Remembering Mets History (2000) NLDS Game #4: Bobby Jones Tosses One Hitter as Mets Advance to Thier Second Straight NLCS
For tonight's game Bobby Valentine named Bobby Jones his starter. Many people criticized Valentine for his decision.
During the season, Bobby went 11-6 with a 5.06 ERA, but since July 30th, Jones was 7-1 with a 3.94 ERA. This was his first post season start.
Giants' manager Dusty Baker went with Mark Gardner (11-7 / 4.05 ERA / 92 Ks) in a do or die game for San Francisco.
In the bottom of the 1st inning, after Timo Perez went down swinging & Edgardo Alfonzo flew out, Mike Piazza drew a two out walk.
Robin Ventura followed with a two run HR over the right center field fence giving the Mets the 2-0 lead. For Ventura it was his first HR & his first two RBIs of the post season, he had hit 24 HRs & 84 RBIs during the regular season.
On the mound, Bobby Jones rolled along as he retired the first twelve Giants batters. In the top of the 3rd inning, he struck out Doug Mirabelli & Mark Gardner.
Bonds Trivia: Barry Bonds struck out four times in the four-game series, Bobby Jones & John Franco, both struck him out twice. John Franco's strike outs came in the 9th inning, the first time he was final out of Game #2.
In the series Bonds went 3-17 with three walks, batting .176 with one RBI.
In the top of the 5th inning, Jeff Kent led off with a double to left field. It was to the first & only hit Bobby Jones would give up in the entire game.
The next batter Ellis Burks flew out to right field for the first out. Jones then issued a walk to J.T. Snow & after getting the second out issued another walk to Doug Mirabelli loading the bases.
It was the only time the Giants would have runners in scoring position in the entire game.
Giants Manager, Dusty Baker chose to stick with his pitcher rather than go with a pinch hitter. Bobby Jones then got Mark Gardner to pop out to end the inning. The Giants would not get another base runner the rest of the way.
In the home 5th inning, Bobby Jones struck out but reached first base as the third strike got past Doug Mirabelli.
Timo Trivia: Perez was second to Benny Agbayani among Mets starters batting .294 in the series. Perea along with Agbayani & Edgardo Alfonzo led the way with five hits each.
Next Edgardo Alfonzo doubled to center, scoring both Jones & Perez to give the Mets a 4-0 lead that they would never surrender.
Bobby Jones shut down the Giants over the next four innings. In the top of the 6th, he struck out Marvin Bernard then got fly ball outs to Bill Mueller & Barry Bonds. In the top of the 7th Jones got Jeff Kent & JT Snow to ground out &Ellis Burks to fly out to end the inning.
In the top of the 8th, Rich Aurilla flew out to Timo Perez in right field for the first out. Then Giants manager Dusty Baker sent up two pinch hitters, Felipe Crespo flew out to left field & Russ Davis popped up to Todd Zeile at first base for the third out.
In the bottom of the 8th, with Miquel Toro pitching for the Giants, Benny Agbayani doubled, collecting his fifth hit of the series.
Mike Bordick was hit by a pitch putting two on, but the Mets did not score as Bobby Jones struck out ending the inning.
when Marvin Benard grounded out to first base, Bill Mueller then grounded out to Alfonzo for out number two.
The big bat of Barry Bonds was next. The Shea fans had been booing Bonds every time he came to bat or made a catch on the field. Fittingly Bobby Jones got Bonds to line out to center field to end the game.
The Mets advanced to their second consecutive NLCS as the right-handed Bobby Jones completed his one hit masterpiece pitching the best game of his career.
Mets Trivia: Jones became just the second Mets pitcher to throw a shut out in the post season. In 1973 Jon Matlack pitched a two-hit shut over the Reds in Cincinnati.
Quotes-Bobby Jones: "After all I went through in the beginning of the season, to battle back & do something in the post season, it meant a lot".
Quotes- Al Leiter: "I'm so happy for Bobby Jones. I'm so proud of him. To go out & pitch the best game of his life & dismiss all the critics who thought it was a bad decision, he went out & nailed it".
