WHEN RANDY JOHNSON SPEAKS…

(PICTURE: "He got that name in the shower room? Does that mean...?"

Did you notice that Arizona manager, Bob Melvin, took Johnson out in his next start after six innings and 79 pitches? You’d think he got smart but then Melvin said before the game he was comfortable with a pitch count around 100 for Johnson, but he changed his mind after watching him work six spectacular innings.

“Feel comfortable?” What strange phrasing. Either he hasn’t learned a thing or we are hearing the words of Randy Johnson coming out of his mouth. I suspect the latter. How does a manager argue with a hall of fame pitcher?

(UPDATE: Johnson did throw 100 pitches in his next outing without much problem. It was reported that manager Melvin was so “comfortable” during this outing that they had to use a jackhammer to reopen his sphincter.)

(OBSERVATION: Knowing the humor of baseball players, I would guess that the six foot ten Randy Johnson got his nickname, The Big Unit, in the shower room. In fact I would bet my house on it and I love my house.)

…

Going back to my complaint about the Giant manager sending Russ Ortiz out there for that 9th inning. It may be a coincidence but Russ Ortiz never had another quality start and wound up on the disabled list. But then you have:

BARRY ZITO AS NO. 5 STARTER

On the subject of starting pitching, how would you like Barry Zito as your No. 5 starter? Here are the five San Francisco Giant starters and their earned run averages:

Lowry 2.69
Morris 2.93
Cain 3.30
Lincecum 3.44
Zito 5.13