The Day Jason Bay Finally Became A New York Met?

From Hojo’s lips to God’s ears? Well, not exactly (there was no “couple of HRs”), but Jason Bay did hit the ball hard on three occasions with the best being reserved for his last AB of the night—a rocket gapper smacked into right center that cleared the base paths and put the game away for good for the Metsies.

Innings earlier Bay finally endeared himself to Mets fans by catching a deep fly just feet from the fence in left running at full tilt, then proceeded to smash into the wall with no regard for his own safety. That’s the measure of a dedicated professional baseball player. I think that with that one play Jason Bay—2010’s colossal underachiever—endeared himself to Mets fans in a way that he hadn’t previously.

So do you love him now? Probably not, but you know you can respect him! Love, well, that’s going to take a little while, going to take a whole lot of hits, going to take making himself a productive part of a winning lineup, etc. But say what we all will, Jason Bay became a New York Met on the night of July 23, 2010 in Los Angeles.

If he has come out of his “windmill” coma, we may just have a very exciting nine weeks of Bay Watch left on our hands. Here’s hoping that his great catch (not to neglect two terrific catches by Pagan—and a great throw home—and solid play from Beltran) will not foreshadow many more smashing successes into outfield walls. We need our fearless warriors healthy.

Having mentioned Pagan’s great throw home, I was intrigued that Blanco did not pick up an error in muffing the catch and tag to Russell Martin. I mention this because a NYT reporter, Waldstein, felt it necessary to do a piece on Blanco’s two stellar defensive years without an error. However, it will not be two years until after today’s game! Thanks so much for trying to jinx us Waldman.  How ‘bout writing and publishing the article after the feat has been achieved. Chris Snyder of the D-Backs even tells Waldstein that you don’t ask about these streaks before they’re ended because it’s like asking a pitcher how he feels about his no-hitter in the eighth inning. Sheesh!

Now let’s win two more in L.A.!