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Big-game Unit Johnson finally loses tag that he can't win the big one
Updated: Monday October 22, 2001 3:06 AM
ATLANTA (AP) -- The Big Unit finally showed he could win the big game. "I don't worry about that," Randy Johnson said after he clinched Arizona's first-ever trip to the World Series on Sunday night with a clutch seven-inning performance in a 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves. "I just go out and do the best I can all the time, including the postseason. I didn't pitch that poorly. It's just that those type of games get magnified," said Johnson, who had lost seven straight in the postseason before beating the Braves twice in the NL championship series. The Diamondbacks, with a three-game sweep at Turner Field, took the best-of-seven series in five games. Johnson allowed seven hits, two runs -- both earned -- walked two and struck out eight. Byung-Hyun Kim pitched the last two innings for the save. Johnson's 118th and final pitch of the night turned out to be his best -- a nasty 2-2 slider that struck out Brian Jordan with two outs and the bases loaded in the seventh. "His tank was running low," teammate Luis Gonzalez said of Johnson, "but he did what he's done for us all year, he got the job done." The Braves had just gotten within 3-2 on Julio Franco's RBI single that scored Rey Sanchez, who had singled with one out and moved to second on a walk to Marcus Giles. After Franco's hit, Johnson walked Chipper Jones on a full count, loading the bases for Jordan. The count went to 2-2 -- four straight fastballs -- before Johnson fooled Jordan on the breaking ball, swinging at the low and inside pitch to end Atlanta's threat. "You could see Randy was tiring,that he had only one batter left in him -- Brian Jordan -- and he threw his best pitches of the night," Arizona first baseman Mark Grace said. "I laid it all on the line in the seventh inning and felt mentally spent after it was over," Johnson said. "I pitched Chipper carefully. I wanted to get him, but I'd rather pitch to Jordan. No disrespect to Jordan, but I've had better luck against him than Jones." Jones was hitting .393 with six homers prior to Sunday night's game against Johnson, but went 0-for-3, reaching only on the full-count walk. Manager Bob Brenly told Johnson after the seventh that he was going to use Kim for the final two innings, which was fine with the big left-hander. "B.K (Kim) stepped up and got the six hardest outs and the rest is history," Johnson said. Atlanta's only other run came on a solo home run by Franco in the fourth. The 6-foot-10 left-hander kicked off Arizona's title run by dominating the Braves in Game 1 with a three-hit, 11-strikeout performance in a 2-0 victory. With the two wins over the Braves, Johnson shed the label of failing to win in the postseason, despite an ERA of 3.24 in 11 career playoff outings prior to Sunday night. Johnson is a leading candidate to capture his fourth NL Cy Young award -- and third straight -- after going 21-6 with a 2.49 ERA and 372 strikeouts during the regular season. He closed out the regular season with his 200th career win in his final regular season start, a 10-1 victory over Colorado, giving him a career-high 21 wins. Until his success against the Braves, Johnson hadn't won in the postseason since the 1995 division series when he was with the Seattle Mariners, beating the New York Yankees for a 2-0 playoff record. He then dropped seven straight decisions, including a 4-1 loss to St. Louis in Game 2 in the first round of the playoffs this season, before turning it around. The 38-year-old Johnson is 4-7 in the postseason. His two strong performances against Atlanta made the 4-year-old Diamondbacks the youngest franchise ever to make the World Series. The Florida Marlins won the championship in 1997, their fifth season.
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