The Post’s Steve Serby sat down with the 35-year-old knuckleballer by necessity who has won his first six decisions as a Met.
Q: Where is your level of confidence right now?
A: I don’t know really how to rate that. I would say that I definitely feel like I can continue doing what I’m doing. I would say on a scale of 1 to 10, I feel about at an 8, but I felt about an 8 for a long time when other people probably had me at a 5 (laughs).
Q: Do you think it has taken courage to reinvent yourself (from an orthodox pitcher)?
A: Or desperation (smiles). I felt like I had some intangibles that could really play up here. I just needed to have the opportunity to do it. The knuckleball, I felt, gave me that opportunity.
Q: What drives you?
A: I would say hope. Like, the potential for what this could become. From ages 35 to 42, (Charlie) Hough, (Tim) Wakefield and (Phil) Niekro all won over 100 games. I feel like I can emulate that. I feel like I can do that. And I’m still hungry to do it and passionate to do it.
Q: Ever find yourself having to pinch yourself these days?
A: No, not really. I feel like I’m ready to compete up here and be good. There were times in my knuckleball career where I didn’t feel that way. I’ve done enough work to where I don’t have to think about mechanically what I need to do out there. It just happens, and that’s a big deal.
Q: The moment that (Rangers GM) Doug Melvin told you they were rescinding their ($850,000) offer because you were missing your ulnar collateral ligament, what were you feeling?
A: Anger . . . sadness . . . and then once that kinda washed over me, a mild sense of peace. All those probably in that order too. ’Cause he looked at me and he said, “We’re taking your bonus off the table. We think there’s something wrong with you.” The human part of you wants to leap over the desk and tackle the guy. But I was glad that I didn’t do that, and after I had time to process it, I knew what I was capable of doing and was ready to get after doing it.
Q: Did you have a heart-to-heart with anyone in your life at that point?
A: Yeah . . . God, for sure. My faith is a big part of my life, and there’s a lot of prayer and a lot of conversation between He and I.
Q: After all the ups and downs you’ve endured, why didn’t you quit?
A: ’Cause I love it . . . still hungry to accomplish things . . . and I still have an appetite for what it takes to do something well. But it took more than me to do it. . . . My wife was a big part of that.
Q: How so?
A: She didn’t want to ever be the reason that I didn’t follow my dream. There hasn’t been one day in our life together, as bad as things ever got, where she’s made me feel guilty for playing this game, and that is a testimony to just her character.
Q: The very first time you threw a knuckleball?
A: I was probably 8, 9 years old playing catch in the backyard . . . 10 years old maybe.
Q: Why would you experiment with a knuckleball at that age?
A: I don’t know if I was experimenting, I think I was just trying to hit my friend in the foot (smiles). It’s just something that you do when you’re a kid. You want to see the other guy fall all over himself trying to catch a ball that you throw, and that was kinda the genesis of it.
Q: Did it move at all?
A: I don’t remember. I’m sure I thought it did.
Q: The most comical response you’ve seen from a hitter?
A: I’ve thrown a couple where they swung at the ball and it actually hit ’em. So like it would come down the middle and just move late and go off their leg.
I don’t know if I laughed during the moment, but in reflection I thought that those probably were pretty good knuckleballs.
Q: The night you allowed six home runs (to the Tigers in 2006)?
A: In the moment it was very painful. Like my stomach was being ripped out, you know?
Q: Pitching for the ’96 Olympic team in Atlanta.
A: It was disappointing and a real honor all at once. We expected to do much better than we did (bronze medal). I was on a team that spent two full summers gearing up to beat Cuba in the gold medal game and didn’t even get the opportunity, so that part was disappointing. But to represent your country at any capacity is pretty special.
Q: Where were you when the bomb exploded?
A: I was in Helen, Ga., visiting an aunt who had come down to see me play in the Olympics, and got a beeper. We all got beepers, and that’s how we communicated with one another ’cause we were scattered. And I got a thing that we needed to get back to the Village as soon as possible.
Q: And when you got back to the Village, what do you remember?
A: Just being in lockdown, like, “Go to your rooms ’til we sort this out, and we’ll give you a schedule.” . . . We didn’t even know if we were gonna keep playing at the time, we didn’t know how big of a deal it was, or if it was just a pipe bomb, or who knows what it was? We didn’t really know, so it was tense.
Q: The time you threw
183 pitches on two-days’ rest against Oklahoma State?
A: The truth be known, the coach tried to take me out three different times, and I wouldn’t let him. I think I even challenged him to a fight at one point in the dugout. I remember that in the moment I thought it was worth it, that’s for sure.
Q: Worst minor league bus ride?
A: Some 11-hour bus ride in the Texas League — pick one.
Q: How good a high school quarterback were you?
A: Looking back on it, I’d probably say I was a 7 out of 10.
Q: Favorite quarterbacks?
A: I was always a [Brett] Favre fan. . . . I loved Randall Cunningham.
Q: How did you propose to your wife?
A: Every Thanksgiving, we would go to her place and have dinner with her family, and so, we all went around the table, as corny as it may sound, and say what we’re thankful of, and that’s when I got down on a knee.
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: David from the Old Testament; Robert Frost; Gen. George Patton.
Q: Boyhood idol?
A: Luke Skywalker, probably.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: “Gladiator.”
Q: Who plays you in the movie?
A: Jim Caviezel.
Q: Favorite actor?
A: Matt Damon.
Q: Favorite singer/
entertainer?
A: Josh Groban; Andrea Bocelli.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: Sushi.