Randy Johnson rips the NY media

[browntown653]

BY MARK FEINSAND
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

It took him two years, two months and 2,100 miles, but Randy Johnson finally showed the fire yesterday that the Yankees and their fans had expected to see all along.
Unfortunately for the Bombers, it was in the form of a misguided salvo fired at the New York media, instead of a high-and-tight heater aimed at an opposing batter.

Claiming that he was mistreated by scribes who never took the time to know him, Johnson's latest heater seemed to fall as flat as those that he had tossed during his ill-fated tenure in the Bronx.

"That was the one thing that didn't click very well," Johnson told reporters in Arizona as he made his return to Diamondbacks camp. "'Oooh, he's surly and all that'; well you're damn right. If you're going to use me as a floor mat there ... write your own stories and not come to get to know me, then I don't want to sit there and give you my time."

The Unit's big talk about being burned by those holding the Big Apple spotlight starts sounding small after a quick look at his numbers.

While Johnson won 17 regular-season games in each of his two seasons in pinstripes, posting a respectable 3.79 ERA in 2005, he watched that figure bloat to 5.00 last season as he became more and more hittable. He was the only starter not to miss significant time with injury during his tenure, making 67 starts for the Bombers despite a variety of minor injuries, but it was his postseason performance that was his true Achilles heel.

Johnson was lit up by the Angels in Game 3 of the 2005 AL division series, allowing five runs on nine hits in three-plus innings, as the Yankees lost, 11-7. Anaheim took a 2-1 lead in the series, eventually winning in five games.

The Big Unit got the call in Game 3 again last fall, taking the ball for a second year in a row with the series tied at one game apiece. The Tigers smacked him for five runs over 5-2/3 innings, as the Yankees fell behind 2-1 in the series. Detroit sent the Bombers home with another first-round exit the next day.

Despite telling the Daily News last month that he enjoyed his time in New York, Johnson clearly is still bitter over the way he feels he was treated by the press.

The image of him shoving a TV cameraman on his first day as a Yankee was replayed over and over again during his tenure here, but it is the perception that he was unfairly labeled as over the hill and injury-prone that seems to have stuck with him.

"The thing I got ticked about the most," Johnson said, "is a lot of times in New York there were people who wrote (stuff) that never ever bothered to come in and introduce themselves.

"I thought it was funny when I was in New York and I wanted to pitch every fifth day my first year, that people said, 'Why wouldn't you want an extra day? You're old,'" added Johnson, now 43. "See, there you go. I mean, sit down and talk to me."

The Yankees shipped Johnson back to Arizona in January, receiving reliever Luis Vizcaino and three prospects for the five-time Cy Young winner.

*yawn*

[nyjunc]

I don't care about him or what he has to say. he was a major disappointment here and it wasn't the media's fault.

[Jim Colyer]

The Big Unit is a great pitcher but also a bit self-centered.