Johnson Doesn’t Monkey Around

PHOENIX — Greg Maddux was typically artistic Tuesday in Game 1 of the National League championship series, working efficiently in the strike zone for seven innings, keeping the Arizona Diamondbacks off-balance and pitching well enough to win.

To win, that is, on any day Randy Johnson did not share the mound.

In a marquee matchup of 200-game winners, Johnson delivered a show-stopping performance for the Arizona Diamondbacks in a 2-0 victory against the Atlanta Braves before 37,729 at Bank One Ballpark.

The Big Unit silenced critics focused on his poor postseason record with a dominant effort, pitching a three-hitter and striking out 11 with only one walk to resoundingly end his losing streak at seven games.

“Assuming someone might [ask], ‘Is this a monkey off your back?’ This is more like a gorilla. King Kong,” Johnson said.

Johnson overpowered the Braves with a fastball clocked consistently between 95-99 mph, and kept them guessing with a 90-plus slider. The combination helped the 6-foot-10 left-hander retire 20 batters in a row after giving up an infield single to Chipper Jones in the first inning, and match the championship series record in pitching seven no-hit innings in one phenomenal stretch.

With two out in the ninth, Johnson gave up two singles and cleanup batter Brian Jordan represented the potential go-ahead run with runners on the corners. But the Braves’ only scoring threat ended on Johnson’s 125th pitch, as Jordan struck out swinging to complete a masterpiece that gave the Diamondbacks the series lead and left the participants in awe.

“We expected [Maddux] to be tremendous today and he was-Randy was just a little better,” Arizona first baseman Mark Grace said. “You realize it’s going to be a tough game to score runs [with Maddux pitching], you just have to find a way to score a couple against him, but the story today is Randy Johnson.

“He didn’t give up a run. He kind of took it upon himself and said, ‘I’m not giving up a run,’ and he didn’t against a great team. We got two runs and that was enough, but Maddux was good today. I mean, two runs, that’s nothing. He did a great job, but Randy was just incredible.”

The impressed Braves agreed, saying it seemed as though Johnson’s pitches were traveling faster than the radar gun’s readings.

“It was his second strike to me, in my third at-bat, and he threw a fastball that I couldn’t see,” Jones said. “I looked up, and it said 99 [on the scoreboard].

“You could tell that he wanted to let it go, and he wanted to get it by me. He was definitely pumped up.”

The Diamondbacks contributed to Johnson’s good mood, providing all the support he would need on run-scoring singles by Reggie Sanders and Luis Gonzalez in the first and fifth, respectively.

Sparkplug infielder Craig Counsell, released by the Dodgers in March 2000, singled and scored on Sanders’ single after an error by second baseman Marcus Giles on a potential double-play ball, and doubled and scored on Gonzalez’s hit. Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox chose to pitch to Gonzalez, who led the Diamondbacks with 57 home runs and 142 runs batted in during the regular season, with Sanders on deck.

But with Johnson in top form, the Braves acknowledged they were done after giving up one run.

“Today, he just came terrific,” center fielder Andruw Jones said. “Especially against us. He threw his fastball off the plate, all his sliders and we chased. It was ... like I said, he just pitched great.”

Johnson improved to 3-7 in the playoffs, recording his first victory since Game 5 of the 1995 American League championship series while he was a member of the Seattle Mariners. He lowered his earned-run average to a very respectable 3.24.

The three-time Cy Young award winner, who might add another this season, established a new NL championship series mark for consecutive hitless innings. Johnson surpassed the previous record of six established by Jack Billingham of the Cincinnati Reds on Oct. 6, 1973, in Game 1 against the New York Mets. Baltimore’s Dave McNally worked seven hitless innings in a row for the Orioles on Oct. 5, 1969, in an 11-inning game against the Minnesota Twins.

“I was extremely calm today and very focused,” Johnson said. “I knew what I wanted to do. You can know what you want to do, the pitches you want to throw, but you have to execute the pitches.”

Again, Maddux was a tough-luck playoff loser. The four-time Cy Young winner dropped to 10-12 in the postseason despite lowering his ERA from 3.11 to 3.09.

On Tuesday, Maddux gave up six hits and two earned runs and started two double plays. He had five strikeouts and walked two. “Yeah, they’re all going to talk about Randy, for sure, and well they should,” Cox said. “But Greg was really good.”

Just not good enough.