It's games like these that legends are made of.
Randy Johnson, May 8, 2001:
Twenty strikeouts.
No walks.
No line in the record book.
No win.
So the technicalities of baseball bookkeeping say the Big Unit won't
move into the space next to Kerry Wood and Roger Clemens in the record book -- because even
though he struck out 20 in nine innings, the game he did it in wasn't ready
to end. We say: Big deal.
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Randy's tough luck
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Randy Johnson didn't even get credit for the win in Arizona's 4-3, 11-inning victory because he left the game with the score tied.
But that's nothing new. The Big Unit has become used to being a hard-luck pitcher in Arizona. Since coming to the Diamondbacks in 1999, Johnson has pitched more than 20 games in which he has gone at least seven innings, struck out more than 10 batters and been credited with a loss or a no-decision. Here's a look at some of the the best performances of Johnson's tenure in Arizona that did not result in a win:
2001
May 9: Arizona 4, Cincinnati 3
9 IP, 1 ER, 20 SO, 0 BB, ND
2000
May 10: Arizona 2, Los Angeles 1
8 IP, 1 ER, 13 SO, 1 BB, ND
May 16: Montral 2, Arizona 0
8 IP, 1 ER, 12 SO, 0 BB, L
July 30: Florida 4, Arizona 3
7 IP, 2 ER, 11 SO, 1 BB, ND
Sept. 10: Florida 1, Arizona 0
7 IP, 1 ER, 14 SO, 2 BB, ND
1999
June 25: St. Louis 1, Arizona 0
9 IP, 1 ER, 14 SO, 2 BB, L
June 30: Cincinnati 2, Arizona 0
8 IP, 2 ER, 17 SO, 0 BB, L
July 5: St. Louis 1, Arizona 0
8 IP, 1 ER, 12 SO, 4 BB, L
Aug. 31: Montreal 2, Arizona 1
8 IP, 1 ER, 14 SO, 1 BB, L
--Rico Longoria
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That's baseball. That's show biz.
That won't diminish the memory of this game one iota. In fact, we're
betting au contraire.
That just makes this night more legendary, not less.
Would people still be talking about Harvey Haddix's evening on the old
pitcher's mound 42 years later if he'd just thrown nine perfect innings? Heck, no.
It's the fact that the game kept on rolling -- the fact that baseball
thinks Haddix's 12 perfect innings did not constitute a perfect game -- that
makes it so memorable.
That's not an outrage. It's actually a tribute to the unique quirks of a
unique sport. Those of us who love baseball accept those quirks, even cherish
them in a bizarre kind of way.
History and triumph don't always walk side-by-side in our great sport.
That's the deal.
Dominance and winning aren't always partners in our business. That's a
fact of life all pitchers understand.
Nolan Ryan had four games in which he struck out 19. He was the winning
pitcher in one of them.
He didn't file a class-action suit protesting that injustice. That
injustice is built into the fabric of the game.
And now Randy Johnson has pitched three games in which he struck out 19
or more. He, too, won one of them. He's dealing with it. Why can't everyone
else?
What he did on that mound Tuesday night rises above the technicalities. A
week from now, will anybody remember that the winning pitcher in this game
was Troy Brohawn? OK, Troy Brohawn's mother. But that's about
it.
No, what we'll remember from this game is a soaring 98-mph fastball and a
slider that ate the Cincinnati Reds alive. And a box-score line that looked
like very few we've ever had a chance to stare at:
9 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 20 K
Gulp.
The Unit's teammate, Armando Reynoso, has 11 strikeouts all season -- in
six starts. And on this night, Randy Johnson had more strikeouts than that in
six innings.
How cool is that?
Oh, there will be some mention of the Unit in the record books. He still
ties the National League record for strikeouts in a game of any length. He's
still one of just four men in the history of baseball to strike out at least
20 in a game.
He still joins Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood in the 20-Strikeout, 0-Walk
Club. We don't see that group admitting a whole lot of new members any time
soon.
Plus, the Unit gets to join the mysterious Tom Cheney in the
20-Strikeout, Extra-Inning Club. And that ain't all bad, either.
We still talk about Tom Cheney's 21-strikeout game -- way back on September
12, 1962 -- too. In fact, in his tremendous book of classic box scores -- "The
100 Greatest Baseball Games of the 20th Century Ranked" -- our friend Joe
Dittmar includes Tom Cheney at No. 61. (Haddix, by the way, is No. 4.)
Of course, unlike Randy Johnson, Cheney won his game, pitching 16 innings as the Senators beat the Orioles. He also threw 228
pitches.
Let's just ruminate for a minute on how many Reds the Unit would have
struck out if he'd pitched 16 innings, as Cheney did, or if he'd thrown 228
pitches.
If he had, we'd bet the mortgage we probably wouldn't be discussing a
mere 20-strikeout evening right now. We'd be talking about a number big
enough to get Alan Greenspan's attention.
But we'd probably be spending more time talking about something else --
like whether Bob Brenly had misplaced his sanity on the journey from the
broadcast booth to the manager's office. Randy Johnson surely would have a
record if he'd kept on going. But would he have a career?
So Brenly did what a billion managers have done before him. He had to
make the choice between the pursuit of numbers and the pursuit of something
larger. He made the right call.
The game kept on rolling. Randy Johnson didn't. That's our sport. Accept
it for what it is.
If we have to put an asterisk next to his name in the books, who cares?
It just means Billy Crystal's people can call his people.
And it means an amazing night in a ballpark in Arizona will live on in a
special, star-crossed subdivision of our memory banks.
Jayson Stark is a Senior Writer at ESPN.com.
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