Old Friends Get Chance to Renew Their Rivalry

This is how good Randy Johnson has been since the July 31 trade that sent him from the Seattle Mariners to the Houston Astros:

A 9-1 record with four shutouts in 10 starts, a 1.28 earned-run average, 108 strikeouts in 77 1/3 innings and an opponents’ batting average of .180.

This is how good Randy Johnson says he has been:

“I feel like I’m on top of my game. I feel like I’m pitching better than I ever have.”

This was Tuesday night as the Big Unit prepared for tonight’s start against Big Mac and the St. Louis Cardinals, his final assignment before he starts Game 1 of the division series next week.

“It’s kind of like the clash of two powers,” Johnson said of the renewal of his competition with former USC teammate Mark McGwire. “One guy throws hard and the other guy hits it far. That’s what the fans want to see.

“They want to see Mark McGwire hit home runs and I guess they want to see me throw fastballs and strike people out. They certainly don’t want to see me walk him, that’s for sure.”

A Busch Stadium crowd of 40,739 didn’t like what it saw Tuesday night. The Cardinals beat the Astros, 4-0, and McGwire was hitless in four at-bats.

He has 65 homers, two more than slumping Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs.

“I’m not going to be the guy to give up No. 66,” a matter-of-fact Johnson said of McGwire. “I’m not the kind of guy who would say, ‘Hey, Mark, here’s a fastball belt high.’ If it happens it happens, but I’m not the kind of guy who would be proud to give it up.”

Baseball’s premier power hitter has a career record of six for 27 with two homers against baseball’s premier power pitcher. One of the homers was a 538-foot monster at the Kingdome on June 24, 1997. McGwire was with the Oakland A’s then, Johnson with the Mariners. It was a remarkable game in which Johnson struck out 19 but lost. He reflected on that home run Tuesday night and said:

“It counted for one run, but if we’re going by distance it probably should have counted as two. I think a lot of people have always wondered if I threw my best fastball and he put his best swing on it, where would it go? A lot of those questions were answered. I remember the guy that was doing the radar gun that day saying it came in at 97 [mph] and went out at 102 [mph].”

Johnson beat the Cardinals, 3-2, and held McGwire hitless 11 days ago in Houston, a start he almost skipped because of illness.

“If I knew I was going to get the same results, I would do something to get the flu,” Johnson said with a laugh Tuesday night.

“Obviously I’m healthy now and I don’t know if that’s going to be a plus or a minus. I was pretty happy with the results the last time.”

The Astros, of course, are thrilled with Johnson, who has a combined 18 wins, six shutouts and a major-league leading 321 strikeouts.

The contract uncertainty in Seattle has yielded to an improved focus, he said, although he is still eligible for free agency and unwilling to predict where the future will take him--if, in fact, it takes him out of Houston. For now, he consider’s tonight’s start critical since he will “feed off it going into the playoffs.”