Johnson's 300th comes under the radar

It was said that Tom Glavine was the last of a dying breed, perhaps the final 300-game winner ever.

Turns out that was premature, as the San Francisco Giants' Randy Johnson achieved his 300th win on Thursday, and the Giants' 5-1 win over the Washington Nationals came pretty much under the radar. Two years ago, it looked doubtful that Johnson, now 45, would become the 24th player to record 300 victories. Now, he'll be the last for quite a while, perhaps a decade at least, as there are no active pitchers in shouting distance of 300.

"It's been a long road," Johnson said, according to the San Jose Mercury News. "I guess the one word that would sum it all up is that I've persevered."

In many big-league cities, Johnson would have gone for the record in front of a sellout crowd hanging on every pitch. Instead, it was a rescheduled game, a first game of a doubleheader played in front of a sparse gathering, under the constant threat of rain, in a ballpark that didn't exist two years ago, against a last-place team. There was no real fanfare, and years from now, it will be a real stumper of a trivia question when people are asked for which team did Johnson win his 300th game.

It is full circle, however. The "Big Unit" was drafted and came up with the Montreal Expos, who became the Nationals before the 2005 season. The 6-foot-10 left-hander, the most imposing of his generation, was also able to avoid a sort of curse of 300-game winners. Johnson is the first pitcher to win No. 299 and No. 300 in consecutive starts since Tom Seaver in 1985. The next six — Phil Niekro, Don Sutton, Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux and Glavine — all didn't succeed in at least two attempts.