Hot-Hitting Chipper Focused

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Atlanta -- Chipper Jones is doing his best to ignore the glittering numbers he has posted during the first six weeks of the season.

He is among league leaders in 10 offensive categories, headed for the biggest season of his four-year career, but he doesn't want to think beyond tomorrow.

"I don't look ahead at all," he said. "If I start thinking about those things, I'm going to put way too much pressure on myself. I'm going to go out and do the things I normally do and look at my numbers at the end of the season."

With 37 games gone and 125 remaining, Jones has 12 homers and 36 RBI, a pace that would allow him to easily top the career-high 30 homers he had in 1996 and the career-best 111 RBI he had last season.

If Jones maintains his production, the big numbers would also translate into an MVP award.

"I try not to think about any pace that I'm on," he said. "When you get ahead of a pace you start to relax and when you get behind a pace you start to press. If I just stay on an even keel and keep hitting, the numbers will keep going up."

Yet, while he tries to distance himself from talk of a huge season, Jones admitted that occasionally he thinks about what he might accomplish.

"Sometimes I catch myself looking at the numbers and considering what could be," he said. "But as long as I go out and once I step between the lines the numbers are the last thing on my mind, I guess that's OK."

By Bill Zack

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