Randy Johnson
Randy Johnson
Randall David "Randy" Johnson, nicknamed "The Big Unit", is an American former left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played from 1988 to 2009 for six teams, primarily the Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks. His 303 career victories rank as the fifth-most by a lefthander in major league history, while his 4,875 strikeouts place him second all-time behind Nolan Ryan and are the most by a lefthander. He holds five of the seven highest single-season strikeout totals by a lefthander...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBaseball Player
Date of Birth10 September 1963
CityWalnut Creek, CA
CountryUnited States of America
That's the pitcher that everybody expected and the pitcher that I expected. It's taken me awhile to find my mechanics.
That's the pitcher that everybody expected, and that's the pitcher that I'd expected.
I was barely a .500 pitcher before my dad died and I got married and had a baby... my wife and baby brought me down to earth.
I feel like I'm 24 again. I had the game taken away from me last year. I feel rejuvenated. I've got peace of mind knowing that the knee is fine, and I'm looking forward to going out there because it's like I dropped off the radar. I was a pretty good pitcher before last year, you know.
It took me a long time to really find my mechanics, ... But that's the pitcher everybody expected, and that's the pitcher I expected.
Unfortunately, it took a long time to fix my mechanics, ... That's the pitcher everyone expected. That's the pitcher I expected. Today my velocity was up because my mechanics were much better.
I think you've seen a different pitcher compared to earlier in the year. It's very evident that my mechanics are there, my velocity is there and everything is there that wasn't there on a consistent basis.
I think every pitcher pitches a little differently when they get out of Colorado, ... He's a different pitcher here and we're really getting the benefits of his performances. He's pitching the way he always knew he could out of that environment.
He's a throwback pitcher from the day. The game's changed quite a bit since then, but I can still learn. If you think you know everything that's when you'll be sadly mistaken. If I can take some input that he has and apply it towards what I'm doing out there and use it, then that's a good thing.
He saw a lot of things that sometimes you don't see when you're a pitcher out there, and that's mechanics.
The key is you don't want Damon to get on base any way. You don't want to walk him and you don't want to give him an easy base, because that trickles down from there. Then you get into the No. 2 hitter, and you get into all their power. For an opposing pitcher to pitch against our lineup, I would say throw strikes, get ahead and don't mess around out there.
We won 55 ball games in eight years, and that's a good record for anybody. My only regret - that 4-5 season sticks in my craw. I'm retiring as a coach, and I feel good about my retirement.
We control our own destiny. I'm sure it'll come down to those last three games in Boston.
I've pitched some pretty meaningful games, and some games where if we lose, we're done, ... That wasn't the case, but it would have been more difficult. We're three games back right now. It's not insurmountable.