Home >  Sports >  Notebooks

Sunday, May 13, 2001

Tampa Bay pitcher Rusty Meacham beat Baltimore, 4-3, Tuesday night for his first major-league victory in 1,627 days. A few hours later, on the other side of the country, Arizona Hall-of-Famer-in-waiting Randy Johnson struck out 20 Cincinnati Reds in Phoenix.

An argument could be made that Meacham's milestone was the more significant. After all, when you're 33 and still hanging on despite having pitched less than anyone but Balvino Galvez and The Guy In the Stands in the past five years, a win can be a life-altering experience.

Yet all anyone wanted to talk about outside of the Meacham household was Johnson's 20-strikeout night in the desert. A night, when you get down to it, that was built on futility, on swings and misses and a 6-foot-11 bully who wouldn't let his teammates play. As Kevin Costner told Tim Robbins in "Bull Durham": "Strikeouts are boring. Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls. It's more democratic."

Well, if that's the case, then just call The Guy "Il Duce." He'll admit it. Twenty strikeouts got his attention. It didn't matter that Johnson did not get the win. Or that the game ended in a 4-3 Arizona victory on, of all things on this night, a bases-loaded walk in the 11th inning.

You know it's a unique night when even the other team sounds as if it just got its official Big Unit Fan Club membership cards in the mail.

"I really had a good time out there," said Reds shortstop Barry Larkin. This after contributing three whiffs to Johnson's cache.

"That's the best game I've ever seen pitched. I couldn't tell his fastball from his slider. It was, 'Oh my God!'" said Alex Ochoa, who equaled Larkin's KKK night.

"Striking out 20 guys? You kind of think there's no way we should win after the performance he had," said Reds closer Danny Graves. This just moments after blowing a 3-1 lead that should have had him hurling the macaroni salad all the way from the postgame buffet table clear to Tucson.

Yes, a special and rare night.

But no one perhaps knows how special more than Arizona first baseman Mark Grace, a veteran of 13 seasons with the Cubs. He was at first base the day Kerry Wood, who with Roger Clemens (twice) is one of only two others to strike out 20 in nine innings, performed the feat May 6, 1998, in Wrigley Field.

"It's so much fun to play behind and be part of. In this day and age of offense, and the quote-unquote juiced ball, when guys like Randy pitches, the ball is full of prune juice."

Never let it be said that Grace disappoints.

Too bad "the people that sit in rooms and talk about asterisks," as Arizona Manager Bob Brenly called them, became the center of attention when they ruled that, yes, Johnson did strike out 20 batters in nine innings, but no, he did not tie Clemens and Wood for the major-league record because the game went 11 even though Johnson did not. Got it?

Oh, who cares. Record or no record. Does it really matter? Memories hardly need Stats Inc. or the Elias Sports Bureau to justify their existence.

It's why Johnson could sound so relaxed amid the brouhaha. "I'm not losing sleep over it," he said. "I know what I did."

So do we all.

Johnson's place in history is safe. And was so even before he stepped on the mound Tuesday night. Three Cy Youngs, 3,000 strikeouts, 182 wins.

So 20 strikeouts? Yeah, it was big, impressive, enthralling, glamorous, legendary, and supercali-gosh-darn-fragilisticexpialidocious ... but, you know, in the grand scheme of things, was it bigger to Johnson than finally notching career win No. 23 was to a journeyman pitcher who may be one of the few who awakes each morning and thanks God and Bud Selig that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays exist? Try finding that answer in the Elias record book.

Series of the week

Diamondbacks (18-17) at Cubs (21-15), Friday-Sunday. ... Barring rainouts and managerial whims, Randy Johnson should match up with Kerry Wood Saturday at Wrigley Field. For those into firsts, it would be the first time two 20-strikeout pitchers have squared off. Joked Cubs Manager Don Baylor when the possible matchup was mentioned: "I hope we need more than one ball [to complete the game]."

Twenty-phobia

Any time a team puts up 20 runs as the Cubs did to the Dodgers in their 20-1 laugher at Wrigley Field last Saturday, stat geeks are sure to break out the big books. One little known fact: The Pirates have gone the longest without giving up 20 runs in a game. The last time was May 25, 1954, against the Giants at the Polo Grounds. Final score: Giants 21, Pirates 4. And it could have been worse, but Frank Thomas threw out two Giants at the plate. Ray Katt, Davey Williams and Whitey Lockman combined to drive in 13 Giants runs. Bob Purkey took the loss. For the record, the score was only 4-1 when he left after five innings. Maybe he knew something.

