The Big Unit approaches a big number

Randy Johnson goes for win number 300 this evening against the Washington Nationals, and we’re just going to go ahead and assume that he gets the win tonight and accomplishes history. What a night it would be to be present at the ballpark in Washington.

Tim Kurkjian wrote great article which is currently on the front of ESPN.com’s MLB page about facing the Big Unit and what hitters are saying that have stepped in the box in front of this imposing figure.

Former infielder Jeff Huson might have put it best when talking about the intimidation factor:

“What was the worst thing that Michael Jordan could do to you?” Huson said. “He can go dunk on you. He could embarrass you. What’s the worst thing Randy Johnson can do to you? He can kill you.”

There’s so many dominating starts we remember in terms of Randy Johnson. We remember when he struck out an entire lineup of Cincinnati Reds (who lined up a thin squad that night in Arizona to begin with. We remember a 20 K performance against the Chicago White Sox in the old Kingdome in Seattle. We remember the Opening Day start which was the first ever game at Jacob’s Field. We’ve never gotten to see Johnson throw live, which we regret. To see this in his heyday would have really been something to talk about right now. The guy is a legend who has defied the usual aging process of the typical ballplayer, let alone pitcher. His place in the game is immortalized forever. He is the greatest power pitcher of our era.


Re-living the Randy Johnson Experience. [ESPN]