October 28th, 2001
On a warm Fall evening in
Phoenix, the fans at
Bank One Ballpark watched history in the making as one of
their aces,
Randy Johnson, made mincemeat out of the
NY Yankees' struggling offense. As the game wore
on, Johnson became sharper, fanning a total of eleven batters on the night. He threw a
one-hitter through
the seventh inning and got into a little no-out jam in the eighth, but a strike-out and a double-play took
care of that
rally.
It was questionable (to everyone but Randy) whether he'd be back for the ninth until Brenly sent him to bat
first in the bottom of the eighth. To punctuate this decision, a
Fox cameraman found a pertinent, if not
inappropriate, banner in the stands that declared in huge black on yellow letters
U Can't Yank R
Johnson!. The shot was understandably brief, and someone may have lost his job, but it certainly
captured the moment quite well.
These Arizona fans love their aces and they've come to expect these guys to pitch late into every game they
play. Hell, they
have to. The
Diamondbacks' bullpen isn't exactly making headlines.