BOSTON (AP) – Todd Jones reached into his pocket and pulled out a cheat sheet as he stood on the mound.

Back in the American League for the first time since 2001, he checked the notes he made on how to pitch to certain Toronto hitters. Then the AL saves leader of 2000 stuffed them back in his pocket and went to work.

His crash course paid off as he went 1 2-3 innings on July 19, striking out three Blue Jays, walking one and allowing no runs or hits as the Boston Red Sox came from behind for a 5-4 win in 10 innings.

“He always knows what’s going on,” said Jason Varitek, his new catcher. “What I do remember is him being a student of the game.”

And after missing the playoffs for all of his 10 major-league seasons, this time he’s with the Red Sox and finally has a good chance to get there. That’s so exciting that he doesn’t mind playing the set-up role for another top closer, Byung-Hyun Kim.

“I don’t care about saves. I’m 35. I can set up on a winning club and that’d be fine with me,” Jones said. “It’s special. I’ve never been in this situation before.

“This is what you play for and I feel like now, looking back, the last 10 years I’ve wasted my career.”

Not exactly.

In four seasons with Houston, he had a 3.27 ERA with 39 saves. In the next five with Detroit, his ERA was 3.91 with 144 saves in 334 games. He had consecutive seasons of 31, 28, 30 and 42 saves, then posted 11 saves with the Tigers in 2001 before being traded to Minnesota after the All-Star break that year.

He signed as a free agent with the NL’s Colorado Rockies before last season and had a 4.70 ERA in 79 outings as a setup man. This season was much worse – an 8.24 ERA and 1-4 record in 33 appearances with the Rockies, who play in one of the best hitters’ parks in the majors.

“It just got to me,” said Jones, whose 42 saves in 2000 tied Boston’s Derek Lowe for the AL lead. “It was just one of those things that just snowballed and I couldn’t get out of it.”

He eventually did when the Rockies released him and the Red Sox signed him – another move that turned Boston’s shaky relief corps into a more reliable group.

“You know he’s a competitor. He likes to pitch with the game on the line,” said Dave Wallace, filling in as pitching coach while Tony Cloninger recovers from cancer treatments. “Everyone hits bumps along the way.”

The Red Sox began the season with an unusual strategy: don’t designate an everyday closer and use the relievers as the game situation dictates.

Need a pitcher to stop a threat in the seventh inning? Why not go with the best reliever, even if he would be the top closer, so the game doesn’t get out of hand?

“It’s just a tough thing to do, especially in a big market,” Jones said. Relievers “not knowing when they’re going to pitch is hard. But now you stabilize things from the back forward and, with B.K. (Kim) coming here it’s kind of set everybody in place.”

When he was first traded to the Red Sox in May by Arizona, Kim was used as a starter. But he’s since been very effective in the closer’s role he had with the Diamondbacks. With veterans Jones, Kim, Alan Embree, Scott Sauerbeck, Mike Timlin, Chad Fox and Casey Fossum in the bullpen, the Red Sox finally have solid options.

Kim, Jones and Sauerbeck all were obtained in the past two months.

“There are going to be nights where we’re going to have problems,” Wallace said, “but when you have depth (in the bullpen) and experience, I think it kind of takes care of things. So the mentality, I think, has been a lot better lately.”

In his first seven appearances with Boston, through Thursday, Jones had a 2-0 record and 3.48 ERA in 10 1-3 innings. He struck out 12 and allowed four walks and eight hits. He’s shown some consistency – a departure from his past when even in the season he notched 42 saves, not all of them were smooth.

“It’s not the way I like it,” Jones said, “but when (former Tigers broadcaster) Ernie Harwell dubbed me “the roller coaster,’ it fits.”

Varitek just wishes Boston had obtained Jones sooner.

“Years ago, I joked around with him. “You need to come over here,’ ” he recalled. “He just was an uncomfortable at bat for me. He’s been impressive and he’s fit in real well, real quick.”

Even if he peeks at his cheat sheet now and then.

AP-ES-07-25-03 1156EDT