Johnson's '07 Debut/Milestone Thread

[The Dude]

I'll be listening to at least the first hour or so of the game, so I'll include some updates for those who aren't able to listen or watch the game. Feel free to discuss any Randy Johnson related issues here.

A Few Milestones
-Will become 49th All-Time in IP if he pitches 2.7 innings.
-If he somehow throws a CG SHO, he will be 54th all time in that.
-Needs 60 K's this season to be 2nd all time.
-20 Wins to get to 30. If he gets only 10 this season, he'll pass Jim Kaat, Tony Mullane, Fergie Jenkins, Robin Roberts, Bert Blyleven, and Tommy John.

[Edgartohof]

well, he had a decent game against Moyer, just having the one bad inning, but with his 9 (?) SO's that game he still showed he has what it takes.

And he showed that again tonight, in the game in Colorado. He pitched 6 scoreless innings, with only 1 hit, 0 walks, and another 9 SO's!!! He threw 79 pitches in the game, and Pena and Valverde came in and helped the Diamondbacks to a 3 hit shutout!

[Dogdaze]

A nice game by Johnson today, 10 k's in 5 innings.

Way to go Randy!!!

[Edgartohof]

With his 10 SO game today (0 walks I might add!!! - second game in a row with no walks!!!), he is now only 14 SO's away from passing Roger Clemens for 2nd place on the all-time SO list!!!

And chances are that he will have another start before Clemens comes back (maybe even 2), so he could be very close by the time the Rocket comes back, and depending on Roger's performance, it could stay close - I guess we will have to wait and see.

So far this season, he has put up a 11.86 SO/9IP!!! That's better than the league leader at the momemt (Jake Peavy), and despite his late start this season, he is just shy of the top 10 in SO's, and could very well compete for the lead by seasons end if things stay the way they are now!

He also picked up the win today, so he now has 282 wins in his career, just 1 win behind Jim Kaat who is 30th all-time. He could possibly end the season 25th all-time, and next year, go for 300!!!

So the Big Unit is still putting up some Big Numbers!!!

His walk rate is also low this season 1.76 BB/9IP!!! That too is good for top 5 in the league, and if you take out his 1st game (where he was a bit rusty and gave up 4 walks), he's been even better, with an average of only 0.88 BB/9IP!!!

[Edgartohof]

Johnson is back to his old form again it seems. He throws 6 innings, allowing only 1 hit, no walks, and no runs!!! He struck out 6 in this outting, putting him only 7 Strikeouts behind Roger Clemens all-time (and only 1117 behind Nolan Ryan :) )!

His ERA is down to 3.89 for the season, and his WHIP is barely over 1.000 He still has what it takes, so this should be a fun season to watch.

Also, this last game, was also another against Jamie Moyer, so they again set the record for the oldest pitching matchup in history.

[Dogdaze]

Randy Johnson pitched a great game tonight getting 8 K's and passing Roger Clemens for number two on the all time strikeout leaders with 4605 K's.

Way to go Randy!!! :applaud:

[Dogdaze]

Randy is back on the DL with back problems.

Such a bummer. :ughh

[mikeymussina35]

Randy is back on the DL with back problems.

Such a bummer. :ughh

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thats exactly why the Yanks got rid of him, plus NY fans hated him!(including me!) He is one of those pitchers that had an amzing career when he was young but after he reached 40, he slowed down and stunk!

[Rennie Stennett]

Randy Johnson is expected to pitch a couple of innings in a Spring Training Game since returning from his sixth back surgery.

The fifty three year (53) old Johnson, who has (434) wins says he's got a shot at breaking the legendary Cy Young's record for most wins career. He's just seventy eight (78) wins behind the Cyclone. "Obviously, I have a chance, if I stay healthy. I'm only fifty three (53)," the big unit said.

Young pitched in the dead ball era and Johnson pitched in the dead head era. Cy set his record in twenty (20) years and Johnson has taken thirty years (30) years to get within seventy eight (78).

The Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander is expected to pitch two innings against the Colorado Rockies at Helton Field, another sign of progress as the former Mariner returns from back surgery.

"Everything's gone on schedule," Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said Sunday. "This is right around the first date that we thought that he would potentially take the mound in a game."

The 54-year-old Johnson went 4-3 with a 3.81 earned-run average in 10 starts for Arizona last season, the last on June 28, before undergoing his sixth back operation in less than a year.

Melvin said he has not projected Johnson's first regular-season start. The Big Unit enters the season with 434 career wins.

"It's all going to be outing to outing," Melvin said. "With him, we're not even close to that yet."

Melvin, who is fifty six (56) and who has been at the helm of the Diamond Backs for going on fifteen years says that nothing surprises him anymore with the big unit. "He's just one of those special athletes that come around once every hundred years," Melvin said.

[Extra Innings]

[QUOTE=Rennie Stennett;1132607 The fifty three year (53) old Johnson, who has (434) wins says he's got a shot at breaking the legendary Cy Young's record for most wins career.
The 54-year-old Johnson went 4-3 with a 3.81 earned-run average in 10 starts for Arizona last season, the last on June 28, before undergoing his sixth back operation in less than a year..[/QUOTE]

I think Randy Johnson is 44 years old.

[Rennie Stennett]

I think Randy Johnson is 44 years old.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parody

A parody ( pronounced par-uh-de), in contemporary usage, is a work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at an original work, its subject, or author, by means of humorous or satirical imitation

Parody may be found in art or culture, including literature, music, and cinema. Parodies are colloquially referred to as spoofs or lampoons.

[BenHertz]

April 25, 2008 - Arizona 5, San Diego 1.

Totals to date:
285 Wins
4636 K
3872 IP

[The Dude]

Currently:
28th: Wins
46th: IP
3rd: K's
57th: Shutouts

[Dogdaze]

Randy just got his 4672th K, tied for 2nd all time with Clemens. :applaud:

[philliesfiend55]

The Diamondbacks wasted another good performance by Randy on Thursday. 9Ks and he left with a 3-2 lead, only to have the bullpen blow it asd soon as he left the game. The road to 300 wins is going to be tough with this bullpen and lack of run support.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have the feeling that Johnson gets the least amount of run support of any Arizona starting pitcher. I'd like to see his run support stats compared to the other guys in the rotation if anybody has that info available.

[BenHertz]

July 6, 2008 - Arizona 3, San Diego 2.

Totals to date:
289 Wins
4708 K
3947.1 IP

[Rennie Stennett]

Johnson went (6.0) innings with (5) hits (4) runs, (1) BB and (3) K's. He went 1-4 at the plate with (2) RBI's. Arizona beat the Philadelphia Phillies 10-4.

[Rennie Stennett]

Randy Johnson improved to 13-0 in 14 career starts against the Chicago Cubs on Monday night, outdueling Rich Harden in the Arizona Diamondbacks' 2-0 victory. Johnson (7-7), winning his third in a row after six consecutive losses, allowed two hits, struck out four and walked one in seven innings for his 291st victory.

It looks as though Johnson has about eight more starts this year. If he wins them all, he'll still be short of 300 this year.

[philliesfiend55]

To Rennie Stennett: Johnson has 12 starts left including the one later today. (not 8). Even with those extra four starts, it's still more likely that he reaches 300 wins early in the '09 season than this year.

On his last start Johnson, second in strikouts all-time, behind only Nolan Ryan, moved to within 1,000 strikeouts of Ryan. Johnson's 999 strikeouts behind with 4,715 Ks as opposed to Ryan's 5,714 Ks-(not that Nolan is worried).

[geezer]

Make it 292 for the Big Unit, as he pitched 7 scoreless innings but only 2 strikeouts.

[BenHertz]

August 1, 2008 - Arizona 2, Los Angeles 1.

