NL DIVISION SERIES: METS v GIANTS

October 7, 2000

Bobby J. Jones

BOBBY J. JONES: I believe so. I thought that's why I was here. (Smiles).

BOBBY J. JONES: Me and Bobby met a few days ago in San Francisco, and that's when I was told that I was going to be the Game 4 starter. I've worked out accordingly to start this game. So I don't know if -- he hasn't actually came to me and said you are for sure, but I have not heard otherwise, so I'm just going with that and assuming that.

BOBBY J. JONES: Never have. Well, I take that back. We actually played at different times but I think there was one start where I was actually at Fresno State and he was in an alumni game and we pitched against each other, but that was about it.

BOBBY J. JONES: Well, I think basically staying away from -- I approach things as I would any other team. Prepare myself. Watch a lot of film and video. Pitch my own ballgame. You've got to go with your strengths, as opposed to hitters weaknesses, of course. I'm not going out there and drastically trying to change anything. Just stay away from free passes. They have got some guys who can hit the ball out of the ballpark so I want to stay away from big innings.

BOBBY J. JONES: Well, I think today is probably my nervous day, the day with the butterflies and all that. I think tomorrow that will be gone and I will be ready and I will be excited. This is what we play the game for, to play the post-season and move on. I've got to go in a very important game, as I would any other game.

BOBBY J. JONES: Obviously there is going to be a lot of excitement out there. I remember last year's playoffs and how electric the fans were, how excited -- how exciting it was just to sit there and watch the games, let alone be able to be out there and be throwing the pitch or an at-bat. That's very key. You have to be able to control that. You have to be able to focus in on those nine hitters that you are going to be facing. I think that if you let the excitement get to you, it's going to -- it may take away from that. But I consider myself pretty strong, and very able to do that. I don't show a lot of emotion out there and that's just because I'm so focused in on what my job is.

BOBBY J. JONES: It has actually been a real long time, yeah. Last year, with the exception, I was part of the playoffs, I was here, just showed up to the park knowing that I was not going to need my glove that day and I was there to cheer my teammates on. But now, being a part of it, as I said, that's the reason we play this game is to go on to better things and go on and play for a World Championship. And to be a part of it is something that I've dreamt of since I was a young kid and I decided I wanted to do this as a living.

BOBBY J. JONES: Yes. Our alumni at Fresno State is pretty strong, and like I said, we have a game every year. We have a lot of mutual friends at the time that I have played with Mark and were friends of mine. Now, actually, me and Mark are the best of friends. We have our own foundation together in Fresno, the Step to the Plate Foundation. This is a game. This is the first time that we have faced each other and it is an important game. You know, I'm sure when we get back home, it probably won't be talked about.

BOBBY J. JONES: It is a little weird in that we have both been in the Major Leagues for eight years, him a little more; and to finally pitch against each other, it is in the post-season. There have been times where we've missed each other by a day or two in the past. But like I said, this is our job. We're going out there to do the best for our teams, and I think probably our friends will talk more about it than we will when the season comes to an end and when we go back home to Fresno.

BOBBY J. JONES: Well, we do a big charity golf tournament and auction, a two-day event. We do some other miscellaneous stuff during the time that we are home to raise money for the foundation. We have some private investors. Basically, Mark had started this foundation. It wasn't a foundation; Mark had done a charity event for the different organizations because of his wife's liver transplant. We decided to team up together and make a foundation and to raise money for numerous causes: For children, patients who are ill, just a wide variety of different causes.

BOBBY J. JONES: Not really. We have a board who makes those decisions.

BOBBY J. JONES: I think it's probably the same way every start. The four days before my scheduled start are my preparation days as far as looking over tapes, getting my game plan together, what I'm going to do, how I am going to approach each hitter. And tomorrow, it's go out and do it. You really don't have time to be nervous tomorrow. It's get out there -- and you're not thinking about other things. You are thinking about who I am facing.

BOBBY J. JONES: Well, like I said, we're here to play in the post-season, and to win a World Championship. Last year with my injury, keeping me out of that was probably one of the toughest things that I have ever had to go through with baseball, maybe with the exception of the beginning of this season. Just knowing that I wasn't going to be out there to pitch; I was there to root my teammates on -- you know, when I got back home in the off-season, it gave me a little extra drive to come in this season knowing that we have a good chance of getting back there with the team that we had and the way the ownership has tried to improve this team and to get a championship-quality ballclub out there for us. I wanted to come in and be a part of that. And then the way I struggled early this season, it was again, one of those tough things that I had to go through. But there was that drive that I knew this type of club had a chance and could do some special things and that just made me fight to get through my problems.

BOBBY J. JONES: I have a lower handicap, but anyone can be beat on any given day. (Laughter.)

BOBBY J. JONES: This is our second season with the foundation. When I was struggling early on, I really didn't have an answer to why I was struggling. I knew that I was making a few mistakes, and they were costly ones. When you get runners on base and you make a mistake and you give up a three- or four-run home run, it is not like a sac fly scores a guy; it is a different situation. I think the whole key was for me to go down to AAA and have no pressure, just to work on things. I've said this many times: I went down because I wanted to be up here in New York and help the club. I wasn't helping the club at that time. I went down to AAA and accepted the assignment because I thought it was necessary. And when I did, I went down and I worked on my fastball and my curveball, two of my best pitches, the two pitches that I have to have consistently. And I didn't care about the outcome, didn't care about the score at the end of the game or what my line was. I wanted to be able to throw those pitches, in my location, and I wanted to be able to throw good curveballs any time in the count. And that's basically what I went down there and tried to do.

BOBBY J. JONES: Well, at that particular time, I was thinking about my fastball and my curveball. I was not thinking about pitching a deciding game in the Division Series. But like I said, I've battled and I've done the best I can to get here to help this team win.

BOBBY J. JONES: Well, prior to each game, Mike and I will sit down and talk about their lineup. Once we get a lineup card from the other side we go over each hitter. I give my input on how I want to approach guys and he gives his. That's why when you get out there you kind of have the same plan; you know what you want to do. We talk about what we want to do in tough situations, with runners in scoring position, what we want to do when we're ahead in the count, what we want to do when we're behind in the count. We both know what we want to go out there and do and what the situation calls for.