Number 300 For the Big Unit

I could talk about how the Lakers completely dominated the Magic. Let me rephrase that: I could talk about how Kobe completely dominated the Magic, but ESPN has done enough coverage and analyzing for everyone.

I could talk about how the Penguins evened up their Stanley Cup Finals series with Detroit, but the officiating has been so bad this series that it makes me angry to watch it. I mean seriously, Malkin scores the first goal of the game, and is about as obviously offside as a skater can get, even Stevie Wonder was up in arms over the blown call.

So instead I would like to congratulate Randy Johnson on his 300th career win. Though the Big Unit did it in front of about 5,000 fans at Nationals Park in D.C., at a four o'clock game on a Thursday afternoon, it does not diminish the accomplishment. He looked strong and in control in the Giants' 5-1 victory over Washington. Of course, every pitcher looks like an all-star when they play against the Nationals, but the man is 45.

With all of the hitter's ballparks being built today, and the bigger, stronger, juicing (whoops that slipped, my apologies Bud Selig), hitters that we have, we may never see another pitcher reach 300 wins.

Johnson is the best left-handed pitcher since Sandy Koufax, and still sports a dominant fastball. My favorite stat of his that usually goes unnoticed, is that he is third all-time in hit batsmen, with 188, put that and the fastball together and you have one intimidating pitcher.

Maybe his most memorable highlight from his career wasn't a hit batsmen, but a hit bird. Which, might I add, is far more impressive. The bird combusted into just a ton of feathers, like who actually has ever seen the rest of the bird in that video clip? All we see is feathers going everywhere and the umpire stunned and trying to figure out how to call the pitch. The best part of the story is the animal rights activists who wanted Johnson punished for the incident, because he did it on purpose... right.

The Big Unit should be a no question first ballot hall-of-famer. The large 6 foot 1o mullet-sporting man whose mustache makes him look like a catfish, who my Grandfather has often referred to as "the ugliest man in sports," has seen his career drop recently (that would be an appropriate way to phrase the sentence: "he signed with the Giants"), and it brings questions to many why he hasn't retired yet. But I think yesterday we got our answer.