Other Crap

9 -- Memorable moments in Randy Johnson's career

ESPN is hyping his quest for #300.

Some of the most impressive moments of Randy's career are catalogued at the linked site, but I want to add a look at:

• The entire 1995 season. Although it is not widely recognized as such, Randy's 1995 is one of the greatest seasons, if not the greatest in baseball history.
  

  
  He started 30 games. The Mariners went 27-3 in those games. As far as I know (so qualified because this is not an official stat, although it should be), this is the only case in baseball history in which a team played .900 ball behind a regular starter with 30 or more stars. From July on, the Mariners were 15-1 in Randy's starts. After August 1st they were 10-0, and the opposition scored only 14 runs - and two of those were allowed by the relievers. And every one of those wins was critical. If Randy had lost even one of those games, the Mariners would have missed the post-season. (They finished tied for first.)
  

  The Mariners played .900 ball in the games started by the Unit, but were 52-63 in their other games (.452). That differential of .448 is slightly higher than the differential between Steve Carlton and the other pitchers on the 1972 Phillies. (Carlton 29-12, other games 30-85, differential .446)
  

  Pitching with normal frequency, i.e. three or four days rest, he went 14-0.
  

  It is the only case I can think of when one pitcher single-handedly pitched an otherwise sub-.500 team to a league or division championship.
  

  He struck out 294 batters in only 214 innings. That set the record for most strikeouts per innings pitched, a record which was subsequently broken and is now owned by some guy named ... Randy Johnson (2001 version).
  

  In the one-game playoff against the Angels, he threw a complete game three hitter with 12 Ks. The Angels had beaten Randy earlier in the year, but unfortunately for them, their hitting attack was based on left-handed hitting, and lefties had no prayer against the Unit when he was on. And he was on that day. Lefties JT Snow, Garrett Anderson and Jim Edmonds went oh-for-eight in that game. Of course it was no field day for right handers either. The Angels clean-up guy was the frustrated Tim Salmon, who had a perfect day: four at bats, four Ks. (This is a guy who finished the season at .330 with 34 homers and 105 ribbies and an OPS above 1.000. He finished just below Randy in the MVP balloting!)
  

  This is my favorite stat from Randy's 1995 season: lefties got 11 hits against him that year. That's not a misprint. Eleven hits. In a year. In thirty games. Lefties batted .129 against him in 1995, with no homers. And you have to realize that only the best lefties got to bat against him at all!
  

  
  
• The three years from 1995-1997. Randy won 43, lost 6. 'Nuff said.
  

  
  

• The four years from 1999-2002. The D-backs signed him as a free agent. First four years: four Cy Youngs. They seem to have gotten their money's worth.
  

  
  

• The entire 2001 season. Randy set the strikeout/inn record which still stands, and he won yet another Cy Young. Those are not the key facts. Prior to 2001, the rap against Randy had been that he folded in the post season. Not this time. He went 2-0 against the Braves in the NL championship, and won three games in the World Series. The only case I can think of where a pitcher won the spotlight wire-to-wire was Matty's famous 1905 season, when Big Six won 31 in the regular season, the topped it off with a perfect World Series: three starts, three shutouts!