UPDATE:
From Mets Notes, Scott Hairston is hitting .375 (6-16) with two doubles, one triple, two home runs and 10 RBI over his last 10 games… Hairston is batting .321 (18-56) with three home runs and 15 RBI as a starter this year and has at least one hit in eight of his last nine starts.
Original Post
Another game, and another brutal performance by Jason Bay, and this time it’s affecting his play in the field too. It almost seemed like Bay was coming out of his nearly two year slumber two weeks ago when he clubbed two home runs in what was his best week as a Met. But even manager Terry Collins said that his so-called rebound week, could have been an anomaly. So now what?
Collins intends to speak to Jason Bay before today’s game, and I hope to God that the conversation consists of a rnew educed role for the Mets $66 million dollar man. Enough is enough.
Bay knows his play has become a cause for deep concern among his team and the fans. “Ah, I mean it’s not the first time. Believe me, if you imagine how frustrated the fans are — do you think I enjoy it? What I’m doing out there?” Bay added, “I’m more frustrated than anybody, but I have to come back and do this every single day and I can’t get caught up in the frustration.”
Since July 6th, Jason Bay is batting .115 (3-for-26) with no RBIs. One player who has shined in that period is Scott Hairston who has literally been scorching the ball while playing solid defense. We could see a shift in both their roles as Collins tries to play the hot hand and give Hairston an expanded role at the expense of the struggling Jason Bay.
Hairston is gaining momentum, and in his last ten games he is batting .375 with two home runs and 10 RBIs.
Bay doesn’t seem phased at all at the prospect of losing playing time. “If I’m in the lineup, I’m in the lineup, if I’m not, it’s not my decision to make,” Bay said.
Mets fans have been easy on him for most of this season, but lately the boo birds are making their presence known, it could get worse unless he figures a way out of this offensive funk he has put himself in.
I believe the park is in his head. You know, that park in Flushing with the big red apple in front of it… The one with with all the distractions – I mean attractions, and that huge rotunda… The park where everyone raves about the food, but not the baseball team… The park where the Mets lost two would-be homeruns (Willie Harris and Daniel Murphy) only yesterday in a loss to the rival Phils.
It seems to me that if you hit a ball 420 feet, it should be a homerun. Bay has seen at least 12 home runs get swallowed by Citi Field as a Met according to Hit Tracker. I’m pretty sure that’s on Bays mind when he decides he will no longer pull the ball to left field as he did with the Red Sox. The problem is that hitting home runs to the opposite field is a far more difficult task. Just ask David Wright.