Family matters

Transaction lines just don't come along like this very often. Only once in the history of the game, in fact, before last Saturday. The Angels placed Molina, Bengie on the 15-day disabled list. To replace him, they called up Molina, Jose -- Bengie's younger brother by 11 months. The only previous brother-for-brother transaction in major-league history occurred in 1997 involving the Boones. The Reds called up Aaron and sent down Bret.

61* leftovers

Did "Hoyt Wilhlem" look familar when he took the mound toward the end of "61*", Billy Crystal's love letter to the Summer of 1961? He was played by former major-league knuckleball pitcher Tom Candiotti. Crystal, after all, wanted accuracy.

"When it came time for my scene, Billy Crystal came out to the mound and told me, 'I want this to be as realistic as possible. Pitch like you would in a game,'" says Candiotti, who won 136 games primarily with the Indians and Dodgers from 1983-97.

Realistic? Candiotti threw 17 knucklers in a row, none of which Barry Pepper, who played Roger Maris, hit. One problem. The scene called for Pepper to hit a dribbler back to the mound. After 17, Crystal charged the mound.

"You're doing great," Candiotti said Crystal told him. "But we're having a film problem. Either you need to hit his bat, or you're going to have to slow it down so he can hit it."

Candiotti threw pitch No. 18. It plunked Pepper in the chest and dropped him to the ground.

Guess sometimes directors can want too much accuracy.

This 'n' that

Randy Johnson's 20 strikeouts were more than the total of whiffs in every other game Tuesday. ... Senators old-timer Tom Cheney, who stands ahead of Johnson in the record books under strikeouts in an extra-inning game, deserves to be remembered if for no other reason than on the night he struck out 21 Orioles in 1962 he threw 228 pitches. ... Cardinals sensation Albert Pujols (.361, 12 HRs, 39 RBIs) is not on the All-Star ballot. The write-in option is available. Smart voters will use it. ... Pirates fans will be jealous. There are five fireworks nights at PNC Park this season. The Class AA Bowie (Md.) Baysox have 22 on the calendar. ... Class act: Last Saturday, a day after falling on his fungo bat and resigning for the good of the Texas Rangers, Johnny Oates had a note placed on the message board at The Ballpark in Arlington thanking the fans for their "dignity and class" during his six years as manager. ...

Oakland's Jason Giambi sounded Friday as if it's better than 50-50 that he'll be somewhere else (read: larger market) in 2002. "I guess you can say you won't see me playing in Montreal, though." ... Seattle teammate Mark McLemore offers the following on the tunnel vision of the Japanese media horse that follows Ichiro Suzuki. "I remember one game when Ichiro was on first and he took off on a 3-and-1 count and Mike Cameron swung and missed and Ichiro got thrown out. They asked Mike why he swung and missed and got Ichiro thrown out ... Are we caught up in ourselves or what. After hitting the rail at Enron Field and tumbling into the stands on a foul pop on which he'd already turned his ankle Monday, were the Houston fans concerned for the well-being of Phillies' first baseman Travis Lee? "I heard this one guy on a cell phone say, 'Hey, look, I'm on TV."

Shot and a jeer

Shot: Let's get this straight. When Mario Lemieux hits a popup, we cheer. When Derek Bell hits a popup, we boo.

Jeer: To PNC Park fans (and you know who you are). Baseball etiquette says you leave your seats and return during the half-inning breaks, not when Larry Walker is at-bat with the bases loaded.

Box score lines of the week:

Mind-boggling bit of history: Four pitchers have now struck out 20 batters in nine innings. None of them walked a batter. That's an 80-to-0 strikeouts-to-walks edge. The visiting Christians had better in the Colosseum.

Sixth game in a row at Toronto's SkyDome that he has homered. Said A's Manager Art Howe with emphasis: "We're not trading him here."

His 4-0 start is in danger of getting lost in bouts of Jose Lima-itis.

Steve Ziants can be reached at sziants@post-gazette.com.