TAMPA – Randy Johnson delivered fastballs that he wryly quantified as “62 3/4” percent of his maximum effort. In Jorge Posada’s determination, Johnson “flipped” his sliders toward the plate rather than unleashing them with menace. Johnson made no effort yesterday to evade the bats of Ruben Sierra, Rey Sanchez and Omir Santos.
Yet on a sunny, hot day at Legends Field, Johnson was like a toreador in the middle of a bullring or a giraffe in the zoo. “You are going to pay attention when he is out there,” Joe Torre said. It does not matter if there is a protective screen in front of him, a bucket of baseballs off to the side and he is apprising new teammates of what pitch is coming in advance.
This is Randy Johnson with a baseball in his hand and a batter in the near distance, so all eyes rivet to him even if this is merely the first day of Yankee hitters vs. Yankee pitchers batting practice. As Mike Mussina said, “There are not a lot of 6-foot-10 lefties with 4,000 strikeouts.”
In that way, it will probably help Johnson that he has always stood out. The size of his body – Ron Guidry chatted at the NY on Johnson’s chest during backfield drills – and the magnitude of his accomplishments have trained Johnson to feel eyes and expectations. He knows what it is like to be counted upon, to be The Man. But that was in Seattle, Houston and Arizona. It is something. Like being hit by a sparring partner.
This is New York, the Yankees. And he is the main event. Even Johnson has quickly grasped the change of arena. For pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre already is counseling him about conservation. Not for August. Not for September. But for his October starts.
“They are planning on additional games after the 162 games,” Johnson said. “Getting to the playoffs is not what they talk about here. We play to get to the World Series and win.”
So Johnson already has learned the rules of engagement around here. It still does not make him wholly ready for this forum. How do you prepare for being viewed as the finishing piece on the first-ever $200 million payroll; the player being asked nothing less than to restore historical order to the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry and end a four-year, title-less drought, which on George Steinbrenner’s cuckoo clock is an eon?
Yesterday was another step in the process that only heightens in intensity and meaning from here – the first spring game; April 3 vs. Curt Schilling at Yankee Stadium; the first losing crisis; the first Steinbrenner-dictated, inseason, must-win game; the first postseason.
“I’ve put on a Yankee jersey,” Johnson said. “There are things I still have to do to earn my pinstripes.”
Those do not come against Omir Santos in late February. For now Johnson can only prepare body and mind as best as possible for his arduous assignment. So far, so good. He promised after his Madison Avenue misstep to try harder with the large media crew, and to date at Legends Field he has been pleasant and expansive.
Physically he is a marvel. While the 29-year-old duo of Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright gathered themselves between pitches in the sticky conditions, Johnson, 41, was going “rapid fire,” according to Torre. You could hear the heaviness of Johnson’s ball against Posada’s mitt even at 62 3/4 percent, and while the slider was “flipped,” Posada noted the depth and spin the pitch still possessed.
“Everyone knows he is the greatest,” Sierra said. “This guy knows how to pitch now. He’s not just throwing it. He isn’t good just because he’s tall, but sometimes it looks like he can shake your hand he comes so close.”
Size does matter. And as every eye at Legends Field gravitated toward Randy Johnson to watch a meaningless batting practice session, it became more apparent: the tallest Yankee ever has the biggest job.
