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
I think the pieces are starting falling into place now which is good because you've got a month and a half left, so every game is important,
I'm here to win. No doubt, it's been a disappointing year, but I know what I'm capable of doing. I think the game that I pitched today was coming.
Probably the theory of most people that have played the game is they'll go as long as they can until they have, A, a career-ending injury or, B, too old and they've been doing it long enough and the fire has gone out. I still have a passion for it.
The more consistent I get, the more comfortable I get, it's fun to go out there and be that locked into a game. It's been a while. I've pitched some good games this year where I haven't been locked in. That's the ingredient I've been missing.
How do you explain something like that? It's the one thing that I'll walk away from this game not really understanding.
It's spring training and we want to see what's working, there's going to be games or innings where I decide to just work on this pitch or that pitch, even if we get racked around. Six games, there's not a lot of time to work on everything. I've got a job to do and I just need to go out there and do things and get ready to do it when the bell rings.
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.
This is the kind of game I expect to pitch and people expect me to pitch. I feel more confident with everything.
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,
I think it's important that the catcher realize that even if you think something is going well and it really isn't but you're convinced it is, that he still try to get you through the game when things aren't going well.
It was nice to be able to get out of there and not have to go seven, eight, nine innings and throw all those pitches,
If I would have paid for a ticket to watch myself, I would have booed myself too.
I was able to get my pitches in and didn't have to extend myself, which is nice. I was just glad that it didn't get postponed. I warmed up and I warmed up good.