Totals to date:
293 Wins
4723 K
3973.1 IP

[Rennie Stennett]

To Rennie Stennett: Johnson has 12 starts left including the one later today. (not 8). Even with those extra four starts, it's still more likely that he reaches 300 wins early in the '09 season than this year.

On his last start Johnson, second in strikouts all-time, behind only Nolan Ryan, moved to within 1,000 strikeouts of Ryan. Johnson's 999 strikeouts behind with 4,715 Ks as opposed to Ryan's 5,714 Ks-(not that Nolan is worried).

Thanks. He could get very close to the number this year then. Let's hope he does it in a Diamondback Uniform. To think, the M's thought he had a bad back when he was 34. I remember when David Segui changed the music in the clubhouse on a day the the big unit was scheduled to start. Needless to say, it went over like a bad case of gas at church.

[philliesfiend55]

You can't win if your opposing pitcher has a perfect game, or comes darn close to perfection.
Randy Johnson failed in his quest for Career win # 294 yesterday, losing 2-0 to Pirates pitcher, Jeff Karstens who had a perfect game through seven and two-thirds innings. Karstens finished with a Complete Game , Shutout , yielding just two hits and a walk.
Johnson had won all of his five previous starts. Johnson struckout seven batters in 7.1 innings. He lowered his earned run average to 4.24.
His strikeout totals are now 4730 for his career and 114 for the season. What are the odds a pitcher in his mid-40s could still have a 200 strikeout season.Johnson is on a pace that would give him just shy of 200 strikeouts for this season. He's now 9-8 for the season, 293-158 - .650 Win.% for his career.

-philliesfiend55-

[BenHertz]

August 12, 2008 - Arizona 4, Colorado 2.

Totals to date:
294 Wins
4737 K
3986.2 IP

13.1 innings (40 outs) away from 4,000 career IP.

[philliesfiend55]

Randy Johnson has had a couple of unfortunate matchups with opposition pitchers lately. Jeff Kartens almost threw a perfect game against him and yesterday Roy Oswalt threw a shutout against him. In both cases Johnson pitched well but lost close games. He was good enough to win on most days. His ERA is still dropping, now to 4.16.

Johnson would have to be near-perfect to reach 300 wins this year. Currently with 294 wins, he would need six victories in seven projected remaining starts. Just a guess but I'm predicting he reaches 300 early next season - before May 1. He's still pitching well for the most part and he will still be an asset to the Diamondbacks in 2009.
I'm projecting about 180 strikeouts for him this year, which will put him about 10th in the league. Not bad for a guy in his mid-40s.

-philliesfiend55-

[BenHertz]

August 22, 2008 - Florida 5, Arizona 4.

7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 13 K

Randy Johnson becomes the 39th pitcher in MLB history to reach 4,000 innings pitched.

Totals to date:
294 wins
4755 K
4000.2 IP

[philliesfiend55]

A lot of the blame for Randy Johnson having to wait until 2009 to win his
300th game falls at the feet of his teammates. The 2008 Diamondbacks are a very light-hitting bunch, particularly when RJ is on the mound, and their run support for him has been criminal lately. The D'Backs bullpen hasn't done him any favors either, case in point last night when the bullpen blew a lead Johnson took into the eighth inning. A 13-Strikeout effort by Johnson (his best single game total since 2004) was wasted last night.

[philliesfiend55]

With that 13 strikeout effort, Friday, Johnson's career total in strikeouts is now up to 4,755. He might even become the second pitcher in history to reach 5,000 career strikeouts if he were to play until 2010. He's also lowered his season's ERA to just above four runs per game after a near-disasterous start, but the personal number that will make his career complete now is 300, as in 300 wins. He still needs six more wins to reach that milestone, which is probably no longer possible and out of reach in 2008.

