Randy Johnson won his 300th game on Thursday, proving everyone who said we wouldn't see another 300 winner after Tom Glavine wrong.
Lets look back at Johnson's phenomenal career through his appearances in the old US-Japan Nichibei Series, which used to take place in November of even-numbered years.
1990
Johnson vs. Hiromitsu Ochiai
[Video]
Johnson vs. Koji Akiyama
[Video]
Johnson vs. Akinobu Okada
[Video]
Interestingly, Ochiai and Akiyama are now managing NPB teams, and Okada ran Hanshin for five years. Note that Johnson is pretty wild here, and is inconsistent with his follow through. Still, none of the hitters look good against him.
Now let's fast forward ten years, to 2000.
2000
Johnson vs Hideki Matsui
[Video]
Johnson vs Tsuyoshi Shinjo
[Video]
Johnson vs Norihiro Nakamura
[Video]
Interestingly, all of these guys played in the majors in the years following this series. Johnson looks a lot more mature as a pitcher and a lot more fluid with his mechanics. He made Shinjo look like a fool in that at bat, though Shinjo was actually pretty good overall in the series.
