Johnson a Tall Order for Orioles

The Baltimore Orioles will probably start their American League division series against Seattle tonight with Rafael Palmeiro, Roberto Alomar and B.J. Surhoff, a trio that combined for 70 home runs and 258 RBIs this season, on the bench.

Say what?

Such are the extremes managers go to when facing the Mariner menace, that 6-foot-10 tower of terror known as Randy Johnson, who will pitch against the Orioles in the Kingdome.

So if you tune in for Game 1 and see Jerome Walton at first base instead of Palmeiro, who leads the team in homers with 38 and RBIs with 110, and Jeff Reboulet at second instead of Alomar, an eight-time all-star, and Jeffrey Hammonds in left field instead of Surhoff, who has 18 homers and 88 RBIs, don’t be surprised.

“It’s a gamble, not playing those guys, but that’s why I get paid the big bucks,” Baltimore Manager Davey Johnson said. “I’ll take the responsibility. I’ll take the heat.”

He hasn’t yet. Johnson went with a predominantly right-handed lineup against the Big Unit three times this season, benching Palmeiro, Surhoff and Alomar for all three, and three times the Orioles won, dealing the Seattle left-hander two of his four losses and a no-decision.

Yes, there should be an asterisk next to the losses. The first was scored May 8, when Seattle Manager Lou Piniella brought Johnson back after an hour’s rain delay because he was going for baseball’s consecutive-victories record, and the second was recorded Aug. 14, when Johnson’s start was pushed back a day because of a power outage in Camden Yards.

But beating Johnson twice in one season, and scoring 12 earned runs in 19 innings off him, is a major achievement under any circumstances, and the Oriole manager is not about to mess with success.

And there’s virtually no chance of Alomar’s starting. The switch-hitter hasn’t batted right-handed since May because of a left shoulder injury, and Johnson doesn’t want him to re-injure himself with one bad swing.

Palmeiro and Surhoff both lobbied to play.

“If I have something to say about it, I want to be in the lineup,” Palmeiro said. “I’m still hopeful of changing his mind.”

But Davey Johnson, though he won’t announce his starters until this morning, seemed to be leaning heavily to the right.

“Rafael and Robbie are great players . . . but I put my right-handers in against Johnson and we won all three games,” he said. “That way he doesn’t mess up my hitters for three days.”

Randy Johnson may be one of the game’s most feared pitchers, with a 98-mph fastball and a wicked slider, but he is 3-7 with a 4.74 earned-run average against Baltimore.

Oriole starter Mike Mussina, meanwhile, is 8-1 with a 3.96 ERA against Seattle.

Baltimore catcher Chris Hoiles’ .290 average, four homers and 12 RBIs against Randy Johnson are telling statistics but so is Mariner superstar Ken Griffey’s .133 average--four for 30--against Mussina.

“The Big Unit gets all the hype but I wouldn’t bet against Mike Mussina,” Davey Johnson said.

Just as Randy Johnson doesn’t put much stock in recent history--”[Today] is a new day, it’s the postseason, and you can throw all those stats out the window,” he said--Mussina does not draw any extra comfort knowing he has handled Griffey.

“Even if you get him out, their other eight hitters are pretty dangerous,” Mussina said. “There’s no chance to rest against their lineup. There are no weak spots. They hit about 4,000 home runs this year, they have guys who get on and guys who drive them in. There’s a reason they are where they are.”

Baltimore’s strategy will be to wait out Randy Johnson, force him to use a lot of pitches and hope to get to the soft underbelly of the Mariner pitching staff--a bullpen that has 27 blown saves--as quickly as possible.

If Baltimore is ahead late in the game, the Orioles will turn to baseball’s deepest and most talented bullpen, which is anchored by closer Randy Myers, who has converted 45 of 46 save opportunities.

“I don’t think anyone has a bullpen that can compare to ours,” Johnson said. “If we have a lead late in the game, we’ll protect it.”