By Kirby Arnold
Herald Writer
TUCSON, Ariz. – He won a World Series championship last year, yet he says that doesn’t matter anymore.
He captured his third straight Cy Young Award and is considered the best pitcher in the game, but he isn’t satisfied with the type pitcher he is.
When a reporter asked if his unbelievable numbers this early in spring training are a surprise, he answers, “Where have you been the last three years? That’s what I don’t understand with the media. I’ll see if I can give up a few runs in the next outing and make everybody happy.”
Is Randy Johnson having any fun yet?
The answer, he arrives at through reasoning that is pure Big Unit, is an unequivocal yes.
“When you see that you’re doing it the right way and you’re doing what you’ve strived to achieve, then it’s fun,” Johnson said Tuesday afternoon, still damp from the lather he worked up during a five-inning masterpiece over his former team.
Johnson allowed just one hit and struck out eight in a 6-1 victory by the Arizona Diamondbacks over the Seattle Mariners at Tucson Electric Park.
It wasn’t a typical Mariners lineup Johnson mowed down, with five regulars missing from the batting order. Still, those Mariners who remained for the finale of a three-day trip to Tucson saw Johnson at his best, even though it’s two weeks into the exhibition season.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve seen him,” said Mariners catcher Dan Wilson (0-for-2). “When it got into some key counts and key situations, he reached down a little bit and made a key pitch. It seemed like he was reaching back for a little extra.”
It’s been like that all month for Johnson, a typically slow spring training starter who seems in midseason form with the command of his fastball, slider and split-finger. In 11 exhibition innings, he has struck out 17, allowed three hits and walked one.
“I wasn’t sure what kind of spring I was going to have,” he said. “I’m already ahead of the curve with my breaking ball. I’m not feeling for it as much as I would be normally. I feel comfortable with my mechanics moreso right now than I did at any time during the regular season last year.”
That’s scary coming from a man who went 21-6 with a 2.49 earned run average in 2001 and, oh yeah, won a World Series and another Cy Young.
Is Randy Johnson having any fun yet?
At age 38, he is enjoying his greatest professional success and, best of all, is able to balance it with the motivation to get better.
“It has taken me a long time to get where I’m at,” he said. “Anybody who saw me when I came to the Mariners from Montreal, they would attest that it’s a night-and-day situation from where I was to where I’m at now.
“I’ve learned a lot from not having success and realizing that when you do have success how hard it is to maintain it.”
Johnson certainly wasn’t backing away Tuesday from a Mariners lineup that lacked Ichiro Suzuki, Mike Cameron, Ruben Sierra, Edgar Martinez and Desi Relaford, five guys who probably would play against a strong left-hander.
Johnson went right after whoever was in the box, including pitcher Jamie Moyer.
That confrontation added the only drama to what essentially was a 1-2-3 parade of Mariners back to the dugout.
When Moyer batted with one out in the third inning, Johnson dusted him off the plate with a high-inside fastball. Twice more in the five-pitch at-bat, Moyer was leaning for his life on pitches up and in.
After ball four, Moyer stared at Johnson during most of his 90-foot walk to first base.
“I saw Jamie glare at me,” said Johnson, who explained that he threw a lot of up-and-away pitches to eight straight right-handers before Moyer stepped in. “Unfortunately if you’re a left-handed hitter, those up-and-away pitches are going to be up by your neck.”
Moyer wasn’t around to give his side, having left the ballpark before reporters had a chance to question him.
“I think Jamie knows that if I can hit a moving bird,” said Johnson, who pummeled a low-flying bird with a pitch in spring training last year, “then I can surely hit a standing person.”
There was a time, in his early years with the Mariners, when Johnson couldn’t hit an ostrich. But he developed into a 20-game winner with the M’s and was a driving force in their American League West titles in 1995 and 1997.
In the process, he didn’t seem happy in Seattle anymore. Midway through a 1998 season in which Johnson was no better than a .500 pitcher, it seemed best that the Mariners get something in trade before he walked away as a free agent. They swung a deal with the Houston Astros on the night of the trade deadline, getting Freddy Garcia, Carlos Guillen and John Halama.
Johnson quickly found renewal, leading the Astros into the playoffs, then signing as a free agent with the Diamondbacks.
With Arizona, he’s on a path to the Hall of Fame but isn’t satisfied with himself.
“I’m constantly trying to throw more strikes, get ahead of the hitters, be more efficient with my pitches, be in command most of the game, throw quality starts,” Johnson said. “There are a lot of areas where I’m trying to better myself.”
He knows that having won baseball’s ultimate prize, last year’s World Series, means nothing to his record or ERA this year.
“I don’t go out there saying, ‘We’re World Series champs,’” Johnson said. “The last three years have been great, but there’s always room for improvement and that’s what I’m always striving for. If I would be content with where I’m at, I don’t think I would get any better.”
To Johnson, that’s why the game is so much fun now.
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