. … Think Seattle is struggling through its first 55 games? Check the records - the best 55-game record in franchise history was 30-25 in 1996, so the Mariners are just two games off that pace. … John Moses, who has been an unofficial coach, has been named interim hitting coach while Lee Elia is gone indefinitely for personal reasons. Moses has “been with us all year,” said Piniella. “He knows our hitters and he’s basically kept everybody on the same program they’ve been on.”… The Mariners’ defense still ranks 13th in the A.L., but it’s improving. They have committed errors in seven of their last 16 games after averaging one a game through most of the first five weeks of the season.<