Stars Shine Lights on Past

Was that Randy Johnson or Walter Johnson pitching in relief on Sunday night? Was that The Big Unit? Or was it actually the left-handed, shaggy-haired postmodern reincarnation of The Big Train?

Didn’t managers stop bringing back superstar starters on one day’s rest in 1924? Sure, Walter Johnson pitched the ninth through 12th innings of Game 7 to bring the Washington Senators their only World Series title. But, these days, it’s assumed the College World Series is the last time players are gung-ho enough to risk their careers for their teams. Don’t tell Randy.

For that matter, was it Ken Griffey or Willie Mays who hit five home runs last week in the first five playoff games of his career? Was that The Kid or The Say Hey Kid sliding home in the 11th inning to end the Yankees’ season? Those No. 24s can be confusing. You’re not supposed to shatter your wrist in spring, get a plate inserted in summer, slump in September, then turn into Superman in October.

Finally, was that Edgar Martinez or Roberto Clemente slashing the ball to all fields, driving in seven runs on Saturday and then, on Sunday, turning defeat into victory with a two-run game-ending double?

When it comes to first courses, baseball certainly served up a gourmet treat last week with its new tier of wild-card playoffs. Perhaps the game needed to jump start some of our jaded or embittered taste buds. If so, consider our appetites fully restored. Bring on those League Championship Series!

Pro football, basketball and hockey all have playoffs that are probably one round too long. Some fanatics love watching four tiers of games. But lots of us would be satisfied with three. Last year, the NBA playoffs took seven weeks.

Is it possible that baseball, half by accident and against the advice of people like me, has stumbled on the best postseason format of any pro sport? It’s far too soon to know. But it’s not too soon to wonder.

At the moment, the buzz is about the Mariners’ comeback from a two-game deficit against New York. Only three teams had ever done that. Because of the Kingdome madness, it’s easy to forget how much fun the other series were, too. The Atlanta-Colorado series marked the first time in NL playoff history that each of the first three games was decided in the last at bat. The 100-win Indians swept Boston but, if their 5:01 marathon in Game 1 had gone Boston’s way, the whole series might’ve pivoted.

When the Indians go to Seattle, and the Braves visit Cincinnati on Tuesday night, those pressures will return. But the scrutiny may be more narrowly focused than usual. If a postseason ever focused on two pitchers, it’s this one. Atlanta’s Greg Maddux was 19-2 during the regular season, no starting pitcher in history has had a won-lost percentage that good. Johnson was 18-2 this year -- the second-best mark of all-time. Counting postseason games, both men are now 20-2.

Johnson may look like a gigantic “Nightmare on Elm Street” poster boy, while Maddux resembles an smallish economics professor who should have a dozen pens in his pocket. But on the mound, they’re equal. They’re not just the two best pitchers in the game. They make it seem like nobody is third.

At the moment, Johnson and Maddux are in similar circumstances. Both are overworked -- Johnson radically so. Both are showing wear. Both are -- if the term ever applies to them -- beatable.

No pitcher has even been significantly more intimidating than the 6-foot-10, occasionally wild, often irritable Big Unit with his 100 mph, wicked slider and undisguised desire to instill fear. For the Mariners to beat the magnificent Indians, Johnson probably will have to win twice. And he’ll have to do it with an arm that’s never been so overworked.

The last pitcher to risk himself this much for his team was Orel Hershiser in 1988. That season, he won 26 games (counting postseason) with a 1.07 ERA in October. He even got a save in the playoffs. Hershiser was 30 then. He should have had several more dominant seasons. But he’s never been the same. In the next six seasons, he was 51-53. Orel’s semi-back now. But what a price.

Johnson has done enough extra duty. Johnson, who is scheduled to start Game 3, should also be scheduled for Game 7. If the Mariners are behind in the series, 3-2, then they can consider pushing him ahead to Game 6. But that should be the limit. The sport, and the Mariners, need the Big Unit. And not just for this week or this month.

The Braves need to worry about Maddux, too. He started twice against the Rockies, the second time on three days’ rest, and had a mere 4.50 ERA. In Game 1, he allowed 11 hits and fanned nobody. In Game 4, a 10-run Braves attack saved him. Maddux admitted the cause. The Rockies were “more aggressive” than any other team against him. Translated: they tried to hit almost every first strike. Maddux walks so few batters, throws so few pitches and is so ludicrously effective once he gets ahead in the count that the only way to make him mortal may be to leave your brain on the bench and go up hackin’.

Maybe Maddux shouldn’t have been so candid. “See ball, hit ball,” isn’t exactly a tough scouting report to take into the Reds’ clubhouse.