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Unit a big problem for Yanks in Game 2
Updated: Monday October 29, 2001 4:36 AM
PHOENIX (AP) -- Randy Johnson's pitches must have looked about as big as marbles. The Big Unit wore his cap low and held his glove high, shielding his face, all but his eyes. That's about all of him the New York Yankees saw. High heat. Low heat. Unhittable sliders that dipped in at the knees. Bernie Williams muttered to himself in the second inning. Scott Brosius screamed at plate umpire Mark Hirschbeck when he was called out in the eighth. The Yankees couldn't do much except talk about Johnson's pitches. They certainly didn't hit them. Johnson's 4-0, three-hit victory Sunday night gave Arizona a 2-0 Series lead heading to New York, putting the three-time defending champions in another big hole. "I'm 38," Johnson said. "I feel right now like I'm about 45."
Even before the game, the Yankees were so worried about the 6-foot-10 left-hander that they pulled every left-handed hitter from their lineup except their pitcher, Andy Pettitte. Paul O'Neill was benched and so was Tino Martinez. Didn't matter to Johnson. He struck out seven of his first nine batters, 11 in all, struck out every Yankee in the game except Randy Velarde and pinch-hitter Luis Sojo, who hit into a double play. "We got ahead of hitters," Johnson said in words as spare and efficient as his pitches. "I was able to throw what I wanted to throw." Johnson, his fastball speeding home at up to 98 mph, needed just 110 pitches to dispatch the Yankees. He got five called strikeouts, gave the Yankees just six balls out of the infield: three singles and three flyouts. "He was terrific. He lived up to what he's supposed to be," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "The key tonight was the control of everything he had." Johnson, narrow eyes peering above his wiry mustache, never showed any emotion, didn't punch the air with any of his strikeouts. At the end of the game, he shook hands with catcher Damian Miller, calmly exchanged high-fives with teammates, then quickly doffed his cap to the fans as he crossed the foul line by the Diamondbacks dugout. "Yes, he is getting better and better," Diamondbacks manager Bob Brenly said. "He's always had the physical skills and pitches to dominate hitters. He's just in a very relaxed and focused zone right now." He didn't let a ball get out of the infield until the fourth, didn't allow a runner until he walked Velarde in the fourth, didn't give up a hit until Jorge Posada singled leading off the fifth. "There was little room for error out there," Johnson said. "I thought it would be a 1-0 ballgame." Not until the eighth inning, after Matt Williams' three-run homer had broken open the game, did the Yankees get a runner to second. And after singles by Shane Spencer and Alfonso Soriano leading off the eighth gave the Yankees their only runner to reach second base, Johnson quickly doused the threat, throwing a called third strike past Brosius and getting Sojo to bounce into that double-play grounder. Johnson has had more dominating games, pitching a no-hitter and striking out 20 over nine innings. Probably none was more satisfying. "This is everybody's dream to be here," Johnson said. "You're playing the Yankees -- it's the biggest stage in sports."
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