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Friday, September 11, 1998
McGwire vs. Johnson: power vs. power
By MICHAEL A. LUTZ AP Sports Writer
HOUSTON (AP) - Randy Johnson feels as mortal as any other pitcher
going against Mark McGwire.
"I'm going in there blindfolded Saturday and not be intimidated
by him," Johnson said. "He's hit some home runs off
me and I've struck him out a few times."
The dream matchup between the home run king and Johnson is
to take place in the second game of a three-game series between
the Houston Astros and St. Louis Cardinals.
Johnson, with a string of four consecutive shutout victories
in the Astrodome, is looking forward to the showdown and happy
McGwire has No. 62 out of the way.
And if the 6-foot-10 left-hander happens to give up any homers
to McGwire, it will irk him, just as it does when anyone cranks
one out.
"I don't like to give up home runs whether it's No. 63
or whatever," he said. "I'm very competitive. He's a
friend of mine but I don't see happiness in giving up a home run
to him."
McGwire is 6-for-25 career (.240) against Johnson with two
homers and eight strikeouts.
The Astros have yielded five home runs to McGwire in his record-setting
drive, one each by Jose Lima (No. 32), Shane Reynolds (No. 33),
Billy Wagner (No. 38), Sean Bergman (No. 39) and Scott Elarton
(No. 40).
Lima leads the Astros in home runs allowed with 27, including
one each to McGwire and Chicago's Sammy Sosa this season. He won't
face McGwire this series.
"When you are hitting for a record, you challenge the
guy," Lima said. "You stay away from him. Don't pitch
down. He misses a lot of pitches up in the zone, but when you
pitch him down and in and make a mistake, he can hit it a long
way."
Lima is not hanging his head about serving up No. 32 to McGwire.
"I'll be in the book forever," Lima said, laughing.
"For some reason, that's just a part of baseball. I'll be
a part of history. Why not? I'm not the only one. He got 61 more
besides me."
Wagner says the Astros have helped McGwire enough.
"I hope we get the better of him this time," Wagner
said. "He's hit five off us. It's about time we kind of shut
the door on him."
Wagner knows that's not easy.
"I'm not going to back down from him when I get up there,"
Wagner said. "I'm sure not going to make it easy for him.
"You definitely want to pitch him up. The first time I
faced him, I threw him fastballs up and he popped up. The second
time I threw him two pitches up and he swung through them. The
third pitch was down the middle.
"You don't want to make a mistake down on him. He doesn't
miss many balls like that."
Rookie Elarton feels better equipped to face McGwire a second
time.
"I'm just glad it wasn't No. 62," Elarton said. "That
would be a big burden to carry. It's not as bad being No. 40.
"I'm more comfortable now. The first time, I'll admit
I was a little bit in awe. But now, I've got more confidence.
I've been in the league a little longer."
So far, reliever Jay Powell has good stories to tell his kids
someday about facing McGwire and Sosa in the same year. He hopes
it stays that way.
"It's always neat to witness history firsthand,"
Powell said. "I faced Sammy and he grounded out and struck
out on me, and McGwire singled and popped out. I can tell them
I got him out."
Wagner, also a power pitcher, gets excited about facing a power
hitter like McGwire and is looking forward to watching Johnson
throw.
"That's going to be a great battle," Wagner said.
"It's power pitcher against power hitter. That's what you
come to see. That will be a fun game to watch."
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