At 36, Unit is hitting his stride

By JOHN ROMANO

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 30, 2000

He hit Seattle at age 25 and stayed parts of 10 seasons. Yet the American League never saw Randy Johnson in his prime.

The Big Unit is 36 and pitching as well as anyone these days. Heck, he's pitching as well as anyone in a ton of days.

Since arriving in the National League in a trade midway through 1998, Johnson has gone 32-10 with a 2.08 ERA. Five of the 10 losses were shutouts.

Johnson pitches today against the Cubs and, according to research by the Diamondbacks, has a chance to join Vida Blue and Dave Stewart as the only pitchers to win six games in April.

Though he was an overpowering pitcher early in his career, Johnson was not always dominant on the mound. He led the AL in walks three straight seasons and was barely a .500 pitcher during his first four years with the Mariners.

His success grew as he gained better control in Seattle, and it has reached full bloom now that he has perfected a slider that is nearly unhittable when batters are expecting a 96-mph fastball.

Johnson even has worked on reducing his pitch count, meaning he will get fewer strikeouts but should be stronger near the end of the season. He has averaged better than eight innings. If you think that is a fluke, he averaged 72/3 innings in 1999.

"He's spoiled us so much the way he pitches," Arizona manager Buck Showalter said. "You just ride it."

CLOSING TIME: Less than a year after pitching a no-hitter for the Cardinals, Jose Jimenez is a closer for the Rockies. Coming into the season, Jimenez had one relief appearance in 95 outings. He was pressed into relief duty after injuries weakened the Rockies' bullpen. "He has an air about him," pitching coach Marcel Lachemann said. "Obviously he throws the ball well. He's not afraid. He doesn't appear to be daunted when we run him in there. We just have to see about his resiliency."

THE LITTLE UNIT: The Mariners were ready to promote minor-league sensation Ryan Anderson after Freddie Garcia was injured, but they decided to hold off after he was rocked in a Triple-A start. Anderson, a 6-11 left-hander, is supposed to be the second coming of Randy Johnson. At age 20, he was 2-0 with a 1.02 ERA before his setback Sunday. He is expected to be in the majors by summer. "I don't think I've ever known of a player to have a setback because a team was too conservative and too slow to bring him up," farm director Benny Looper said. "But I've seen numerous incidents of players whose careers have been set back because they are brought up too soon."

TEEN SCENE: Forget those rumors about Atlanta going after Alex Rodriguez after the season. The Braves appear smitten with 19-year-old shortstop Rafael Furcal. The youngest player in the majors is hitting around .280 and is gradually taking time away from Walt Weiss. "That kid's from another planet," catcher Eddie Perez said. "Whatever you want, he has it."

A TRI-CYCLE: Reds outfielder Dmitri Young needed a triple to complete the cycle during a rout of the Mets last week. He hit a double to centerfield in his final at-bat but tried to stretch it to a triple and was thrown out easily at third. "Yeah, I knew I needed a triple for the cycle, but (Mets shortstop) Rey Ordonez handed me his grand piano between second and third," Young said.

TOUGH FINISH: The Indians have had the AL Central wrapped up in plenty of time in recent seasons, and they had better hope they take care of business early again. Because of three straight rainouts in Boston this month, Cleveland will play 22 games in the last 20 days of the season.

REMEMBERING THE OLD DAYS: The Cardinals hit 52 home runs in their first 23 games, setting a record for April. As recently as 1986, the Cardinals hit 58 home runs for an entire season.

SPEAKING OF HOME RUNS: Coors Field and Camden Yards are hitter's parks. Enron Field is a slap-hitter's park. Routine fly balls are getting over the fence at Houston's new park. Former Rockies manager Don Baylor said the park will have an adverse effect on a pitching staff, much like Coors has. Former Astros shortstop Ricky Gutierrez said the change from the Astrodome is dramatic. "I was telling (Jeff) Bagwell when he was on second base that we used to get out of the Astrodome in 21/2 hours," Gutierrez said. "Now, it's like an American League game."

GREEN ACRES: Twins catcher Matt LeCroy, a rookie out of Belton, S.C., was given a personal tour by Ron Coomer on his first trip to New York. They took the subway from Grand Central Station to the Bronx, then toured the monuments in the outfield at Yankee Stadium. LeCroy made it memorable by doubling in his first start at the historic stadium. Of course, no trip to the Big Apple is complete without a fine dinner. Coomer took LeCroy and two other younger players to a swank restaurant in Manhattan, where they rang up a $500 bill. "You ain't lying," LeCroy said when told New York was a far cry from South Carolina.

-- Information from other news organizations was used in this report.

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