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46,000 watch The Unit defeat Dice K

The Sox played no lefthanded hitters, who are generally overmatched against Randy.

In 1995, Randy's greatest year, when he single handledly pitched a crap team to a division championship, he started 30 games, and left-handed hitters got only 11 hits against him all YEAR, with no dingers! That's no misprint. In 12 of those games, he faced no lefties at all. In the other 18, lefties got only 85 at bats and batted a blistering .129. What makes it even more impressive is that the only lefties he faced were the stars who never get a day off. Lord only knows what the average guys would have done.

That was not only Randy's greatest year, but it may have been anyone's greatest year. It compares to the best seasons of Matty, The Train, Grove, Koufax - anyone. Even Chesbro. In Randy's 30 starts, the team went 27-3. I believe that is the only time in baseball history when a team won 90% of the starts for a regular rotation pitcher with 30 or more starts. What really makes the stats pop is when you see the team's record in its other games, which was 52-63! In other words, his 30 starts lifted a .450 team to a division title. And he needed every one of those wins. The M's only won by a game - in a playoff. If the team goes 26-4 in Randy's starts, they finish second in the division and miss the playoffs altogether. After August first, if the Mariners lose any one of Randy's starts, they lose the division. They don't lose any. Unit starts 10 games and the M's win all ten. In his final game, he faces the Angels head-on in the playoff, with the season on the line. If he wins, the season continues. If he loses, he watches the post-season on TV, as the Angels did. He throws a complete game three-hitter with 12 Ks. The Angels really had no other choice but to start their three outstanding lefties, who were all top stars: Garret Anderson (.321), JT Snow (102 RBI) and Jim Edmonds (107 RBI). They go 0-for-8.

Someday I'm going to write a long article for the Scoopy Ball Park about the 1995 season, in which Randy and Greg Maddux had two of the greatest pitching seasons in all of baseball history. Maddux went 19-2 with a 1.63 ERA, and finished third in the MVP voting, behind Barry Larkin and Dante Bichette. Yup, you read that right. Maddux had a winning percentage above .900 with an ERA less than 40% of the league norm - and got fewer MVP votes than Bichette, who hit 31 homers at Coors and 9 on the road.

By the way, just for reference, here's Randy's game log for 1995.