Last year, when Jason Bay was brought onto the Met and hailed as one of the great hopes for the injury-plagued team, I began Bay Watch as people were invited to predict how long until–not if, but until–Bay wound up on the DL. The answer, as it turned out, was July 27, after sustaining a concussion several days earlier while chasing down a Dodgers fly ball.
But it’s a new season and I want to start on a positive note.
So…Jason Bay, during spring training, has apparently strained his ribcage during batting practice (following earlier back pains) and may wind up on the DL. So this year’s Bay Watch is…predict when, or if, he’ll be in the starting lineup.
PAD
• 
April 25th, and he will have a great year
There is a former Dodger who joins the Mets this year, and so the commentators will probably make this joke more than once:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME0xHVNdNgo
It’s actually been kind of funny listening to the commentators talk AROUND that pun since Hu joined the Mets. “Hu, with a single, is on base.”
.
All they need is another player named “Watts” to bat in front of him.
.
PAD
And of course, the lead-in for both them, Ira Dontnow.
Me, I’m wondering if anyone has tried to get Atlanta Braves’ rookie first baseman Freddie Freeman to say “Captain Marvel”.
I noticed that! He was in a spring training game against the Mets and I heard his name and thought, “Captain Marvel Jr. is playing baseball now? Not bad for a crippled newsboy.”
.
PAD
Hey, PAD. At least you have a professional team. Here in Pittsburgh, we haven’t had a professional baseball team since the early 90s.
July 27th last year? That’s my birthday. As a Red Sox fan, and with Bay being a former Red Sox player (I’m still trying to figure out the singular for “Red Sox” – “Red Sok” just doesn’t look right, but somehow “Red Sox” just doesn’t FEEL right), I’m not sure if this is any significance whatsoever.
.
Either way, I hope he returns soon and has a good year – I liked him in his brief time in Boston. Though by that point, I was so disgusted with Manny, I’m pretty sure I would’ve liked just about anybody…
.
Semi-random thought… went to Spring Training last week, including a Red Sox-Rays game yesterday, and the Rays didn’t bring any of their big players. No Longoria, no Manny, and no Damon (and none of the others, whose names I’m currently blanking on, either). And I even wore my special Johnny Damon shirt, to boot (“Looks like Jesus. Throws like Mary. Talks like Judas.”) There was much disappointment.
Also liked Bay in Boston, but note that the Sox continue to have a good feel for when to let players go, at least with respect to the length of the contract the player wants. They might have another good season or two, but not the 4-5 years they want in a contract.
Same thing happened to me when I was in Tampa a few weeks ago. Yankees were playing two games in one day, so they do a “split squad” – divide the team in two. I saw the outfielders play in Tampa (and the next day in Orlando), and didn’t get to see Jeter, A-Rod, Cano, Tex, or any of those guys at all.
Love the Damon shirt!
You’re sure you mean baseball? Here I thought hockey was the sport with an epidemic of long term injuries.
Hope Bay has a good year as he’s on my fantasy team. I’ve got a week outfield so I’m counting on him.
It’s official, Peter: Jason Bay is on the 15-day DL with a strained rib cage.
Or you could always take predictions on who will be activated first: Bay or Johan Santana.
Meanwhile, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that Lance Berkman doesn’t kill himself or someone else in right field.
I’ve liked Jason Bay alot, ever since his minor league days with the Mets. Of course Steve Philips then did what he does best, trade good players for garbage.
.
Ever since the knee injuries, during his Pittsburgh days, sapped his strength he’s been a dead man walking. He was pretty decent for Boston but the days of him being an effective starting Major Leaguer are long gone and the only reason he even got the contract with the Mets was Minaya’s desparate last gamble to save his own job.
OT: Just saw that you’re doing the writing for the new Spidey 2099 game. Very Nice! Was secretly hoping you’d drop ur cap in the comic video game pool and on Spidey no less. Now they just need to hire you on a Hulk game.
I just hope this game is released for the PC unlike the fiasco with Beenox’s last Spidey game.
http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/02/a-prank-on-the-mets-but-sny-isnt-laughing/
“But on Friday night, an employee of SNY, the Mets’ network, played a prank — perhaps for April Fools’ Day — after the Mets’ opening-night loss to the Florida Marlins. The worker, whom SNY would not identify, inserted a few seconds from a 2010 “Family Guy” episode that made light of the Mets’ miseries.
The few seconds are from a sequence that starts when Stewie Griffin, the sassy baby with a British accent, says, “So far, Halloween is a bigger letdown than being a Mets fan.”
The scene then cuts to Stewie, in a seat at a ballpark. An announcer says, “Opening day, and here’s the first pitch — and the season’s over.” The audience watching the Mets game heard only, “Opening day and here’s the first pitch” before the sound of the game returned.”