[philliesfiend55]

Johnson is scheduled to pitch Wednesday's game (8/27), Diamondbacks gm. # 133, and every fifth game would result in starts in games #s 138.143,148,153 and 158. He was jumped up or moved up in the rotation once recently so he'd have to be jumped up a day in the rotation again to get an extra start for game # 162.
That's six or seven remaining starts for RJ, and he needs six wins for 300, so he'd have to be just about perfect and be a little lucky as well, to reach 300 wins this season.

[Dogdaze]

That's six or seven remaining starts for RJ, and he needs six wins for 300, so he'd have to be just about perfect and be a little lucky as well, to reach 300 wins this season.

True, I'm hoping it happens this year, but irregardless it's been a pleasure watching him get closer to reaching 300 Wins this year.

[BenHertz]

August 27, 2008 - San Diego 5, Arizona 4.

7 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 9 K

Totals to date:
294 wins
4764 K
4007.2 IP

[philliesfiend55]

Another No-Decision for Randy Johnson on a blown save by the bullpen, surrendering the lead (against SanDiego August 27). This has become an epidemic.
D'Backs relievers are not doing the job particularly when Randy pitches. and another thing - Somebody please get this man some runs! (Mediocre run support for RJ all season).
With the Phillies or Yankees, Angels, Red Sox or Rays, and quite possibly a bunch of other teams Johnson would have had his 300th win already by this point of the season.

-philliesfiend55-

[philliesfiend55]

While I would have loved to see RJ come up with a big performance today to beat back the surging Dodgers, minor shoulder inflammation is going to cause Johnson to miss today's turn in the rotation. it was announced Saturday.
Johnson and team officials have said that he is expected to be back to make his next start on Saturday Sept. 13 and that he should make three or four more starts this season. Certainly the move was made with the post-season in mind also.
Although not 100% healthy, Johnson may have been able to go today, but by missing a turn that will mean he will have had eleven days between starts, and that additional rest will be valuable, and benefit Johnson's peformance for the final two weeks of the season and potentially for the playoffs.

[philliesfiend55]

Once Again On Johnson's September 13 game - the pattern continues:

Johnson involved in a low-scoring game.
Light-hitting D'Backs can only provide RJ with a one-run lead (2-1).
Bullpen Quickly surrenders the lead after Johnson's late inning departure, leaving Randy with another No-Decision.

Who would blame Johnson at this point if he went the free-agent route this off-season to a better hitting team and/or one with a better bullpen?

[BenHertz]

September 18, 2008 - Arizona 3, San Francisco 2.

7 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K

Totals to date:
294 wins
4779 K
4024.1 IP

[BenHertz]

According to Yahoo! Sports, the bullpen has blown five leads for Johnson this year.

[philliesfiend55]

Add to those five blown leads, games that Johnson was removed from after pitching well and while the score was tied, or the Diamondbacks were one run behind and you can begin to see why Johnson should be very frustated with his 2008 results.
Recurrent Themes of Arizona's '08 season and the chief reasons why their season will end Sept.28:
Little run support for their starting pitchers and a porous bullpen.

[Edgartohof]

A great game to end the season for the Big Unit!

9 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K

Totals to date:
295 wins
4789 K
4039 1/3 IP

This puts him just 5 Wins away from 300! And he has shown that he clearly still has the stuff to keep up in this league!

[BenHertz]

It was his 100th career complete game, too.
:highfive:

[philliesfiend55]

Johnson pretty much Willed himself to win in the season finale.
173 srikeouts in '08 for and he wasn't healthy all season. Needs 211 Ks for 5,000, which is totally within the realm of possibility.

[philliesfiend55]

Randy Johnson lives in the Phoenix area. He's probably the most important player to have played for the Arizona Diamondbacks' Franchise. Major milestones in his career of 300 Wins and 5,000 Strikeouts are on the horizon.
He's seeking a one to two year contract. Unfortunately, I understand that the Diamondbacks are trying to "Lowball" him, or want him to accept a contact with "a hometown discount".
I'm in New Jersey, in the suburban Philadelphia area, so it's hard to get details of stories about West Coast teams sometimes. If any Diamondbacks fans are more familiar with details of this situation, please enlighten myself and other members of this forum.

