Randy Johnson became the first pitcher to win his 300th game in a Giants uniform since Christy Mathewson in 1912.
(This story was originally published on June 5, 2009)
Randy Johnson’s 300th victory didn’t happen in front of a thumping, sellout crowd. Nor was it one of his nine-inning, strikeout-studded acts of destruction.
But after another brief rain delay, and with a few breaks behind him and after him, the Big Unit now can stand tall among the immortals.
Johnson became the 24th pitcher in major league history to win 300 games, allowing just one unearned run and two hits in six tidy innings as the Giants opened a doubleheader with a 5-1 victory over the Washington Nationals on Thursday.
After Brian Wilson recorded the final out, Johnson, 45, came onto the field and turned the handshake line into a series of embraces with teammates. He had an emotional meeting with his wife, children and extended family members, and tipped his cap to the sparse crowd at Nationals Park that had waited out two days’ worth of rain delays to see history.
Johnson (5-4) became the fourth pitcher to capture his 300th career victory in a Giants uniform, and the first since Christy Mathewson in 1912.
It was the latest thunderclap in an intimidating, 22-year career that has included five Cy Young awards, a World Series MVP trophy, a heart-pumping 99 mph wild pitch as an All-Star and a perfect game.
This time, the scowl and fist-pumping adrenaline were replaced by serene satisfaction.
“The perfect game happened one day and it wasn’t like I set out to do that. It caught me off guard,” Johnson said. “This is a long-term thing. … You finally get to this day and you know if the team plays well, and you pitch well, something can happen that’s only happened 24 times.
“I’m more nervous now than when I was pitching.”
With just a couple of thousand fans dotting the drenched ballpark, Johnson became the second-oldest pitcher to join the 300-victory club. Knuckleballer Phil Niekro was 46 when he gained entry in 1985.
Johnson shared the day with his son, Tanner, who served as the team batboy. The Big Unit pointed to the sky to acknowledge his late father, Bud, a Livermore police officer whose heart failed just as his son was beginning to reach the top of his craft.
“I think about him every time I go out to the mound,” Johnson said. “Over the last 17 years, there’s a lot of things he hasn’t seen. … He was very critical and I think that was one reason I never got caught up in my achievements. After my no-hitter in Seattle, I called him and my mom and he said, ‘Yeah, but why did you walk seven batters?’ ”
Even now, Johnson describes himself as satisfied but not content.
“It sounds funny, but you know, I’ve played 22 years, I’m 45 and I’ve come upon 300 wins and I’m thinking, ‘I only have 211 more to catch Cy Young,’ ” he said, drawing laughs in a news conference between games. “Greg Maddux, I have a great deal of respect for him. I just got to 300 and he’s got 50 or 60 more.
“Strikeouts are cool, people enjoy watching that, but to think I’m 1,000 away from Nolan Ryan … I’ve really started thinking about that stuff. I realize what they’re doing and what they’ve done. It really puts things in perspective.”
So many of Johnson’s victories were cluster bombs in which he struck out the ballpark and his hitters needed to push across only one run.
He didn’t allow a hit until Elijah Dukes’ broken-bat single leading off the fifth, but he required plenty of cooperation from his first-year teammates to earn the decision.
Second baseman Emmanuel Burriss saved at least one run in the fifth inning when he made a diving stop of Ronnie Belliard’s grounder. With runners at first and second, Burriss flipped from his belly to shortstop Edgar Renteria, who made a quick turn to complete a crucial double play.
Johnson made his own defensive contribution in the sixth, knocking down Anderson Hernandez’s comebacker and slinging a throw to first base as he tumbled to the grass.
Johnson called the play a “senior moment” in which he thought he was 20 years younger. But there was no joking when he landed on his left shoulder, and it stiffened up after he escaped the inning.
On the advice of trainer Dave Groeschner, Johnson did not return in the seventh, leaving nine outs for the bullpen to protect a 2-1 lead.
Nobody was slapping backs yet. Manager Bruce Bochy tabbed Brian Wilson for a four-out save in the eighth, and the closer walked Ryan Zimmerman to load the bases. Adam Dunn began striding to first base after taking a 3-2 pitch just below the kneecaps. But plate umpire Tim Timmons called Dunn out on strikes, effectively protecting Johnson’s decision while compelling the burly slugger to turn around and argue.
“By that time, Randy was sitting next to me,” Bochy said. “I told him, ‘You know, we don’t do anything easy here.’ ”
The Giants fortified Johnson’s victory with three runs in the ninth. Nationals pitchers had retired 19 consecutive hitters until Joel Hanrahan entered and gave up hits to the first four batters he faced.
Johnson beat the same franchise that drafted him as an unruly collection of limbs out of USC. The Montreal Expos first stuck Johnson on a major league mound against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sept. 15, 1988.
He won that day at Olympic Stadium. It was the beginning of something bigger than anyone could imagine.
