RJ Agonistes

There is talk of Randy Johnson retiring, thanks to a series of performances that make it evident that he is no longer the Johnson of old, or even the Johnson of last year. Although a chowderphile, if not a chowderhead, Skip Bayless put it pretty well I thought: Johnson can dominate every 3rd or 4th start but otherwise he's shawn Chacon, pretty good but not very good. When Johnson is not dominating, and I think Bayless's percentages are pretty close, I would submit that he is not as good as shawn chacon, not by long chalks. However, every 3rd or 4th start a gem is a formula for success on the Yankees, given their offense, provided the dominating performances come in the right spots. The Yanks need four things from Johnson for his contribution to be accounted successful.

1. He has to take the ball every fifth day, no questions, no exceptions.
2. He has to eat innings. roughly 7 per start
3. He has to pitch well enough to win most games, which doesn't mean he has to pitch well.
4. He has got to dominate in starts against quality teams, or at least teams with quality pitching.

If he does these 4 things, all four, then and only then he will be a success, and his era can be 5.50 or higher. It won't matter. So far he has shown he can do one through three. Tonight would be a good time to start working on number 4.

But not, I think, a crucial time. It is actually more important that the Yankees' bats show up and assert themselves against Beckett tonight. His ERA over the last 3 games is 9.65. The most important thing tonight is to continue that trend, to convince him and the chowderheads that he is a bum after all.