Devastating 1-2 Punch

By MIKE DiGIOVANNA

Oct. 29, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

PHOENIX — It was 97 or 98 in the Arizona desert Sunday night, but it wasn’t a dry heat. It was a scorching, radar-gun torching kind of heat produced by Randy Johnson’s fastball, which the Diamondback pitcher used to melt New York Yankee bats and possibly reduce a baseball dynasty to ashes.

Johnson, the 6-foot-10 left-hander, threw a complete-game three-hitter with 11 strikeouts to lead Arizona to a 4-0 victory over the Yankees in Game 2 of the World Series, electrifying a Bank One Ballpark crowd of 49,646 and giving the Diamondbacks a commanding 2-0 edge in the best-of-seven series.

Much-maligned Arizona third baseman Matt Williams, who had a .189 postseason average prior to Sunday night and was booed in his home park during the National League division series, turned a tense 1-0 lead into a 4-0 game with a three-run home run in the seventh inning off Yankee starter Andy Pettitte.

Williams also bailed Johnson out of an eighth-inning jam, turning Luis Sojo’s grounder with runners on first and second into an inning-ending, 5-4-3 double play, and Johnson retired the side in order in the ninth.

“I’m 38, you know, and right now I feel like I’m about 45, I really do,” said Johnson, who needed only 110 pitches to dust off the Yankees. “But this is what every player in our clubhouse has waited for. This is everybody’s dream, to be here and playing the Yankees. It’s the biggest stage in sports.”

That stage shifts to Yankee Stadium for Game 3 on Tuesday night, when Arizona left-hander Brian Anderson will oppose New York right-hander Roger Clemens. Of the 47 teams who have taken a 2-0 lead in the World Series, 36 have won the championship.

But the three-time defending-champion Yankees seem impervious to such odds. They’ve lost the first two games of the World Series seven times and have come back to win four of those series, most recently against Atlanta in 1996. They lost the first two games of the American League division series to Oakland this month and stormed back to win three games.

“It’s good we’ve been in this predicament before against Oakland, but this is a different team,” Yankee infielder Randy Velarde said of the Diamondbacks. “Oakland was a young team; this is a more experienced club. They don’t have the rings, but they’re proven, and they’re not going to be rattled by Yankee Stadium.”

It seemed nothing could rattle Johnson on Sunday night. He’s always been a pitcher who thrives on adrenaline, but he kept those emotions in check in his first World Series start.

“He seemed a lot more calm, cool and collected out there,” Arizona catcher Damian Miller said. “I think he makes adjustments quicker when he’s not fighting himself.”

Johnson overpowered the Yankees the first time through the order, becoming only the third pitcher--former St. Louis Cardinal great Bob Gibson (1968) and Yankee right-hander Orlando Hernandez (1999) were the others--to strike out seven in the first three innings of a World Series game.

With a fastball that hit 97-98-mph consistently, a nasty slider that was breaking to the back leg of right-handed hitters and a generous strike zone from umpire Mark Hirschbeck, Johnson looked like he might challenge Gibson’s World Series strikeout record of 17, set in Game 1 in 1968 against Detroit.

But when the Yankees began to make better contact in their second and third at-bats, Johnson concentrated on location, walking only one and constantly busting Yankee hitters with fastballs and sliders on the inside corner.

“That’s his money, that’s his bread and butter,” Miller said. “When in doubt, pound guys inside. Pettitte was doing the same thing. He throws 93-94 mph and breaks a lot of bats. So you can imagine what it feels like facing Randy when he’s throwing 97-98 mph and coming inside. It’s not easy.”

Johnson made it look almost effortless. Usually a fist-pumping, glove-pounding bundle of energy on the mound, Johnson has been a sketch of serenity this month, going 3-1 with a 1.36 earned-run average in four playoff starts.

“Being in a 1-0 game for six innings is not a lot of fun; you have no margin for error,” fellow pitcher Curt Schilling said. “But these last three postseason starts for Randy, he’s been as relaxed as I’ve ever seen him, and that’s a good sign. He wasn’t real talkative before the games, but he also wasn’t the mummy I saw last year.”

Pettitte, the AL championship series most valuable player, was almost as good as Johnson for six innings, limiting Arizona to one run and three hits. His only blemish came in the second, when Reggie Sanders led off with an infield single and Danny Bautista rifled a double to the wall in right-center.

Right fielder Shane Spencer fielded the ball cleanly and made a strong throw to second baseman Alfonso Soriano while Diamondback third base coach Chris Speier waved Sanders around third. Soriano fired toward the plate, but his throw tailed several feet up the third base line, allowing Sanders to score for a 1-0 lead.

Pettitte didn’t run into trouble again until the seventh when he hit Luis Gonzalez with a pitch to open the inning. After Sanders forced Gonzalez, Bautista hit a one-hop smash off Pettitte’s right leg for an infield single. Williams then drove an 0-and-1 pitch deep into the left-field seats.

That sealed the Diamondback victory. Could it seal the Yankees’ fate? New York has managed only three hits in Games 1 and 2 and has been overwhelmed by Schilling and Johnson, whose pitching performances have left even veteran first baseman Mark Grace in awe. Has Grace ever seen two pitchers on the same team as dominant as Schilling and Johnson?

“I’m sure if you ask guys around the clubhouse they’d say, ‘Hey Gracie, how were [Sandy] Koufax and [Don] Drysdale, how were [Warren] Spahn and [Johnny] Sain?”’ Grace said. “[Greg] Maddux and [Tom] Glavine have been awfully good for a long time, but I’m glad Schilling and Johnson are on my team.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

AT A GLANCE

Diamondbacks lead series, 2-0

Game 1

Arizona 9, New York 1

Game 2

Arizona 4, New York 0

Game 3

Tuesday, 5:30 p.m.

at New York, TV: Channel 11

Diamondbacks’ Brian Anderson vs. Yankees’ Roger Clemens