Klapisch: It's all on Unit
- From: "BadgerBC" <neilrichardson3819@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 27 Jul 2005 23:00:19 GMT
That RJ fit into a Mini is pretty amazing. BMW should have him in a
commercial (like the old Volkswagen commercial with Wilt Chamberlain).
http://tinyurl.com/84xf7
Klapisch: It's all on Unit
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
By BOB KLAPISCH
SPORTS COLUMNIST
NEW YORK - It was just after 4 p.m. when the Mini Cooper puttered into the
Yankee parking lot, rolling by the Land Cruisers and the Porsches. The
security guards directed the toy car to its assigned spot, nodding at the
driver who had somehow squeezed into the front seat.
After a few moments, the front door opened. A leg emerged. Then another
leg - a long one. It took a few seconds, but Randy Johnson finally unfolded
himself. The 6-foot-10 left-hander towered over the Mini (its roof only came
up to the Big Unit's hip), creating a sight as bizarre as the Yankees'
pitching situation.
Clearly, nothing is impossible now, not if Johnson can fit into a vehicle
the size of a go-cart and the Yankees are moving forward with Aaron Small
and Hideo Nomo, who will be signed to a minor league contract this week.
The only certainty is that the Yankees need the Big Unit to spend the rest
of the summer cloning Tuesday's two-hit, 11-strikeout, 4-0 win over the
Twins.
He was so good, so dominant that catcher John Flaherty said the Twins'
hitters "were kind of laughing about it.'' At the very least, it gave the
Yankees a chance to daydream about the blueprint that once was: a healthy
Johnson, Kevin Brown throwing mean two-seamers and Carl Pavano's sinker
owning the lower half of the strike zone.
"Hey, you can always hope for that," Joe Torre said when someone asked if a
fully functional rotation is still possible. That's a long shot now, and
Johnson alone can't deliver the Yankees to the postseason.
Mike Mussina is on the hook for quality starts every fifth day. The Yankees
are even leaning on Al Leiter - Al Leiter - and the emergency is so real the
recently released Nomo will be sent to Class AAA Columbus and may end up in
the Bronx shortly.
So if Johnson wants to drive to the Stadium in a Mini - who knows, maybe
it's his good-luck charm, although it's just as possible the makeshift yoga
sessions in his car are responsible for the bad back and bad moods.
Still, it's clear Johnson and his car (and his fastball) were in perfect
sync against the Twins. He didn't allow a hit through five innings, whipping
through the lineup in a way that brought back memories of his National
League prime.
This was exactly the Unit the Yankees paid so dearly for - 94 mph fastballs
up and away, 88 mph sliders down and away. "Complete control,'' is how
Flaherty described Johnson's performance. By the sixth inning, there was a
buzz in the stands, growing louder not just with each out Johnson
registered, but with every strike, too.
His stuff had no-hitter fingerprints all over it. The Twins, who came into
the game with a .237 average since the All-Star break, were losing every
at-bat, overpowered by Johnson's velocity and his command of both sides of
the plate.
Until the sixth, Johnson's only mistake was starting the game by plunking
leadoff hitter Shannon Stewart. After that, Johnson turned all his demons -
his bad back, his perpetual bad mood, even the upper-90s heat - into his
allies.
After facing Stewart, Johnson threw first-pitch strikes to 10 of the next 14
batters, and by the seventh inning, he already was in double digits in
strikeouts. Had it not been for Juan Castro's two-out single in the sixth
.... well, who knew? The inning bore a stamp that read: property of Randy
Johnson, just like the previous five. Bret Boone bounced softly to Alex
Rodriguez before Michael Cuddyer swung over a 2-2 slider that Johnson buried
down and in, practically at the first baseman's feet.
Johnson was practically body-surfing through the lineup now; it would take a
mistake for the Twins to win even one at-bat, let alone score a run. The
Unit quickly jumped ahead of Castro, throwing another first-pitch strike.
Then - finally - the Twins had a moment's grace.
Johnson hung an 0-1 slider, allowing Castro to punch it cleanly up the
middle. The ball whispered beneath the Unit's glove and skidded past Derek
Jeter, who made no attempt to dive for the ball. There was no point. The bid
for a no-hitter was unconditionally and unquestionably dead.
That didn't stop the sellout crowd from covering Johnson in a soft rain of
applause. Johnson, strangely subdued after the game, said he never allowed
himself to consider a brush with history, insisting his goal was merely to
"keep us in the game.''
The prognosis for August and September remains cloudy, though. One veteran
said before the game, "We've taken a lot of hits so far. It's pretty amazing
we are where we are. But I don't know how much more we can take in terms of
injuries."
Sooner or later, Torre will run out of ways to mix and match his rotation.
It's hard to imagine the Yankees actually catching the Red Sox on the
shoulders of Small and whatever temp they hire for Saturday, including Nomo.
But on an otherwise oppressive night of heat and humidity at the Stadium,
Johnson's fastball created a little midsummer heaven. The Yankees don't need
to know how or why. They'll even accept the possibility that driving a Mini
makes Johnson feel closer to his core.
Whatever. As long as it lasts, is what Joe Torre must be thinking.
.
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