Randy Johnson wants to keep pitching. And he's working very hard to stay in shape.

Johnson took October off, then began his workout routine, which eventually included twice-weekly sessions with a trainer.

"Sometimes I think anybody needs to get pushed a little bit to, not necessarily get motivated, but just to get where you need to be," Johnson said.

He spent two days in San Diego with House, who also was working with 22-year-old Mark Prior of the Chicago Cubs.

"He showed me I could get six or seven more inches out of my height and my delivery," Johnson said. "I didn't believe him at first, but we were doing tests in throwing, and I was doing that."

That could add even more velocity to Johnson's pitches, and make that long left arm release the ball even closer to the batter.

Johnson's seasonal age last year was 38. He now has 3746 career strikeouts. At the same age, Nolan Ryan had 4083 K's, and would have 1631 over another 8 seasons. Johnson is striking out a lot more batters than Ryan did over the same stretch. He needs a little under 2000 K's to break Ryan's record. If he can hold up as long as Ryan did, and put up 1000 K's over the next three years, I'm thinking he has a good shot at it. There is no sign of Johnson breaking down. I thought that record would be rather untouchable, but Randy is making me change my mind.