Baseball Guru
04-01-2002, 06:29 PM
By BOB BAUM
AP Sports Writer
April 1, 2002, 5:59 PM EST
PHOENIX -- Randy Johnson started this season the way he ended the last one -- as an imposing winner.
The Big Unit threw a six-hitter as the Arizona Diamondbacks opened defense of their World Series championship by beating the San Diego Padres 2-0 on Monday.
With a fastball that topped out at 100, the 38-year-old left-hander struck out eight and walked one to beat San Diego's Kevin Jarvis. Mark Grace homered and Danny Bautista doubled in a run.
When Johnson last left the mound at Bank One Ballpark on Nov. 4, he had come out of the bullpen to get the final four outs in Game 7 of the World Series against the New York Yankees. Then he watched from the dugout as Arizona rallied with two runs in the ninth to win 3-2.
Although his strikeouts didn't mount as they often do, Johnson induced the Padres into one ground out after another and got his 31st career shutout and 80th complete game. Johnson, 5-0 in 10 opening-day starts, got his first shutout in an opener, throwing 127 pitches.
Jarvis allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings. He struck out four and walked none.
In a 30-minute pregame ceremony in front of a sellout crowd of 47,025, the world champion banner was unveiled high above swimming pool in right-center field.
A giant replica of the World Series championship trophy was on display in center field, and Luis Gonzalez's bloop single that drove in Jay Bell for the winning run in the ninth inning of Game 7 was shown on the giant screen.
Managing general partner Jerry Colangelo, whose decision to spend the young franchise deeply into debt brought the state of Arizona its first major sports championship, threw out the first pitch.
Tony Womack, who was 2-for-3, singled with two outs in the third, then scored from first when Bautista doubled into the left-field gap. Jarvis retired the next 10 batters.
Arizona made it 2-0 when Grace, batting cleanup, led off the seventh with a home run to right.
Arizona squandered an opportunity in the first inning when Womack led off with a single. Bautista, who replaced Reggie Sanders as Arizona's regular right fielder, followed with a chopped single over third, but was thrown out trying to take second on the play. Gonzalez was out at first on a check swing grounder, then Grace lined out to center to end the threat.
San Diego put runners on first and second with one out in the fifth when Wiki Gonzalez walked and Ramon Vazquez singled. But instead of bunting to move the runners up, Jarvis swung away and fouled out, then D'Angelo Jimenez hit into a fielder's choice to end the inning.
Notes:@ Before the game, there was a moment of silence for Mike Darr, the Padres center fielder killed in a car crash in Phoenix early in spring training. ... San Diego 3B Sean Burroughs was a late scratch from the lineup. Manager Bruce Bochy said Burroughs' jammed right thumb was improved enough that he would have played, but he came down with the flu. ... With the outside temperature 89 degrees, the roof was closed just before the game started. ... San Diego was without OF Ryan Klesko and RHP Bobby Jones because they were suspended for their involvement in a brawl against Anaheim in spring training. ... The Diamondbacks receive their World Series rings before Tuesday night's game.
AP Sports Writer
April 1, 2002, 5:59 PM EST
PHOENIX -- Randy Johnson started this season the way he ended the last one -- as an imposing winner.
The Big Unit threw a six-hitter as the Arizona Diamondbacks opened defense of their World Series championship by beating the San Diego Padres 2-0 on Monday.
With a fastball that topped out at 100, the 38-year-old left-hander struck out eight and walked one to beat San Diego's Kevin Jarvis. Mark Grace homered and Danny Bautista doubled in a run.
When Johnson last left the mound at Bank One Ballpark on Nov. 4, he had come out of the bullpen to get the final four outs in Game 7 of the World Series against the New York Yankees. Then he watched from the dugout as Arizona rallied with two runs in the ninth to win 3-2.
Although his strikeouts didn't mount as they often do, Johnson induced the Padres into one ground out after another and got his 31st career shutout and 80th complete game. Johnson, 5-0 in 10 opening-day starts, got his first shutout in an opener, throwing 127 pitches.
Jarvis allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings. He struck out four and walked none.
In a 30-minute pregame ceremony in front of a sellout crowd of 47,025, the world champion banner was unveiled high above swimming pool in right-center field.
A giant replica of the World Series championship trophy was on display in center field, and Luis Gonzalez's bloop single that drove in Jay Bell for the winning run in the ninth inning of Game 7 was shown on the giant screen.
Managing general partner Jerry Colangelo, whose decision to spend the young franchise deeply into debt brought the state of Arizona its first major sports championship, threw out the first pitch.
Tony Womack, who was 2-for-3, singled with two outs in the third, then scored from first when Bautista doubled into the left-field gap. Jarvis retired the next 10 batters.
Arizona made it 2-0 when Grace, batting cleanup, led off the seventh with a home run to right.
Arizona squandered an opportunity in the first inning when Womack led off with a single. Bautista, who replaced Reggie Sanders as Arizona's regular right fielder, followed with a chopped single over third, but was thrown out trying to take second on the play. Gonzalez was out at first on a check swing grounder, then Grace lined out to center to end the threat.
San Diego put runners on first and second with one out in the fifth when Wiki Gonzalez walked and Ramon Vazquez singled. But instead of bunting to move the runners up, Jarvis swung away and fouled out, then D'Angelo Jimenez hit into a fielder's choice to end the inning.
Notes:@ Before the game, there was a moment of silence for Mike Darr, the Padres center fielder killed in a car crash in Phoenix early in spring training. ... San Diego 3B Sean Burroughs was a late scratch from the lineup. Manager Bruce Bochy said Burroughs' jammed right thumb was improved enough that he would have played, but he came down with the flu. ... With the outside temperature 89 degrees, the roof was closed just before the game started. ... San Diego was without OF Ryan Klesko and RHP Bobby Jones because they were suspended for their involvement in a brawl against Anaheim in spring training. ... The Diamondbacks receive their World Series rings before Tuesday night's game.