O’S Have Chopped Big Unit Down To Size
Randy Johnson already is annoyed by the questions. And the questions started the minute his Seattle Mariners clinched the American League West and started looking at their upcoming division series with the Orioles.
Johnson, you see, has had something of a problem with the Orioles. The best left-handed pitcher in baseball is 3-7 lifetime against Baltimore, with a 4.74 earned run average. This season - a season in which he has gone 20-4 with a 2.28 ERA and would be the cinch Cy Young winner if not for Roger Clemens’ stunning resurgence in Toronto - Johnson is 0-2 in three starts against the Orioles (all three Mariners losses) with a 5.68 ERA.
They are numbers he does not like to discuss.
“I don’t want to make it that kind of thing,” Johnson said this week when asked about the revenge factor. “I’m not going to make a big deal out of it.”
In this series, though, it could well be a big deal. A very big deal. Put those Johnson numbers alongside his formidable reputation and undisputed skills, and the Big Unit is the most interesting - and, in all likelihood, most important - person in the upcoming Orioles-Mariners division series. He’s also the hardest to predict.
Everyone knows about the Randy Johnson Intimidation Factor. It plays a role in almost every game he pitches. Players are afraid of him. Teams are afraid of him. They are afraid not because Johnson can be wild - which he really hasn’t been for a long time, his beaning of J.T. Snow in spring training aside - but because he is so big, and throws so hard, and is so unbelievably hard to beat. Say “Randy Johnson’s pitching tonight” in any opposing team’s clubhouse, and more than a few players cringe.
The Orioles don’t have that fear. They don’t need to. They’ve beaten this guy twice this year. They’ve made him look … human. And that’s something that no other team can say.
Take the Yankees, for example. When the Mariners made the playoffs in 1995, Johnson got them there by pitching brilliantly in a one-game playoff against the Angels the day after the regular season ended. That meant Johnson wasn’t available to pitch in Games 1 or 2 of the Yanks-Mariners division series - it meant he only would be able to make one start in the best-of-five set - and the Yankees admitted that they considered that a huge break.
In most situations, the Mariners would have to feel pretty confident going into a best-of-five series. It’s not too far a stretch for them to believe that Johnson will carry them in Game 1 here on Wednesday, and that he’ll be there, waiting, to save them in Game 5 at Camden Yards, if necessary. That’s the plan for this upcoming series. But that’s not giving the Mariners their usual comfort level, not with Johnson’s history.
Johnson has little explanation for his off-kilter statistics against Baltimore. Asked about the Orioles curse after his last start in Baltimore (Aug. 15), Johnson was a tad offended by the suggestion that the Orioles have his number. Asked the same thing this week, he reacted the same way.
Orioles Manager Davey Johnson used an almost all right-handed-batting lineup against The Big Unit this year, leaving three of his starters - Rafael Palmeiro, Robbie Alomar and B.J. Surhoff - on the bench. The only Orioles left-hander to face Johnson regularly is Brady Anderson, who has done better against Johnson than most lefties.
The Baltimore skipper has indicated that he plans to go the same way in Game 1. He’s going to sit Palmeiro for sure, and probably all three of those key guys. That decision is a testament not only to Randy Johnson’s success against left-handers, but to his ability to screw up lefties’ heads for an entire series.
But it’s also a testament to the success the Orioles have had using just such a lineup against Johnson this season.
“Actually, I’m looking forward to the opportunity of facing Baltimore,” he said. “I’m not worried. I’m very confident.”
xxxx THEY SAID IT Thoughts on Randy Johnson’s success against the Orioles: “Randy will pitch well, believe me.” -Mariners manager Lou Piniella “It’s not that big a drama. I pitched a few good games and lost.” -Randy Johnson