Bobby Jones’ Postseason Masterpiece

By Jay Horwitz

Warming up in the bullpen that day at Shea Stadium, Bobby Jones had no idea he was on the verge of pitching the greatest game of his life and one of the greatest games in Mets postseason history.

“All of my bullpens were really the same,” said Jones. “I never could tell how I would pitch by how I warmed up.”

Well Bobby warmed up pretty well that day 21 years ago today (Oct. 8) for his game against the San Francisco Giants. He wound up pitching a 4–0, complete game, one-hit shutout as we took the Division Series from San Francisco three games to one and moved up the NLCS to face the St. Louis Cardinals.

The only hit Jones allowed was a fifth inning double by Jeff Kent. The only two other Mets to pitch postseason shutouts were Joe Matlack in 1972 and Mike Hampton in the NLCS in 2000.

“That was such a crazy year for me,” Bobby recalled. “ I think my ERA after my first three starts as over 16. I went to the minors to get myself straightened out and was much better the second part of the year.”

Jones wound up with 11 wins in 2000 and was one of the main reasons why Manager Bobby Valentine’s club made it the World Series against the New York Yankees.

“Beating the Yankees would have been the icing on the cake,” Jones went on. “I think we lost four games by five runs. Still it couldn’t take away from we accomplished as a team. I a proud of what we did and glad I finally was able to contribute.”