When the Arizona Diamondbacks re-acquired Randy Johnson from the New York Yankees in January 2007, the naysayers were everywhere.

“He’s too old.”

“He’s well past his prime.”

“Why did the Diamondbacks trade for a guy in his forties with a bad back?”

Johnson didn’t do much to turn those people’s opinions around in his first year back in the desert. He didn’t pitch badly, going 4-3 with a 3.81 ERA in ‘07. Its the fact that his season ended on June 28th. Johnson had back surgery again, and began his rehab for the 2008 campaign. He came back earlier than predicted, and had a string of 4 consecutive wins from April 25th to May 18th.

But now the naysayers are having their way again. Johnson is struggling. There’s no other way to put it. He’s lost his last 4 starts, and has a 7.77 ERA in that stretch. Maybe more alarming are Johnson’s strikeout numbers. In his last 3 starts, the Big Unit has only 7 strikeouts combined in 18 innings. His last outing on Saturday against Minnesota, saw him strike out only 1 Twins’ batter in 8 innings. In case you’re wondering, the last time Johnson, who moved into 2nd place on baseball’s all-time strikeout list earlier this year, had such a K drought, you’ve only got to go back 2 seasons. In 2006, while pitching for the Yankees, Johnson had 2 straight games, July 29th against Tampa Bay, and August 4th against the Orioles, where he failed to strike out a single batter.

A decrease in Johnson’s strikeout totals was inevitable. He’s 44-years old, and he does have a history of back problems. Is the decreased strikeout number a sign that Johnson is no longer effective as a starting pitcher? Despite the fact that Johnson only struck out 1 in 8 innings in Minnesota on Saturday, he didn’t pitch that badly. The Twins put up 6 runs on 6 hits in the 3rd inning. In his other 7 innings of work, Johnson yielded only 5 hits and 1 run.

I think today’s start is huge for Randy Johnson. It will be interesting to see if the pop on the fastball and slider come back. But it might be more interesting to see what happens if it doesn’t. After 20 years of simply overpowering hitters, can Randy Johnson tailor his pitching style to that of a mere mortal and still be effective?

He’s one of the fiercest competitors any of us will ever see. I wouldn’t put it past him.

Join the discussion at The Fanster Forums. Arizona Sports 24/7.