Mariners’ Johnson Comes to Fore Against Angels : Baseball: Overshadowed for much of the season by teammate Griffey, left-hander pitches three-hitter in 5-0 victory.

Anyone seen Randy Johnson lately? He’s a 6-foot-10 left-hander. Pitches for the Seattle Mariners. Long, stringy hair. Intimidating presence on the mound. You can’t miss him, can you?

Johnson, who defeated the Angels, 5-0, Monday at Anaheim Stadium for his seventh victory in eight starts, finds himself pushed into the shadows by Ken Griffey Jr.’s torrid home run-hitting pace.

Comparisons to Babe Ruth have placed Griffey in the spotlight to the exclusion of almost all other events surrounding the Mariners. Last Friday, Griffey homered against Kansas City’s David Cone, hitting his 30th of the season faster than any other player in major league history.

So it took a three-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts from Johnson (9-3) to shift him into the limelight. It was his fourth shutout in six starts.

And get this, Johnson said he didn’t feel particularly sharp until the middle innings.

“I’ll tell you this, he had no-hitter stuff,” Seattle Manager Lou Piniella said. “My God, the three hits they got. . . . Two were bouncers up the middle and the other was a flair to right.”

The Angels managed nothing of substance against Johnson through six innings. Tim Salmon’s first-inning single was their only clean hit and the only ball hit to the outfield until Chili Davis flied out to end the seventh.

Gary DiSarcina and Bo Jackson also reached first on infield singles up the middle. And J.T. Snow fought Johnson for a two-out walk in the eighth. Those were the only Angel baserunners.

“I didn’t have anything in the bullpen (throwing before the game),” Johnson said. “The first couple of innings, I was kind of lethargic. Then I started getting more into the game. The first few innings, I didn’t know how long I could go.”

By the fourth, he appeared almost unhittable. In the end, he threw 111 pitches and each seemed to baffle the Angels.

Johnson retired 13 in a row between singles by DiSarcina, in the third, and Jackson, in the eighth.

Almost every Angel at-bat seemed to be a mismatch, with Johnson clearly superior.

The Mariners gave Johnson a five-run lead after the top of the eighth without the benefit of a hit from Griffey, which ranked as something of a shock.

Angel starter Joe Magrane (2-4) kept Griffey, who can break a major league record if he hits his 31st home run before July 1, quiet in his first three at-bats.

Magrane wasn’t so lucky with Jay Buhner and Mike Blowers, however.

In the third inning, Buhner slammed a 1-and-1 pitch over the left field wall for a two-run homer.

Blowers’ two-run single to center in the fifth pushed Seattle’s lead to 4-0 and it appeared the Mariners were on the verge of landing a knockout blow to Magrane.

When Magrane walked Edgar Martinez to load the bases with two out in the fifth, it marked his seventh walk of the game, a career high.

But he wriggled out of further trouble when he struck out Keith Mitchell to end the inning.

Seattle extended its lead to 5-0 after Mitchell’s bases-empty homer in the eighth.

The five-run lead enabled Johnson to cruise the rest of the way. The pressure was off.

“His ball was really exploding all over the place,” Piniella said. “His fastball was alive and his slider was biting. His fastball was really doing things at home plate.”

After the game, the Angels recalled catcher Greg Myers from the disabled list, optioned Jorge Fabregas to triple-A Vancouver and kept Chris Turner in the majors.

It seemed a curious move, considering Fabregas was batting .283 and Turner only .136. But apparently the Angels were more concerned about having two left-handed hitting catchers--Myers and Fabregas.