Randy Johnson is in a league of his own as a towering mound presence, yet even he can lower himself to admit the significance of Sunday’s assignment.
“What it does,” he said, “is give me a chance at redemption.”
The Big Unit went 20-4 this season, business as usual for this 6-foot-10-inch giant who owns baseball’s best winning percentage since 1991, better than the master, Greg Maddux.
However, had the Seattle Mariners not stifled the Baltimore Orioles 4-2 Saturday, Johnson would have been put on ice for a long, cold winter, to wonder why one franchise greets him like a rich uncle.
Instead, Johnson will pitch Game 4 of the American League Division Series on short rest while the Orioles tempt fate with long memories. They flogged him in the tournament opener, collecting five runs in as many innings, but what else is new? Half his defeats this year were inflicted by the Orioles, whom he failed to beat.
It is a riddle wrapped in an enigma, especially when you consider that Davey Johnson, Baltimore’s unconventional manager, routinely stacks his lineup with right-handed hitters for the Big Unit. Ergo, Rafael Palmeiro, B.J. Surhoff and Roberto Alomar (70 homers and 258 runs batted in, collectively) sit out, waiting for Johnson to crack.
No other team possesses the nerve, or the reserves, to veer so drastically from status quo. But other Orioles invariably exercise patience and go deep in the count. Johnson logs his signature strikeouts, yet they light him up. His earned-run average against them, 5.68 in 1997, reads like a typographical error.
“I can’t think about that (Sunday),” Johnson said. “I have to do what I always do.”
Johnson doesn’t enjoy throwing with only three days between starts, nor does Mike Mussina, who outdueled him in Game 1. But after two defeats in Seattle, manager Lou Piniella rearranged his rotation while Davey Johnson, playing another hunch, opted not to hold his ace until Monday, if needed.
The gamble is considerable. Can the Orioles, whatever they have on the Big Unit, solve him again, so soon? He is a big-game hunter, and they brought him back into the equation by flailing helplessly at Jeff Fassero on Saturday. Fassero was so effective, even the horrendous Seattle bullpen couldn’t blow it, though Heathcliff Slocumb gave it the old ex-Cub try.
In fact, the Orioles were guilty of arson. Arthur Rhodes was doing just fine, protecting a 2-0 deficit, but as he appeared for the ninth inning, he developed a curious tightness in his forearm.
Piniella, wise to Davey Johnson’s brinksmanship, suspected a devious plot: With nobody warming up for Baltimore, the delay might cause Fassero’s arm to stiffen. He had retired 18 consecutive Orioles and would wind up with 136 pitches–a heavy load, but not as heavy as Seattle’s relief corps.
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Alas, the Orioles summoned Terry Mathews, a pear-shaped non-entity who promptly served back-to-back homers that enraged the fans at Camden Yards, America’s finest ballpark. Seattle’s lead doubled, just before the Orioles halved it.
Enter the Big Unit, who said, “I’m excited to have this opportunity.”
He is not alone. Lee Elia, Seattle’s bench coach, will retire whenever the Mariners check out. He consented to be wired for sound by the Fox network, and talk about tempting fate. As manager of the Cubs in 1983, Elia contributed one of the all-time diatribes to the library of deleted expletives.
“I got in trouble with that tape,” Elia recalled. “They promised me today I’d be edited for quality programming.”