Marlin’s Johnson on the brink of history
Florida starter Josh Johnson is on the brink of history with a chance to etch his name in the record books this evening at AT&T Park as their four-game series continues with the San Francisco Giants.
Johnson has a string of 13 straight starts without allowing more than two earned runs that dates back to May 8 ,when he allowed three runs to the Washington Nationals.
According to the MLB, since the live-ball era began in 1920, the only streak longer is 14 by Mike Scott of the Astros in 1986.
"I'm just going out there with the mindset, if something's working, don't change it," Johnson said. "I try to keep my team in the game. I don't know what to tell you. I try not to put any extra pressure on myself. I do what I'm doing in each game."
Expect the Giants to fire back and counter with Matt Cain in what could be a pitching showdown for the ages.
"Going up against another guy that's pitching well, you have to step up your level a bit, but you still have to do what you have to do," Cain said. "You've got to kind of step up and I know Josh has been throwing the ball great all year, so it's one of those days where you know you have to keep those guys to a minimum."
In his last start, Cain gave up three hits in eight scoreless innings against the Diamondbacks. He said he didn't know he was facing Johnson until someone told him Sunday.
"[Johnson's] obviously doing a lot of things right and not giving up a lot of hits and not walking many guys," Cain said.
The admiration and respect is mutual.
"It's usually a lot of fun," Johnson said. "That's why you play, to face the best, whether it's a pitcher or a hitter."
Johnson has never beaten the San Francisco Giants but will count on mixing up his pitches and continue to keep batters off balance — something he has been doing very well as of lately. "I'm throwing it in three-ball counts," he said. "I never did that before because I wasn't throwing it for strikes. So you can't throw a pitch you're not throwing for strikes at 3-2 and expect good things to happen."
Johnson is one of the main reasons why the Marlins have a slight chance to make the playoffs. He is why Florida is as good as any team in the majors each time he steps on the mound.
While Johnson remains hot on the mound, San Francisco will be ready. The Giants’ Buster Posey has lifted his batting average and came out swinging since the second half of the season began. The rookie finished 1-for-4 on Monday and extended his hitting streak to 19 games.
He joined Orlando Cepeda (1958) and Chili Davis (1982) as the only San Francisco rookie to have two hitting streaks of at least 10 games.
Posey will be putting his hitting streak on the line against Johnson, who leads the majors easily with a 1.61 ERA.
Florida moved over .500 for the first time since it was 28-27 on June 3. The Marlins went 7-3 on the home stand, including six wins by one run. "That's tough to do," outfielder Cody Ross said. "You have a little bit of luck, but we went without luck for three straight months. Finally some luck is turning our way, and it's nice. It's good timing, because we need to win every one of these games."
But now the Marlins get ready for a seven-game trip this week.
Following Monday’s loss to Florida 4-3, San Francisco is now 3 1/2 games behind first-place San Diego in the NL West and saw their four-game win streak come to an end.
Florida leads the series 1-0.
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