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
Mechanically, I've struggled all year long with my arm angle, with my velocity and my effectiveness. That stems from poor mechanics. Tonight, I felt really comfortable on the mound.
That's probably more than I wanted to throw in four innings. But the velocity on my fastball increased, and that's a good sign. My mechanics were a little better, too.
It's been a long year, a frustrating year. But if that's been the problem, I'll continue to work hard on it. To pitch the way I did today, that's the reason why, I believe. Having inconsistent mechanics resulted in inconsistent velocity and inconsistent arm angles. The bottom line is, I've been inconsistent on the mound.
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.
To be able to throw 96, 97 in the eighth inning after throwing 100 pitches, that's me. My velocity was back to where I'd like to have it, and the sharpness and velocity of my breaking ball was there as well throughout the whole game.
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 just don't know exactly what's going on at this point, ... It'd be one thing if my velocity wasn't there. But it's more location at this point, evidently.
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.
I've pitched some good games this year where I haven't been that animated, that locked in,
The stuff?s there, obviously. It?s been there all year. It?s been in hibernation.
I've been at this a long time, and it's time to sort of step back. I've been doing this for 34 years. When you're looking at the watch to see what time to end practice, that's pretty much an indication that it's time to sort of kick back.
They actually swung today. The sooner they get their swings down, the better for me as well. I'm not trying to break bats and strike people out, I'm just trying to throw my pitches and feel like I'm accomplishing something. The more I throw, the better my pitches will get.