TAMPA – Randy Johnson has yet to unleash a pitch in a game that doesn’t count and he already understands the Yankees don’t move through spring training hoping to have a good year.
Johnson knows October is the only month that counts for the Bombers. And he accepts that last year’s meltdown against the World Champion Red Sox is the reason he was acquired to front a rebuilt starting rotation.
So, Johnson will accept a reduced workload for six months if it means being fresh for the postseason. Only in the Yankees’ universe are the playoffs on the table during the second day of spring training.
“They are playing additional games after the 162,” Johnson said yesterday following a 10-minute batting practice session at Legends Field in which he faced Ruben Sierra, Rey Sanchez and Omir Santos in front of 2,346 fans “They plan for that. They are not going to have me go out there and throw 135 pitches because getting to the end of the season, winning the division and being in the postseason is more important to have me as fresh as possible. In the past, sometimes I have pushed the envelope and stayed out there too long. That’s not happening on a regular basis with Joe [Torre] and Mel [Stottlemyre].”
Johnson was joined by Mike Mussina, Kevin Brown, Jaret Wright and Carl Pavano as pitchers threw BP to hitters for the first time this spring. They will repeat the process tomorrow before getting their initial starts during the exhibition season.
Even though he splintered Sierra’s bat with a slider, Johnson wasn’t overpowering and the hitters made a lot of contact off his fastball and slider.
Known for wanting to finish what he starts (92 complete games in 17 years; third among active pitchers), Johnson pitches deep into games. But not once last year in 35 starts for the Diamondbacks did Johnson throw 135 pitches. His high was 125 in the fourth outing of the season and he averaged 104 pitches a game. Johnson’s four complete games were fourth among NL hurlers.
He has been around his new club for one week and Johnson has absorbed what the Yankees set out to do every February.
“The criteria supersedes everywhere I have been,” Johnson said. “Obviously you go to spring training with the high hopes and everybody is optimistic. At every camp you go to you hear, ‘We have a good enough team to be in postseason and be competitive in the division.’
“That’s not what we talk about here. I am still getting my feet wet here, but that’s not what the regulars talk about, it’s not what the [media] anticipates happening. Youthink, and rightfully so, that we play to get to the World Series and win.”
Stottlemyre’s program doesn’t call for a pitcher to be yanked when he reaches 100 pitches. However, Stottlemyre said the hurler is watched more intently around the century mark.
“I know he doesn’t like to come out of games, but there are certain types of games where we will give him more help than he has had in the past,” Stottlemyre said.
As for Johnson’s day, he said he accomplished what he wanted: throw fastballs and sliders.
Still, Jorge Posada was impressed with the 41-year-old lefty who wore three ice packs afterward.
“It felt good that he was throwing to me and not against me,” Posada said. “He is special. It is a big thing that he is here. Every time he takes the mound people will notice. It was pretty neat.”
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Completing the process
If the Yankees maintain their goal of limiting Randy Johnson during the regular season so he can be more effective in the postseason, it may take the Big Unit a little longer to reach the 100 complete game milestone, a mark just two current players have crossed. A closer look at the active MLB leaders in complete games:
* 117: Roger Clemens, Astros
* 105: Greg Maddux, Cubs
* 92: Randy Johnson, Yankees
* 82: Curt Schilling, Red Sox
