Randy Johnson ready for spring debut
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 11:57 AM PDT
NEW YORK (AP) — Hideki Matsui returned to the New York Yankees’lineup Sunday, and Randy Johnson is ready to get back on the mound for Arizona.
Playing in his first game since November surgery on his right knee, Matsui went 0-for-3 with two groundouts and a flyout as New York’s designated hitter in a 6-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins at Fort Myers, Fla.
“Even though it’s been awhile, I didn’t have any problems,” Matsui said through a translator.
He said he didn’t think it would “take too long” to return to the outfield.
Phil Hughes was sharp, pitching four hitless innings for the Yankees only months after they offered him to Minnesota as part of a proposed trade package for ace Johan Santana.
The 21-year-old right-hander, who went 5-3 with a 4.46 ERA as a rookie in 2007, retired his first nine batters before walking two in the fourth. He struck out one and threw 56 pitches.
“I was locating the fastball. That was No. 1. The breaking ball was about where I want it to be, so I was happy with that,” Hughes said. “I just hope I don’t waste all of the good innings during spring training.”
Johnson plans to make his first start of the spring Monday against the NL champion Colorado Rockies in Tucson, Ariz. The left-hander is expected to pitch two innings, another sign of progress as he returns from back surgery.
“Everything’s gone on schedule,” Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said Sunday. “This is right around the first date that we thought that he would potentially take the mound in a game.”
The 44-year-old Johnson went 4-3 with a 3.81 ERA in 10 starts for Arizona last season, the last on June 28, before undergoing his second back operation in less than a year.
Melvin said he hasn’t projected Johnson’s first regular-season start. The Big Unit enters the season with 284 career wins.
“It’s all going to be outing to outing,” Melvin said. “With him, we’re not even close to that yet.”
Ryan Dempster looks just about ready for the Chicago Cubs’rotation — if that’s where they want to put him.
The right-hander pitched four innings of one-hit ball and Daryle Ward went 4-for-4, sending Chicago to a 13-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals in Surprise, Ariz.
Dempster spent nearly all of the past four seasons in the bullpen and saved 85 games for the Cubs from 2005-07. Now, he is hoping to become a starter again and fill one of two vacancies in Chicago’s rotation.
