The Big Unit

You and me both. I was closer than 90 miles though. I started kicking myself that night, and I haven't stopped since.

 

Steak, are you trying to say Johnson is better than Sandy Koufax or did you just forget the greatest left-hander (in my mind, the greatest pitcher) of all-time.

 

Bet the house on the Nats tomorrow night.

 

Baseball kicks ass to go see in person even if it's Brian Bannister vs. Cliff Lee ... as I had in K.C. a few weeks ago, but it's always an extra kick when you know you can see an established star. (Yes, I know Lee won the Cy Young last year, but I don't think he's risen to the level of being a fan draw.)

I remember how pumped I was to see Nolan Ryan in Cleveland in '93. Cleveland Stadium was close to sold out, which was an experience in itself to see that stadium near-full for baseball. Turned out, it was Ryan's last career victory. I'm glad I made the point to go see him.

Oddly, I've seen some other greats -- Greg Maddux and Mariano Rivera jump immediately to mind -- show their human side when I happened to see them. An in-prime Maddux lost to the Reds in '96 when I saw him and Rivera blew a save against the Royals last year when I saw him.

 

To be honest I did forget Koufax (though I'm not sure how), but I don't think it's a slam-dunk. Koufax's prime wasn't long enough. And given the era and ballparks is which he pitched, you can put Johnson's 1997-2002 up there with Koufax's 1962-66.

 

I'd say Johnson is a certain Hall of Famer. But, yeah, he hung around a little too long. Then again, when GMs are throwing money at you in your 40s, it's tough to walk away.

 

I saw Roy Halladay pitch last year.

 

I saw him pitch at Wrigley when he was with the D-Backs. Sat 7 or 8 rows up from home plate and literally could not believe the velocity. Was the first time I had ever been that close to someone throwing that hard.

He and BK Kim shut out the Cubs, 2-0. IIRC, it was Grace's first game back in Chicago.

 

Irrelevant post of the day: I was stringing for someone for the NL playoffs when Johnson was pitching for the Astros.

Work done, I leave through the nearest exit. A throng of people are packed against the barriers on either side of my path. All of a sudden they start screaming and thrusting programs and baseballs at me.

I was flattered until I turned around and saw Johnson following me about five steps behind.

 

I thought Verducci's piece on the Unit a couple week's ago was good. It made me think the Unit didn't take illegal or banned (at the time) performance enhancing drugs. It was a good piece, I thought.

 

That is what I always say everytime somebody says there won't be a 300-game winner ever again. If it's not CC, it might be another 20 years before we get another one close. But 20 years is not never.

Of course, there's always the caveat that somebody off the radar (like Johnson) catches the fountain of youth in a bottle and pitches effectively deep into his 40s. Does Mussina have 30 more wins in him? Right now I doubt it. But I didn't think Johnson had 100 more wins left in him at the end of the 2001 season either.

Flip-flop Grove and Spahn for me. Spahn was the man.

 

Oh, as an aside, when Johnson first came up and I heard his nickname, I mis-heard it and thought they said he was the "Big Eunuch."