Johnson Goes For 300

The only thing that's holding The Big Unit back from getting that elusive 300th victory was some wet weather in the Nation's capital, but it looks like they will get the games in on Thursday.

Now, I'm writing this post just before the first game of that double header is starting, so I will probably add a foot note to this post, or maybe add another quick post with the results of the Johnson game when it finishes, so check back after the game. However, I did want to touch on Johnson here just a little bit since I haven't really discussed him much in recent posts. Johnson has been very inconsistent in his brief Giants' career so far, but he's turned in a couple of gems his last 2 times out. Over his last 2 starts, The Unit has pitched 11.1 innings, allowing just 9 hits and 3 walks, while striking out 12 batters. Randy Johnson is 45 years-old, so he's not going to pitch into the 8th and 9th innings any longer. I think he's starting to realize that and is starting to pitch accordingly. It seemed like he would try and pace himself early on in the year, maybe trying to preserve himself to try and pitch as deeply into the ballgame as possible. However, it was widely noticed that after about 5 innings in his first few starts, he kind of hit a wall. Over his last 2 starts, it seems like he's going all out a little earlier in the game, maybe knowing that he's only going to be around 5-6 innings anyway, so why not let it all out. Either way, he's looked good over his last two and if he can carry that success over into this afternoons outing, he's going to get that win.... If that offense does their part of course.

While on the topic of players who've been getting it done lately, we have to talk about a couple of outfielders. I talked about Rowand's early success in his move to the leadoff spot a few posts back, but he's still not slowing down. Now 13 games into his experiment at the leadoff spot, Rowand has been getting more and more comfortable. He's hitting nearly .400 (.396), with 3 jacks, 8 RBI and 10 runs scored. He's not really doing it in typical lead-off hitter fashion though, as he's walked only 1 time in 55 plate appearances, but at the moment, the low walk total isn't hurting one bit. You do like your lead-off hitter to take some pitches at the beginning of ballgames, in order for the rest of the bats to get an eye on the opposing starter, but I wouldn't tweak anything that Rowand's doing right now. It almost seems like his defense is getting better with the bat too. Randy Winn hasn't been quite as impressive as Rowand has lately, but he's been stepping his offensive game up in his own right. The Giants' right fielder has hat .347 over the last month, while knocking in 13 runs and stealing 4 bags. They're doing their part to make up for Fred Lewis' slow stretch. Lewis is hitting just .240 over his last 28 games and isn't providing the run production that a lot of people, including myself, thought he'd provide this year.

Note: From now until our post-draft coverage ends, we will be alternating between posts covering the draft and posts covering the happenings on field with the Giants, but we should be posting a little more frequently over the next 7+ days.