So now the Yankees are looking at a 2-0 deficit if they can’t find a way to handle Randy Johnson tonight. Being down two games to none isn’t insurmountable—the Yankees did just that in 1996, on their way to this dynasty’s first championship—but it’s not exactly the way you draw it up in the war room.
The biggest decision Joe Torre will make today probably will occur before the game, when he makes out his starting lineup. The Yankees have three left-handed hitters in the core of their lineup, and while Paul O’Neill has already been told that he won’t be starting tonight, Torre is going to be tempted to play Justice and Tino Martinez.
Justice, I imagine, will be sitting on the bench in favor of Shane Spencer, especially after his performance in Game 1. But Torre is still waffling on whether to start Tino at first base. Randy Velarde, who is 19-for-42 (.452) against the Big Unit in his career, will be in the lineup—but Torre hasn’t announced whether he’ll be at third base, replacing Scott Brosius, or at first base instead of Tino.
I can’t stress this point enough: Randy Johnson might just be the toughest pitcher against left-handed hitters in the history of baseball. It’s not just the numbers, although the numbers are certainly impressive: Over the last four seasons, lefties are hitting .178 against him, with a .217 slugging average and just one measly homer in 360 at-bats. But it’s more impressive than that, because Johnson’s reputation against left-handers is so intimidating that only the best lefty hitters in the game are allowed to bat against him. Every time a team is slated to face Johnson, all their left-handed hitters have this weird tendency to come down with a cold, or the Ebola virus, and be forced to take the day off. Since 1998, barely 10 percent of his opposing hitters have batted lefty, which works out to an average of less than one lefty hitter per lineup.
Johnson has earned that .178 average against the toughest hitters in the game. Look at his numbers against Pittsburgh, for instance: The only left-handed hitter on the Pirates who has faced him is Brian Giles, their best hitter. (Giles is 1-for-17 against him lifetime.) In San Francisco, Johnson has faced Barry Bonds 27 times (holding him to a .222 average); every other left-handed hitter on the Giants has combined to face him three times. And so on.
The only lefties on the Yankees who have faced Johnson are their three best ones, O’Neill, Justice, and Martinez. Justice coaxed him for a walk once; in their other seven at-bats, they’re 0-for-7 with six strikeouts.
Not every left-handed hitter reacts to facing Johnson the way John Kruk did, but the results are almost always the same. The Yankees are already stuck with one left-handed hitter in the lineup—Andy Pettite. There’s no reason to give Johnson any more of an advantage than he needs.
