Big Unit wins No. 299 as Giants sweep
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Big Unit wins No. 299 as Giants sweep
Johnson nears milestone after solid six innings
By Chris Haft / MLB.com
05/28/09 3:46 AM ET
SAN FRANCISCO -- Randy Johnson's 299th career triumph barely had been entered
in the books when he began anticipating the feelings he'll experience as he
pursues the next obvious goal.
"Anxiety," he said. "A little nervous."
That's understandable. Johnson needs one victory to reach hallowed baseball
ground and become only the 24th Major League pitcher to win 300 games. The
Big Unit took that big preliminary step Wednesday night by allowing just one
run and three hits in six innings as the Giants defeated the Atlanta Braves,
6-3.
Unfortunately for Giants fans in the Bay Area, Johnson won't pitch again at
AT&T Park until practically mid-June. His next outing, scheduled for next
Wednesday at Washington, is followed by a June 8 start at Florida, barring
rainouts or changes in the starting rotation. Then comes a June 13 appearance
against Oakland at home.
"I'd love to do it here in San Francisco in front of fans and the ownership,"
Johnson said. "It would make things a little bit easier for family and
friends. Of all the trips we have to go on, it's got to be on the East Coast
now."
Then again, Johnson needed three tries to win his 299th game. But he'd prefer
to end his bid for that next round number as quickly as possible. Braves
broadcaster Don Sutton, a Hall of Famer who won 324 games, reminded Johnson
of this during a postgame visit.
"As he said, just get 300," Johnson related. "It doesn't matter where you get
it. It'll be exciting."
No. 299 proceeded like many of Johnson's other conquests. He retired the
first nine Braves he faced and allowed only one hit in five innings before
Atlanta scored in the sixth on Jordan Schafer's single, Kenshin Kawakami's
sacrifice bunt and Casey Kotchman's two-out RBI single.
Johnson suppressed the Braves largely by neutralizing the formidable Chipper
Jones, who entered the game batting .394 (13-for-33) with six home runs off
him. Jones endured the first four-strikeout performance of his career,
including the first three against Johnson. The 6-foot-10 left-hander found
the second strikeout particularly noteworthy, since it came with a runner on
third base and one out in the fourth.
"We're still not even," Johnson said. "He still has really good numbers
against me."
Said Jones, "I'll just write it off as an 0-for-4 and not think about the
punchouts."
Recently, Johnson had been dwelling on a succession of subpar efforts --
specifically, a three-start stretch from May 6-16 in which he posted a 1-2
record with an 11.04 ERA. He rebounded last Friday at Seattle, where he
yielded one run in 5 1/3 innings, and continued that trend against Atlanta.
"I really needed to re-evaluate where I was with the mechanics," said
Johnson, noting that he scrutinized himself on video and worked extensively
with pitching coach Dave Righetti to correct his flaws.
Not to be overlooked was the impact of Johnson's victory on the Giants. Their
first three-game sweep of the season, which also was their first against
Atlanta since Aug. 19-21, 2003, brought them back to .500 (23-23) for the
season.
Johnson received support from the suddenly resurgent offense, which has
scored 27 runs and hit .308 (52-for-169) in the last five games -- including
four Giants victories.
Eighth-place hitter Emmanuel Burriss went 3-for-4 with a run scored and an
RBI. Juan Uribe singled twice, drove in a run and scored once. Aaron Rowand
doubled twice, drove in a run and scored on the front end of a third-inning
double steal he executed with Edgar Renteria.
The double steal was particularly entertaining. With Rowand on third base,
Renteria on first and one out, the Giants ordered a hit-and-run, but Bengie
Molina swung and missed at a pitch that was hopelessly low and outside.
Renteria stopped halfway between first and second when catcher David Ross'
throw went through to second baseman Martin Prado.
"As soon as he came up to throw and I saw [Ross] wasn't ball-faking, I had to
take off," Rowand explained.
Prado's return peg home beat Rowand, who stopped about 20 feet from the plate
in the belief that he would have to force a rundown. But Ross, who moved in
front of the plate to take the throw, fumbled the ball and slipped in his
haste to recover it, enabling Rowand to score.
"They had Rowand," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "The ball bounced away
and we got a break."
That gave the Giants a 2-0 lead, which grew to 4-1 against Kawakami (3-6).
The Braves narrowed the difference to 4-3 with two unearned runs in the
seventh, but the Giants responded with a pair of runs in their half of the
inning on consecutive one-out singles by Travis Ishikawa, Uribe, Burriss and
pinch-hitter Andres Torres.
Said an appreciative Johnson, "That kind of stuff definitely doesn't get
overlooked by me, because you saw how [the Braves] came back."
Nothing that Johnson does gets overlooked, either. Especially now.
Chris Haft is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the
approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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