Happy Birthday Unit

I had the day all planned out. I would get up, have a little breakfast, read the newspaper (well, specifically I would read the sports page. Okay, I would study the box scores, evaluate the pitching match-ups, review the write-up from yesterday's game, and examine how the Florida Marlins hitters have done in their career against Randy Johnson), then get ready to watch the Arizona Diamondbacks game. The plan was foolproof, except I couldn't anticipate the adverse weather in southern Florida. So there I sat with my Diamondbacks jersey and hat tuned into the television broadcast with 2 minutes to go before the first pitch. The final commercial was ending and the game was about to start. But instead of seeing Randy Johnson and the Diamondbacks, I was treated to a Three Stooges marathon. What was this, some kind of sick joke? They wouldn't dare pre-empt the Diamondbacks, not even for something as good as the Three Stooges. I frantically rushed around to find the television guide to verify that the game was supposed to be on. At about that time, I saw on the screen that the game was in a rain delay. Whew, that was a close one. After an hour of laughing my guts out at Mo smacking Curly around, the Diamondbacks game began. It was Randy Johnson's thirty-seventh birthday and he planned a big party for himself. In the first inning, he struck out Luis Castillo for his 300th strikeout of the season. He then followed that up in the fourth inning when he struck out Mike Lowell to collect his 3,000th career strikeout. It was cool to see that accomplishment. There are only twelve men who have accomplished this and I have seen three of them do it. I watched as Steve Carlton each recorded their 3,000th strikeouts. It was an incredible sight and I am grateful to have been there to witness it. So even though the Diamondbacks didn't win the game and there was a rain delay, I saw two of the greatest events in television. Randy Johnson's 3,000th strikeout and the Three Stooges. It doesn't get much better than that.