Friday, June 17, 2005
Unit, Yanks roll to series sweep
NEW YORK -- If Thursday night's performance isn't the best of what Randy Johnson has to offer, then the Yankees have a lot to look forward to.
Johnson twirled a complete-game gem against the Pirates at Yankee Stadium, leading the Bombers to a 6-1 win and a three-game series sweep of the Bucs in the process.
"This could have been the best [start] all year," said manager Joe Torre. "He had electric stuff, no question."
Johnson, who tossed seven shutout innings last Saturday against the powerful Cardinals offense, followed with his first complete-game win of the season on Thursday.
Yet even with his dominant outing, the Big Unit was not impressed with himself when all was said and done.
"I don't get worked up about anything," Johnson said. "I'm not overly excited about the way I pitched today, though I don't think I pitched all that bad. My body of work will be at the end of the year, not two starts."
Johnson may not be satisfied with his night's work, but his team couldn't have been happier. After a 3-9 road trip, the Yankees are off to a 3-0 start on their 13-game homestand, having gotten complete-game victories from Johnson and Mike Mussina in the process.
It was clear from the first inning that Johnson had his good stuff, as he struck out three batters in the opening frame.
That was all it took for the Yankees to give the left-hander a lead, as Derek Jeter opened the bottom of the inning with a ground-rule double, then Hideki Matsui drilled a two-run homer into the right-field bleachers.
"The tone was set in the first inning with Randy striking out three guys and Hideki hitting the big home run," said catcher John Flaherty. "We needed to build on what we did last night."
Jason Giambi and Robinson Cano each drove in runs in the second, then Gary Sheffield tacked on a two-run double in the fourth.
Pittsburgh's only run came courtesy of a solo shot by Michael Restovich in the fourth, Johnson's lone mistake of the evening. Well, the lone mistake that cost him anything, anyway.
"You make mistakes out there, and mistakes tend to get overlooked when we play like we played today," Johnson said. "If we had lost, 1-0, we'd be talking about the mistake."
Big Unit K-Meter
Pirates at Yankees, June 16, 2005
Randy Johnson (7-5) fanned 11 of the 33 batters he faced in his complete game to increase his season strikeout total to 91 and career strikeout total to 4,252, through June 16. A look at his Ks:
K Strikeout victim Inn. Count
1 F. Sanchez (swinging) 1 0-2
2 M. Lawton (swinging) 1 0-2
3 R. Doumit (swinging) 1 0-2
4 M. Restovich (swinging) 2 1-2
5 D. Ward (swinging) 4 0-2
6 J. Wilson (swinging) 5 0-2
7 M. Lawton (looking) 6 1-2
8 R. Doumit (looking) 6 2-2
9 M. Restovich (swinging) 7 2-2
10 J. Castillo (looking) 7 3-2
11 D. Ward (swinging) 9 0-2
Key numbers for Johnson:
Pitches-strikes: 110-86; Groundouts-flyouts: 7-9;
Season strikeouts-walks: 91-20; WHIP: 1.14
Johnson worked with Flaherty as his catcher for the second consecutive game, with the battery once again proving to be effective. Torre said after the game that he would stick with the combination, but both the pitcher and catcher made it clear that they both have tremendous respect for starting backstop Jorge Posada.
"It was only a matter of time before he got going, I just happened to be back there the two games that it's happened," Flaherty said. "I'm not real comfortable with it. I have the utmost respect for Jorge and his ability, and we're a better team when he's out there. We'll see how this thing goes."
Flaherty did have a conference on the mound with Johnson in the sixth inning, after Jason Bay lined a hard shot to the wall in right. After the ball was caught by Sheffield, Johnson made some wild gestures with his arms, waving in and out in reference to the location of his pitch.
The catcher made his way to the mound to make sure that Johnson wasn't trying to show him up, but the Unit assured Flaherty that he was gesturing to himself over the location of his offering.
"He made some animated gestures about in and out, and I wanted to make sure that those weren't directed toward me," Flaherty said. "I'm not going to let him make gestures like that toward me at the plate. We had a nice conversation, figured out what was going on and we went forward from there.
"This is the first time we've seen Randy feeling good about himself out on the mound, so he's more animated," Flaherty added. "He knows he has good stuff, he has dominating stuff again, and we're seeing a guy who is very confident in his ability right now."
Johnson's 110th and final pitch of the night whizzed by Daryle Ward for the last out, the 11th punchout of the game for the lefty. The 11-strikeout performance was the 205th double-digit strikeout effort of Johnson's career, second only to Nolan Ryan's 215.