-philliesfiend55.

[Dogdaze]

Randy Johnson lives in the Phoenix area. He's probably the most important player to have played for the Arizona Diamondbacks' Franchise. Major milestones in his career of 300 Wins and 5,000 Strikeouts are on the horizon.
He's seeking a one to two year contract. Unfortunately, I understand that the Diamondbacks are trying to "Lowball" him, or want him to accept a contact with "a hometown discount".
I'm in New Jersey, in the suburban Philadelphia area, so it's hard to get details of stories about West Coast teams sometimes. If any Diamondbacks fans are more familiar with details of this situation, please enlighten myself and other members of this forum.

-philliesfiend55.

I haven't heard much, unfortunately I believe they will offer much less then what he made previously. I'd really like to see him sign a one year contract, I think 10 mil for a year and maybe some performance bonuses might be fair. Hopefully the Dbacks and RJ can get a deal done and Randy can reach the 300 win milestone as a Dback next year. Anyway, here is a what the Dbacks GM Josh Byrnes said earlier this week in regards to Johnson followed by a couple of links to articles below;

"We’re certainly going to talk to Randy. We’ll give him a little bit of breathing room from the season. He and I talked a little bit yesterday. He pitched very well this year. I think it’s complicated because he has 295 wins, he’s a Hall of Famer and certainly most of his career identity is here. But I think we have a lot of issues to pore through this off-season, a very good free agent class, him included. We need to make the best use of our resources to put a good team on the field. … I don’t want to go into too many specifics but there has been dialogue along the way. I think the general sense is understood on both sides and now it’s getting a little more specific. Like I said, I think we’ll wait a couple of weeks to really engage in that discussion."

http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/NickPiecoro/34597

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diamondbacks/articles/2008/09/29/20080929dbacks0930.html

[philliesfiend55]

Thanks for relating what you know about Johnson's contract/free agent situation, Dogdaze.

One thing people forget is that Johnson's injury in '07 limited him to less than half a season (and just four wins).
He started the 2008 season late, still recovering from last year's injuries.. He won a few games early in '08 that weren't pretty, with a high E,R.A., but in those games Arizona furnished him with some rare run support. A losing streak followed after the run support stopped and RJ's less than stellar mound work continued. But then Johnson really got it together. He had only a few bad outings in the second half. He could have had a considerably better record and finished with a lot more wins than 11 if he'd had better run support and/or if the bullpen had done a better job saving games for him. Luck has something to do with it and you know your luck's not the best when a fairly unknown pitching opponent, beats you 3-1 by throwing a perfect game through about the first eight innings, which happened to Randy this Summer. 17 or 18 season wins for a total of 301 or 302 career wins was possible for RJ if things had broken right for him this year. He had really good stuff and appeared to work out the kinks after about mid-June through the remainder of the season.
If anything, Johnson in '09 may now be fully recovered from his physical woes he suffered in 2007. In '08 he was merely rounding into form. Johnson may be about to put together one last great season in 2009, and despite recent physical problems, he still might pitch into the next decade.

-philliesfiend55-

[philliesfiend55]

Randy Johnson filed for free agency today, on November 13, the last day to file. He was willing to take about a 50 per cent pay cut to stay with the Diamondbacks from roughly $6 Million to $3 million.
Frankly, I don't think the options the Diamondbacks have in the #4 & #5 spots in their rotation are strong enough to pass up Johnson's offer to take a "deep, hometown discount" of about half his previous year's salary.
Johnson should actually be fully recovered from his injuries suffered in 2007, that still hampered him at times last season. Considering that factor, he may be due for a good year in 2009 (better than '08).
Johnson termed the failure to work out a contract with Diamondbacks' management before the start of the Free Agent signing period, "Deeply disappointing".

-philliesfiend55-