Jason Bay Says "Let Them Eat Crow!"

Longtime readers of Studious Metsimus probably know that Jason Bay has been a target of our wrath for the better part of his two seasons in New York.  We called him a human windmill last year, a benchwarmer this year, and have advocated booing him at Citi Field.

Despite all his troubles at the plate, Bay has continued to be a professional and has done other things to help the team win.  He has played a very good left field, has been patient at the plate (Bay's 50 walks lead all current Mets - Carlos Beltran drew 60 bases on balls before being traded to San Francisco), and has been an intelligent baserunner (11 stolen bases in 12 attempts), hustling on every play, both on offense and defense.

Earlier today, Jason Bay was named National League Player of the Week, becoming the second consecutive Met to win the award (David Wright took home the honors last week).  For the week ending Sept. 11, Bay hit .481 (13-for-27) with five doubles, two home runs (including a grand slam) and 10 RBI.  Bay also had five multi-hit games for the week.

Up until recently, you had to have knowledge of Photoshop to use a picture like this.

For the year, Bay is now hitting .246 with 12 HR and 56 RBI, numbers that are still far below expectations.  Despite that, Bay still has a chance to lead the Mets in both home runs and RBIs.  Carlos Beltran collected 15 HR and 66 RBI before he was dealt away.  Bay leads all current Mets in RBIs and is tied with David Wright for the team lead in home runs.  With four more homers and 11 additional runs batted in, Bay would surpass Beltran's totals.

Who would have thought that Jason Bay would be mentioned in a sentence about team leaders in the power categories?  Certainly not us.  But over his past 63 games (since June 28), Bay has picked up 13 doubles, 9 HR and 40 RBI, striking out only 49 times in 262 plate appearances.  Prior to June 28, Bay had a mere four doubles, three home runs and 16 RBI.  He was also victimized by strike three 52 times in only 219 plate appearances.

It's time to eat the proverbial crow on this one.  Jason Bay has finally arrived in New York.  It may have been almost two years too late and not exactly during a pennant race, but it sure makes things interesting for 2012.  Bay might not be a question mark entering next season the way he was this past April.  Who'da thunk it?