"He's going after them and daring them, where a few starts ago, he was feeling his way," Torre said. "The last few times out, stuff has fallen into place for him. Now, he is who he is."
Source: http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/
Johnson twirled a complete-game gem against the Pirates at Yankee Stadium, leading the Bombers to a 6-1 win and a three-game series sweep of the Bucs in the process.
"This could have been the best [start] all year," said manager Joe Torre. "He had electric stuff, no question."
Johnson, who tossed seven shutout innings last Saturday against the powerful Cardinals offense, followed with his first complete-game win of the season on Thursday.
Yet even with his dominant outing, the Big Unit was not impressed with himself when all was said and done.
"I don't get worked up about anything," Johnson said. "I'm not overly excited about the way I pitched today, though I don't think I pitched all that bad. My body of work will be at the end of the year, not two starts."
Johnson may not be satisfied with his night's work, but his team couldn't have been happier. After a 3-9 road trip, the Yankees are off to a 3-0 start on their 13-game homestand, having gotten complete-game victories from Johnson and Mike Mussina in the process.
It was clear from the first inning that Johnson had his good stuff, as he struck out three batters in the opening frame.
That was all it took for the Yankees to give the left-hander a lead, as Derek Jeter opened the bottom of the inning with a ground-rule double, then Hideki Matsui drilled a two-run homer into the right-field bleachers.
"The tone was set in the first inning with Randy striking out three guys and Hideki hitting the big home run," said catcher John Flaherty. "We needed to build on what we did last night."
Jason Giambi and Robinson Cano each drove in runs in the second, then Gary Sheffield tacked on a two-run double in the fourth.
Pittsburgh's only run came courtesy of a solo shot by Michael Restovich in the fourth, Johnson's lone mistake of the evening. Well, the lone mistake that cost him anything, anyway.
"You make mistakes out there, and mistakes tend to get overlooked when we play like we played today," Johnson said. "If we had lost, 1-0, we'd be talking about the mistake."
Big Unit K-Meter
Pirates at Yankees, June 16, 2005
Randy Johnson (7-5) fanned 11 of the 33 batters he faced in his complete game to increase his season strikeout total to 91 and career strikeout total to 4,252, through June 16. A look at his Ks:
K Strikeout victim Inn. Count
1 F. Sanchez (swinging) 1 0-2
2 M. Lawton (swinging) 1 0-2
3 R. Doumit (swinging) 1 0-2
4 M. Restovich (swinging) 2 1-2
5 D. Ward (swinging) 4 0-2
6 J. Wilson (swinging) 5 0-2
7 M. Lawton (looking) 6 1-2
8 R. Doumit (looking) 6 2-2
9 M. Restovich (swinging) 7 2-2
10 J. Castillo (looking) 7 3-2
11 D. Ward (swinging) 9 0-2
Key numbers for Johnson:
Pitches-strikes: 110-86; Groundouts-flyouts: 7-9;
Season strikeouts-walks: 91-20; WHIP: 1.14
Johnson worked with Flaherty as his catcher for the second consecutive game, with the battery once again proving to be effective. Torre said after the game that he would stick with the combination, but both the pitcher and catcher made it clear that they both have tremendous respect for starting backstop Jorge Posada.
"It was only a matter of time before he got going, I just happened to be back there the two games that it's happened," Flaherty said. "I'm not real comfortable with it. I have the utmost respect for Jorge and his ability, and we're a better team when he's out there. We'll see how this thing goes."
Flaherty did have a conference on the mound with Johnson in the sixth inning, after Jason Bay lined a hard shot to the wall in right. After the ball was caught by Sheffield, Johnson made some wild gestures with his arms, waving in and out in reference to the location of his pitch.
The catcher made his way to the mound to make sure that Johnson wasn't trying to show him up, but the Unit assured Flaherty that he was gesturing to himself over the location of his offering.
"He made some animated gestures about in and out, and I wanted to make sure that those weren't directed toward me," Flaherty said. "I'm not going to let him make gestures like that toward me at the plate. We had a nice conversation, figured out what was going on and we went forward from there.
"This is the first time we've seen Randy feeling good about himself out on the mound, so he's more animated," Flaherty added. "He knows he has good stuff, he has dominating stuff again, and we're seeing a guy who is very confident in his ability right now."
Johnson's 110th and final pitch of the night whizzed by Daryle Ward for the last out, the 11th punchout of the game for the lefty. The 11-strikeout performance was the 205th double-digit strikeout effort of Johnson's career, second only to Nolan Ryan's 215.
"He's going after them and daring them, where a few starts ago, he was feeling his way," Torre said. "The last few times out, stuff has fallen into place for him. Now, he is who he is."
Source: http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/
