Johnson enjoys lower profile with Giants

Andrew Baggarly
MercuryNews

Giants Manager Bruce Bochy gave a veteran's hall pass to Randy Johnson this spring. The five-time Cy Young award winner can excuse himself from all the fielding practice and bunting drills he wants.

But when pitchers and catchers took the field for the first workout Sunday, it was impossible to miss a 6-foot-10 presence making the rounds to all four workstations.

"It's a great opportunity to be out there with the young kids, for lack of a better term," Johnson said.

The term is a catch-all for Johnson, the 45-year-old, 295-game winner. And sometimes, he feels his age.

"I've got (Tim) Lincecum playing catch next to me and I can hear the ball flying," Johnson said. "I'm just trying to throw it 90 feet to Bobby Howry over there. It's nice to have youth on your side."

Johnson had routine icepacks wrapped around his back and right knee after Sunday's activity.

"Get a look at it now," he said, good-naturedly. "I haven't even pitched yet."

Johnson is at ease with his new team. He's healthy, for starters. And he isn't under the pressure of "trying to win 30 games" that he felt while pitching for the Yankees in 2005-06.

"Don't get me wrong, I still have to be accountable and there's a lot expected of me — I expect more of myself — but it'll be a little more fun to go into a year with a lot less hype," he said. "The last four or five years, things haven't gone as I would've liked."

Johnson won 17 games in each of his two seasons as a Yankee, but his time in New York will be remembered more for the cameraman he shoved and the playoff game he lost to the Angels while pitching hurt in '05. He felt impossibly high expectations from Yankees fans and media, who assumed they were getting the dominant pitcher who led Arizona to the 2001 World Series championship.

"I would have loved to live up to it and gone out and won every game," he said. "But nobody is that good."

As for the way the Diamondbacks low-balled him over the winter, Johnson said, "(Former owner) Jeff Moorad thought he had the right price. There's a lot of things I'm not going to say."

He hastily added, "It'll be fun if I get the opportunity to pitch against them."

It'll be even better if he's going after his 300th win. Johnson is downplaying the milestone, saying he plans to pick up many more than the five victories he needs.

While he'll enjoy life under the radar, he also believes the Giants can fly high.

"I would only want this team to get media coverage because we're playing well, not because I'm trying for the fourth or fifth time for the 300th win," he said. "I'd love to leave here and have people say, 'He made a difference.' Maybe not like Curt Schilling going to Boston, but an impact in some way."

First-round draft pick Buster Posey hit a home run during his first round of batting practice and also has impressed with his skills behind the plate.

He caught Lincecum's bullpen workout on Friday, and one Golden Spikes winner took occasion to challenge the other. "I threw a curveball in the dirt, just to see how he'd handle it," Lincecum said. "He picked it clean."

Noah Lowry was listed in Sunday's group, but he isn't expected to get back on a mound until Tuesday because of mild shoulder stiffness.

A memorial service will be held Wednesday at Coors Field in Denver for Ted Uhlaender, a Giants special assistant and former major league outfielder who died Thursday. He was 68.